The modern-day Easter celebration that includes colored eggs, chocolate bunnies and candy-filled baskets is actually a blending of ancient Christian and pagan traditions.
The word Easter is never used in original Scriptures. The Greek word Pascha is the word used when referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is exactly the same word used to describe the Jewish Passover celebration.
In the Christian faith, the Passover celebration is connected to Easter.
The Passover commemorates the Jewish people's freedom from Egypt as described in the first 15 chapters of the biblical book of Exodus. The Israelites were saved from death by smearing the blood of a lamb on their doorposts. Jesus is often referred to as the Passover lamb; Christians believe that his death and resurrection provide salvation from eternal death.
Most languages still use the same word for Passover and Easter.
In English, the word Easter is believed to be a derivation of the name of an ancient goddess. It has been attributed to the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility and springtime, named Eostre. Some biblical scholars trace the word back to Queen Semiramis, the Babylonian queen and wife of Noah's great-grandson Nimrod, mentioned in the book of Genesis, chapter 10. Semiramis was known in some lands as Eastre and was also worshipped as the goddess of fertility and spring.
Because of the presumed pagan origin of the word Easter, many Christians prefer to use the term "Resurrection Sunday."
The Easter bunny and colored eggs also have no biblical significance. Rabbits are known symbols of fertility and as such are sometimes linked to the goddess Eostre or Eastre. Eggs have also been symbols of rebirth and fertility through the ages; they were used in many ancient springtime celebrations.
Like Christmas, the Easter celebration has been commercialized and has become as much a secular as a spiritual holiday. For some, the chocolate bunnies, candy-filled baskets and colorful eggs obscure the crucial message that lies in Jesus' death and resurrection.
Christians can preserve the significance of the day by referring to it as "Resurrection Day" and finding spiritual meaning in the secular symbols.
Eggs, being a symbol of rebirth, can represent the new life that Christians believe they have in Christ. Our congregation's children's Easter egg hunt includes a dozen "special" eggs. Eleven contain symbols of the crucifixion such as a nail and a cross; the 12th egg is left empty, representing Jesus' tomb that was found empty on Resurrection Sunday.
---
* COREY J. HODGES writes about current events and ideas from a moral perspective. Hodges, the senior pastor of the New Pilgrim Baptist Church in Taylorsville, welcomes comments at coreyjhodges@
comcast.net. You also may send comments to religioneditor@ sltrib.com.
