The Origin of Easter
The name Easter, used in many lands, is not found in the Bible. The book Medieval Holidays and Festivals tells us that ?the holiday is named after the pagan Goddess of the Dawn and of Spring, Eostre.? And who was this goddess? ?Eostre it was who, according to the legend, opened the portals of Valhalla to receive Baldur, called the White God, because of his purity and also the Sun God, because his brow supplied light to mankind,? answers The American Book of Days. It adds: ?There is no doubt that the Church in its early days adopted the old pagan customs and gave a Christian meaning to them. As the festival of Eostre was in celebration of the renewal of life in the spring it was easy to make it a celebration of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus, whose gospel they preached.?
This adoption explains how in certain lands the Easter customs, such as Easter eggs, the Easter rabbit, and hot cross buns, came about. Concerning the custom of making hot cross buns, ?with their shiny brown tops marked by a . . . cross,? the book Easter and Its Customs states: ?The cross was a pagan symbol long before it acquired everlasting significance from the events of the first Good Friday, and bread and cakes were sometimes marked with it in pre-Christian times.?
Nowhere in Scripture do we find mention of these things, nor is there any evidence that the early disciples of Jesus gave them any credence. In fact, the apostle Peter tells us to ?form a longing for the unadulterated milk belonging to the word, that through it [we] may grow to salvation.? (1 Peter 2:2) So why did the churches of Christendom adopt such obviously pagan symbols into their beliefs and practices?
The book Curiosities of Popular Customs answers: ?It was the invariable policy of the early Church to give a Christian significance to such of the extant pagan ceremonies as could not be rooted out. In the case of Easter the conversion was peculiarly easy. Joy at the rising of the natural sun, and at the awakening of nature from the death of winter, became joy at the rising of the Sun of righteousness, at the resurrection of Christ from the grave. Some of the pagan observances which took place about the 1st of May were also shifted to correspond with the celebration of Easter.? Rather than steer clear of popular pagan customs and magical rites, the religious leaders condoned them and gave them ?Christian significance.
Easter supposedly commemorates the resurrection of Christ, but reputable sources link it with false worship. The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible says that Easter was ?originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre,? or Eostre. In any case, the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th Edition) states: ?There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament.? Easter was not an early Christian observance and is not celebrated by Jehovah?s people today.
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