Ten things you didn't know about Easter

Easter is just a few days away. If you're wondering why this year it seems to have come so soon, or why Hot Cross Buns make such a brief appearance on supermarket shelves then read our list of ten things you didn't know, but always wondered, about Easter.

The origin of the word Easter
Eostre was a goddess associated with the Spring Equinox, her symbols were the hare and the egg. The modern word Easter developed from this and the Old English word Eastre meaning from the east.

Why the date of Easter changes every year
The date of Easter is a moveable feast because it follows the date of the Spring Equinox and the cycles of the moon. It was agreed by Egyptian astronomers in Alexandria in 235AD.  They determined that Easter Day would always be the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. This is the way the Jewish people calculate the feast of Passover, during which the Crucifixion took place.

Why this Easter is particularly special
Easter Day this year is the earliest it has been since 1913 and will not fall as early for another 220 years. The earliest it can be in March 22.

Why not everyone celebrates Easter on the same date
The Eastern Orthodox Church have celebrated Easter on a different date from the rest of the Christian church since 1582 when the Gregorian calendar was introduced. The Orthodox Church, still following the Julian Calendar, will celebrate Easter on April 27 this year.

Why Good Friday is called 'good'
Christians call the day Jesus was crucified "Good Friday" because they believe Christ's death saved them from being punished by God for their sins.

Why we have Easter Eggs
We eat 90 million of them every year but how did Easter Eggs come to be synonymous with Easter?

The egg was a pagan symbol of fertility and new birth. When Christianity adopted the
Spring Equinox celebration for the festival of Easter they also took on the egg as a symbol of the resurrection of Christ. Some believe it also represents the stone rolled away from the tomb.

The first Easter Eggs were painted and decorated hen, duck or goose eggs. By the 17th century manufactured eggs were available to give as Easter presents.

The eggs became more elaborate and by the 19th century Carl Faberge, French jeweller to the Tsar of Russia, had become the last word in Easter decadence.

The first chocolate eggs were made in Germany and France in the early 1800s, a trend that quickly spread across Europe, first as solid chocolate then the modern hollow egg.

Why are Hot Cross Buns only eaten at Easter
A law in 16th-century England limited bakers to a certain number of occasions when they could make special doughs used in Hot Cross buns. Until recently they could only be bought on Good Friday.

The rhyme “one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns” was based on the habit of selling them warm from baking.

The other symbols associated with Easter
The Lily represents the resurrection of Jesus with the shell symbolizing the tomb and the flower the promise of life after death.

Easter bonnets laden with flowers are worn to celebrate the end of a period of austerity during Lent.

Strange Easter traditions
In Medieval England the game of egg throwing was popular in churches at Easter. The choir would gather and the vicar would throw a hard- boiled egg among them. The egg was thrown around and the choirboy holding the egg when the church bell rang was the victor and got to keep the egg.

Modern Easter traditions - including modern day crucifixion
The Easter egg hunt on the south lawn of the White House began in 1878 by President Rutherford B. and Mrs. Hayes continues to this day.

In the Philippines devout Catholics go to the extreme of re-enacting the Crucifixion, right down to the six inch nails used to nail Jesus to the cross.  They flagellate themselves before some are raised on wooden crosses to show their penitence for their sins.

In Britain more mundane activities have become a part of traditional Easter fare:  We  spend more at on painting, decorating and garden equipment at Easter than at any other time of the year according to The Halifax.

Joanna Sugden

Comments

Libby;
Very Good Was Your Posting Of This.

All These Pagan Traditions Interwoven With The Death Burial And Resurrection Of Jesus Is Not Christian However.

John 4 V 24 Tells Us; "God is a Spirit..And Those That Worship Him MUST WORSHIP HIM In Spirit And in Truth." Nothing Wrong With Remembering Jesus' Sacrifice at Calvary. However Go Does Not Want "Mixing" Heathen-Pagan Spring Festival With It. Same With Christmas...

[Adam]

I do love a good pagan festival.

[joymorones]

I always understood that the painted hard boiled eggs that we rolled down hill some 50 years ago, symbolized the opening of the cave where Jesus had been left. We also did it on Easter Monday.

[starling]

"This is the way the Jewish people calculate the feast of Passover, during which the Crucifixion took place."

How about rephrasing that one so it doesn't look like the Jews have Passover to celebrate the crucifixion? The two are not related in the slightest, they just happened to occur on/around the same date.

[Greg]

I was taught that we have Easter Eggs due to the surplus of eggs following fasting during Lent.

On Shrove Tuesday (annoyingly called pancake day) it is customary to use up eggs in the making of Pancakes etc. because they would not be eaten during the next 40 days (Lent). They celebrate Easter with eggs because there were so many around. I also understand it is common in some Catholic countries to play "games" with eggs on Easter Sunday (similar to Conker games) because there were so many around.

I think I prefer my version to yours.

[Arnold Kramer, Ulestraten, Holland]

Another well known tradition is, that in the western world, banks and stock exchanges are closed on Good Friday. It seems, that this comes from a belief that trading on Good Friday will bring bad luck. This because among the disciples, Judas Iskariot had to deal with the money and betraid Jesus for money.
So there is also a belief, that work of forges with hammering on Good Friday will bring bad luck.

[Jane]

Eostre, hares and eggs and the whole fertility festival shebang are true. So please, you naive people who have posted to deny that Christian festivals have been overlaid on pre-existing pagan ones, check your history books and not that silly set of fables you choose to believe in. Really, it's laughable!

[DTO]

The reason Easter is at the same time as Passover is that Christ was crucified during Passover.

[Mark Savage]

You're only partly right with the simplified reasons you give for the date of Easter falling when it does, at least in Britain.

The present calculation of Easter here dates back only to the Synod of Whitby in the tenth century, though Alexandrian thinking about the vernal equinox and the phases of the moon played a part. Before the Synod of Whitby, there was widespread disagreement about when Easter should be observed, even within England. The Synod settled the date in such a fashion that it tallied with existing Roman church practice though not, clearly, the Eastern Orthodox church.

The festival at which Jesus instituted "the Lord's supper" (holy communion, the mass, eucharist)is believed by most scholars to be passover- Pesach in Hebrew- but this does not mean that the modern celebrations of Easter and Passover have to co-incide; they don't more often than they do. In fact, Passover this year is almost a month after the Western Easter, which actually co-incides more closely date-wise with another Jewish festival, Purim.
However, the passover connection is clear from the name for Easter used in latin-influenced countries in Europe, hence "Paques" in French, for instance, and the paschal lamb. Both these terms derive from Pesach.

[Fegor]

worst written article I have ever seen, did you go onto google and type "Easter" and serve up the results

[Miri]

The word 'Easter' in fact goes back much further than what you have stated-
Easter comes from the name of the godess Ishtar/Istar -she was celebrated as the Spring Godess all over the ancient Near East- The word 'Star' that we use today comes from her name. Also the lili flower represents her star = Venus-although she is also represented by the rossets.
Spring is always associated with fertility-hence the symbol of eggs which were painted all over Ancient Persia at the spring festival,which are also used in passover-although are given different meanings now.
so if you dig back further it is in fact the celebration of a fertility godess Ishtar-Also known as Ashera, Ennana,Venus,Isis, and Anat. Purim -a Jewish holiday is even closer to the original as it celebrates 'Queen Esther' in the spring (today)

BA in History
Masters in Ancient Near East art and archaeology.

[K. Tyson]

In regards to the eggs, it is a tradition of the Eastern Orthodox church that St. Mary Magdalene converted people to Christianity by using a red egg. That is why icons of her often depict a red egg.

[Gerard Cloak]

Jesus celebrated Pass-over and the lamb that was eaten by Jews and Jesus followers was symbolic and prophetic of Jesus death on Passover. The Passover was on the full moon (Nisan) calendar and hence was celebrated universally at same time each year.True christians (Jehovah Witnesses)do not celebrate Easter with eggs etc due to Pagan origins

[Alan Lawrence]

To those who think that pagan events are being wrongly mixed with christian events, know that pagan and other older religious customs were hijacked by christianity to more easily indoctrinate people who already had their customs. My favourite Easter fact is omitted in this article which explains the role of the egg as the result of the surplus following the period of fasting, during which eggs continued to be laid despite religious teachings.

[M Richardson]

Why is good Friday called good - why expres the answer in terms of what some people believe instead of what is a fact i.e. Jesus died on the cross so that we sinners might have a chance of salvation.

[Daniel]

Ignore the cynics, it's nice to have concise explanations of Christian festivals.

In addition to the egg adoption, there is a longer association with eggs, dating back to Persian mythology preceding Jesus.

The egg as a symbol of resurrection was of great significance, particular to certain wise men who brought myrrh as a pressie. It is a symbol, not just of embalming the dead, but also of resurrection. This is because it is associated with the Phoenix (whose earliest origins are from the ancient Near-East) rising, not from ashes, but from an egg of myrrh.

This is not well-known but it is one of the oldest Christian symbols. I know it's Easter but Easter and Christmas do go together.

[Judas]

Yes there are aspects of the pagan in easter. Seems more are coming to light every day. For instance i remember that mithras the roman diety emerged from an egg (rebirth maybe). However in the stories of christ within the four gospels paints the picture of someone taking a different slant on the old eye for an eye routine i.e. turn the other cheek, ye without sin cast the first stone so on overturning the tables at the temple. It does not really matter to me if the christian religion is put together from reconstructed old religions or myths because when they were putting it together something survived of the impulse that was christ. Christ was some cool cumcumber on a par with budha and loa tse he knew where he was coming from its a beautifull story and i can understand why it inspires people. What i can't understand is people trawling through the whole bible finding negativities and shoving it down peoples throat be it a believer or none believer the four gospels says it all to me.