Easter 101

While most people are excited about the short week, I for one can’t wait for the Easter long weekend.

It is one of those holidays that you look forward to because it means a break from school and work. Most shops during this time of the year are usually heavily decorated with Easter bunnies, chocolates and gift ideas to give over the holidays.

Easter, like Christmas, is a tradition that developed in church history.

But what exactly is this Easter all about? Youthpaper takes you on a historical path of the origin of the holiday.

What is Easter?

Why do we celebrate it?

Easter is a time of celebration for many families. With it comes the thought of spring, rebirth, Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets. It is a celebration of family and friends and spending time together. But why do we have Easter egg hunts and why does a bunny bring Easter eggs? What do Easter eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ?

According to thoughtco.com, Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead which, according to some Christian tradition, is preceded by lent, a 40-day fasting of prayer. Most Christians refer to Easter as a ‘holy week’.

Moreover, Easter is said to be linked to the Jewish passover. Customary Easter acts include sunrise church services and the famous decoration of easter eggs which symbolises an empty tomb. Easter is also associated with the Easter bunny, parades, egg hunting and the traditional Easter foods that families the world over feast on after the lengthy church services.

Easter is said to have come from the name for Eostre, Ostara or Ishtar, a pagan goddess of spring. The spring equinox was a time of worshipping and celebrating the goddess who ruled spring. She was often looked upon as a goddess of fertility and plenty. The people of the area wanted to please her so that their crops would be blessed and they would bear children. Along with this symbol of fertility comes another symbol – the egg.

Easter eggs are a fundamental part of any Easter tradition. Children everywhere have fun dyeing brightly coloured eggs every year. Colourful plastic eggs are placed into Easter baskets and filled with goodies of all kinds. In many countries that art of decorating Easter eggs is a highly skilled, decorative art. But why eggs? Why not an Easter onion, for example?

Eggs have stood for new life and fertility throughout the ages. Christians see it as a symbol of the new life brought to them with the resurrection of Christ. During the Middle Ages, decorated eggs were said to have been given as gifts. The ancient Persians decorated eggs to celebrate their New Year that occurred during the Spring Equinox.

For Jews, Easter coincides with the Passover and eggs dipped in salt water represent new life.

It is said that the hare was a symbol of the goddess Eostre. Rabbits and hares, like the eggs, represent fertility. Rabbits often make their nests in fields and this gave rise to the belief, by children, that the rabbits laid eggs in the fields as well. Thus the Easter egg hunt was born.

In today’s culture, the Easter bunny is a fuzzy lovable character who brings Easter chocolates and Easter baskets to kids on Sunday morning. He is no longer a symbol of fertility as in days of old. Easter baskets are supposed to resemble ‘nests’ for the eggs the Easter bunny will bring.

Legend tells us this may have started by the Emperor Constantine. He supposedly told his servants, court attendees and subjects to dress in their finest and parade up and down the city in celebration of the resurrection of Christ. This might also indicate where dressing in new clothes on Easter began.

Many families have big Easter dinners often serving a ham. It is a time of fun, food and fellowship, which has always been a part of any celebration, pagan or Christian. It is a time we set aside to rejoice in what we have and the newness of spring and the gift of life.

Throughout Christian history, believers have celebrated a myriad of Easter egg traditions to express their faith in Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

Early Christians adopted the egg as an Easter symbol because an egg’s hard shell represents Jesus’ sealed tomb, and cracking the shell symbolises His resurrection. Eggs, which often remind people of new life, reminded early Christians that Jesus is the true source of new life spiritually – so they developed Easter traditions involving eggs.

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