Is Easter a Pagan Holiday?

0:00What can a break point, a daily look, and an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth? For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. Is Easter a pagan holiday? Well, in his treatise on the reckoning of time, 8th century English monk, the venerable bead, proposed that the word Easter comes from the name of a pagan goddess. Here's what he wrote. Eustra Manath has a name which is now translated Paschal month and was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eustara, and whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month, in quote. Modern pagans, having latched on to this whole idea, further associated Eustara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility, with Austara, a Germanic goddess of spring. Both of those names, of course, sound an awful lot like Easter. While there are multiple problems with this idea, the venerable bead, notwithstanding, burst, the church had fought for centuries by this point to turn people from paganism. Therefore, it's unlikely that one of the most important Christian holidays would be named after a pagan goddess.

1:01More importantly, there's no evidence of a goddess named Eustara aside from bead, nor is their evidence for a Germanic goddess named Ostarra. The name Easter is only used in English and its cognate, Ostern, and German. Everywhere else, even in Germanic languages such as Dutch norwegian or Swedish, the word is derived from Pascha, or Passover. This resurrection day was celebrated for hundreds of years before the Anglo-Saxons, or Germans were even converted, it's unlikely that its name indicates a pagan origin to the holiday. More likely, bead was either following a folk etymology, or simply guessing. And the real story of where the day's name came from is probably a bit more complicated. New converts, after receiving intensive instruction, were baptized on Easter Sunday. The day was known as Domenica in Albus, or the Sunday in White, because of the white robes worn by the Catecumans. It may be that Albus was misunderstood to be the plural of Alba, or dawn, which was

2:03then translated in Old High German into the word Eustara. And it's likely that the words Easter and Ostern both derive from that word. Another common argument is that Easter traditions, such as rabbits and decorating eggs, were fertility symbols with roots in paganism. Modern pagans even claim, without any evidence that the worship of Astara, involve these very things. However, the connection of these items to Easter is much less elaborate and far more recent than any mythical pagan past. During the Holy Week fast-proceeding Easter, Christians were prohibited from eating eggs. The chickens, however, kept laying. So eggs laid during Holy Week were considered holy eggs. The practice of decorating them began in the 13th century. Many centuries after Europe had already turned from paganism. The egg was seen as a symbol of the resurrection, with Christ, bursting free from the tomb in the same way that a chicken would burst free from the egg. As for rabbits, the timing of their association with Easter also eliminates the possibility that they're a holdover from pagan ideas. During the Middle Ages, rabbits were seen as innocent, good, harmless, and as such were

3:06sometimes used as a symbol of Christ. They weren't associated with Easter until about the 17th century. Other version of the Easter has roots in paganism idea. Associates the celebration of the resurrection with the ancient Sumerian myth of Thomas and Ishtar. This myth, which is an explanation of the annual cycle of death and winter, tells of Thomas and Ishtar spending half a year in the underworld before having a new birth when they're released for six months each spring. That myth bears little resemblance to the three days Jesus spent in the tomb and his once and for all resurrection from the dead. And so this story and others like it may in fact be connected to Christianity, but just not in the way we normally think. In fact, we most likely have it just the wrong way around. As C.S. Lewis described in mere Christianity, quote, and what did God do? He sent the human race what I call good dreams. I mean those queer stories scattered all throughout heathen religions about a God who dies and comes to life again and by his death has somehow given new life to men. Lewis believed that these myths were hints that God gave to a pagan world of the person

4:11and work of Christ. In other words, the argument that myths are the source of the story of the resurrection has it exactly backwards. The resurrection actually happened and it is the reality to which these myths actually point. And because the resurrection actually happened, it's worth celebrating with all of our hallelujahs, raised glasses and an awful lot of joy. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint. If you've ever been on a journey without a map, you know it's almost impossible to stay on the right track. The same is true of trying to make sense of our cultural moment as a Christian. Sometimes we need to step back and take in the big picture. Truth rising the study summarizes God's game plan for Christians using four essential ingredients of seeing and living in the world like a Christian. Hope, truth, identity, and calling. To meet the growing demand, we're working to raise up 250 trained facilitators who can lead others through this study in churches, classrooms, and communities across the country.

5:11It costs about $200 to train, certify, and support one facilitator, including coaching, resources, and access to a facilitator's support line. When you give, you're helping equip Christian leaders for this moment. Join the movement by visiting colsoncetter.org slash april. It's colsoncetter.org slash april.