Today is Sunday, March 31, 2024 — Easter Sunday. When I began writing today’s Heaven On Wheels devotional, it occurred to me that I didn’t really know (or at least remember) the origin of some of the traditions or even the commonly used name of this religious holiday. Let’s start with an obvious question: since Easter Sunday is the day celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, why isn’t it called Resurrection Sunday?
Well, it is, along with the word Pascha (in Latin and Greek (Πάσχα) that is derived from the Aramaic word פסחא (Pashka), which is descended from the Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach) denoting Passover — the week during which Jesus was both crucified and resurrected. Most languages refer to Resurrection Sunday in names derived from Pascha. So why does the Western World refer to it as “Easter”?
The English word Easter comes from a Saxon spring festival called Ēostre. Ēosturmōnaþ is Old English for “Month of Ēostre” (usually April) which was named after a pagan goddess also named Ēostre. During Ēosturmōnaþ, it was common to celebrate feasts in honor of Ēostre.
Having a word named after a pagan festival denoting the most holy Christian day doesn’t sit well with me, so perhaps I’ll begin using Resurrection Sunday more often, or perhaps Pascha in honor of the Paschal Lamb, Jesus.
The original Paschal Lamb was a lamb that was sacrificed at the Jewish Passover. In John 1:29, John the Baptist said of Jesus “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In the New Testament, the parallel was made between Jesus sacrificing himself — during the week of Passover — and the sacrifice of a lamb for the Passover supper by the Jews. To commemorate and celebrate the Risen Christ, the early Christians timed their observance to be around the same time as Passover.
In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul said to the church in Corinth “For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” In essence, he was saying “we’re no longer observing the Jewish feast, so let us remember our Savior another way.”
One thing led to another in my search for the Easter traditions, and I began thinking about Easter eggs. Where did they come from? Was this something that was dreamed up by a marketing person to sell more eggs? No! Even in the time of Christ, eggs were a symbol of new life and rebirth, so in Christianity they became associated with the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Photo by Tony Esopi, via Wikimedia. Image licensed under Creative Commons.
The early Christian community in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and northern Syria) stained chicken eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, spilled during His scourging and crucifixion. That was the start of the tradition of dyeing eggs for Easter. The Eastern Orthodox Church has a tradition of having a priest bless the eggs in family baskets along with other foods forbidden during Great Lent (the fasting season). The blessed eggs are also distributed to churchgoers and others.
The egg has taken on a much more secular form now, with pastel-colored dyes, plastic eggs, and (my personal favorite) jelly bean “eggs”. And who can forget Cadbury chocolate eggs? Actually, there’s even a bit of a Christian tie to those gaudy Easter baskets with their green plastic grass full of chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. It’s a secular nod to the baskets of “forbidden foods” I talked about in the previous paragraph, and for those who give up eating sweets for Lent, it’s a sign that they can begin bingeing on sugary treats again.
The Easter bunny has absolutely no roots in Christianity. We can blame German Lutherans for this atrocity. From Wikipedia:
Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide, similar to the "naughty or nice" list made by Santa Claus. As part of the legend, the creature carries colored eggs in its basket, as well as candy, and sometimes toys, to the homes of children.
From Bored Panda
Thank you, German Lutherans…
OK, I know this post is probably going to be considered sacrilege by some of our readers, but if you did have a laugh (or recoiled in horror) at that last photo, remember that Resurrection Sunday is supposed to be a joyous occasion. We are remembering that those who follow Jesus are spiritually resurrected with Him so we can live a new life and receive eternal salvation, with the promise of physical resurrection to dwell with Him in Heaven. That is worth abundant joy!
Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, Indeed!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from the Oxford Prayer Book:
Come all the faithful, let us worship God,
for through the Cross, joy has come to all the world.
Ever blessing the Lord, we sing His Resurrection,
for having endured the Cross for us,
He has destroyed death by death.”