Is Easter Pagan?

The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is not pagan, but many have questioned the name Easter, and the use of bunnies and eggs to celebrate it.

 

Glenn Sunshine, over at the Theology Pugcast, recently brought some historical perspective to this question.  Here are some summary points.

 

1. The name Easter likely came from the German word for dawn, which sounded like the Latin for “in albis.”  (In albis was a reference to the white robes worn on Easter by those baptized.)  This is more likely than the theory that the early church put a pagan goddess’ name from Britain (Eostre) or Babylon (Ishtar) upon the holiday.

 

2.  Eggs were forbidden by the church to eat during holy week, so were plentiful and feasted and painted upon when Easter rolled around.  Bunnies weren’t associated with Easter until the 1600s (only a tiny bit) and the 1800’s (more pervasive).

 

3. Why such a Gnostic and anti-historical tendency to discourage any physical celebration of holidays, and to critically dismiss the development of such practices by our Christian ancestors?  It’s almost the woke cancellation of any history we don’t like.

 

4.  CS Lewis points out that pagan myths were common grace foreshadowings of the true Christian story.  (Did he get this in part reading Carl Jung?)  Even if there was a linguistic connection between Astarte and Easter, it isn’t a huge problem.

 

5. We don’t object to using pagan gods to name our days of the week, so why the big deal about Easter?

 

 

This really got me thinking!  First some general thoughts, and then, practically, how we celebrate Easter.

 

1. I basically agree with the summary above, though they are over-reacting a bit to the gnostic and “no annual Easter celebration” crowd.

 

2.  Why isn’t it a good thing to question our traditions and reshape them when needed, to be more biblical?  This isn’t a woke canceling of our past, but a thoughtful and ongoing reformation.  Fasting from eggs was a questionable practice, and the resulting visibility of eggs at Easter is unnecessary.

 

3. It IS a good point that we shouldn’t eschew using material stuff to celebrate Christmas, Easter, etc.  Giving gifts at Christmas still makes sense to most of us.  But what is the best way to materially celebrate the resurrection of Christ?  The best I’ve come up with is ham dinners and candy, so I’m open to suggestions.

 

4. In the past, I was convinced of the close word connection with Easter to the Canaanite fertility goddess Asherah/Ishtar/Astarte.  Sunshine goes a long way to question this.  But isn’t there something to be said about the old gods fighting back, in medieval Christendom?  Thor is an example.  The pagan impulse to pursue fertility or mother Gaia as a god, is alive and well today, under our secular veneer.  Why use a name like Easter, so close to Ishtar, to name Christ’s Resurrection day?  It seems more to import pagan fertility thought, than it redeems such for Christ by His resurrection.  

I may hold this opinion because I know more than usual about the seductive, sexual worship of Ishtar in Canaan, in Israel’s day.  The sexual copulation of the gods had to be reproduced on earth by their priests, priestesses, and worshipers, for the town to have fertile fields and wombs.  When the prophets rebuked Israel for whoring after other gods, they weren’t using exaggerated analogies.  It was literally true.

 

5.  Maybe this is a “meat-sacrificed-to-idols” thing, where I have a weaker conscience because of that historical understanding.  But on the other side, we ought to have warnings not to adopt silly fluff like Santa and bunnies, which obscure the true meaning of the holidays.  We want neither a dry 2 hour family worship lecture on the meaning of the day, nor a mindless, sentimental tradition.  How to bring joy to the day that is based in its meaning?

 

6. It isn’t a big deal to keep calling every mundane Thursday Thor’s Day.  There’s no meaning to Thursday to be corrupted.  But to take the annual celebration of the resurrection of Christ and name it after (or at least similarly to) a fertility goddess seems abhorrent to me.

 

 

 

Practical

1. In recent years I have refrained from using the word “Easter,” preferring Resurrection Day.  Sunshine’s history of the German word for dawns as Eostorum makes me less averse to using the word “Easter,” but isn’t totally convincing.

 

2. I see no need to continue traditions of Easter bunnies, eggs, or baskets.  We’ve never done these as a family, and it hasn't impoverished us culturally.  But families should give more thought – like we do with Christmas – to how we are going to bless our children/families in our celebration of this day.  A direct call to this at the end of the podcast would have been a blessing.

 

3. The principle is to make the Lord’s Day more special in some tangible ways for your family.  Special foods, activities, games, etc.  And make Resurrection Sunday even more special yet.  It is a “high Sabbath” (John 19:31).