by Reiko Yukawa

Created on: February 22, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

For those who are at least nominally Christian, we all know Easter as the holiday of bunnies and eggs and bright colors and, well, it has something to do with Christ somewhere, right? Not originally.

The word 'Easter' itself is actually related to the ancient pagan goddess Ishtar from at least as early as Babylonian times. Also called Astarte, Ashtoreth, Aphrodite, and other names in various times and cultures, she was primarily a fertility goddess. The fertility basis of the holiday shows itself in the trappings and traditions that surround the day. Rabbits are known to be a very fertile kind of animal ("breeding like rabbits"), and while they don't lay eggs themselves, eggs are another symbol of fertility and have been for thousands of years.

When the early formalized church was trying to convert the pagans who had been following many gods and goddesses for a long time, they allowed the people to retain their old holidays and traditions, including the spring festival, for easier conversion. This ends up being one form of syncretism, or religious merging, because the old festivals were being used to try to celebrate in the name of God instead of the old deities. However, they have no basis in the Bible.

Nowhere does the Bible say to celebrate the resurrection. Nowhere do the disciples celebrate the resurrection when it happens, or at the same time in later years. When it happened, they did not know at first and could not celebrate at all. They were quite discouraged, in fact, thinking that Christ had actually died permanently. They would be joyful later, once they learned the truth, but not as a holiday.

Instead, the disciples celebrated the Passover with Christ the night before the crucifixion (what Christianity calls the "Last Supper" today, as if it were a real meal). They continued to keep the Holy Days that had been handed down from God for hundreds of years. For instance, the Days of Unleavened Bread are mentioned in Acts 12:3.

Easter itself is actually mentioned in the very next verse in reference to Herod keeping it. It is worth noting that this "Easter," while translated from the same word translated in other places as Passover, must refer to the pagan spring festival due to the timing. Herod jailed Peter during the days of unleavened bread, which occur after the single day of Passover. According to the passage, he intended to bring him out after Easter, which was still in the future. Therefore, Easter here cannot refer to the Passover.

While Passover is

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