What Easter Is NOT

     Easter is not to be, and should not be, confused with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Easter is celebrated at the same time each year as the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is not the same celebration. Easter is a pagan springtime festival. The rituals of Easter have many customs and legends that are pagan in origin and have nothing to do with Christianity. Modern day, self-confessed pagans celebrate the Easter festival commemorating the false goddess of fertility called Ostara. Traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit and in colored Easter eggs; both pagan symbols of fertility.

      Lent covers a forty-six-day period that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter. The Lenten season itself comprises forty days, as the six Sundays in Lent are not actually a part of Lent. Sundays are considered a commemoration of Easter Sunday and have always been excluded from the Lenten fast. The pagan festival begins at the end of the Lenten season. The Lenten season is a period of penitence in preparation for the highest festival of the Roman Catholic year, Easter. The Roman Catholics quite often will allow pagan practices to be used in their brand of celebrations of "Christianity" throughout the world, including Easter. Easter is a pagan celebration of springtime and has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ.

Study of the Word “Easter”

     Easter was named after the goddesses Eostre (also Eastre) and Ostara. She was the great mother goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Eostre is a lunar goddess, and her symbols include the egg and the rabbit, both of which are obvious fertility symbols. In addition, the egg represents, to pagans, the Cosmic Egg of Creation and the rabbit is symbolic of the moon. It used to be thought that an image of a hare could be seen in the full moon. Eostre's festival was held on the first full moon, on or next after, the vernal equinox, so this fertility goddess lends her festival, her symbols, and her name to the celebration of Easter.

     Similarly, the Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility was known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron, and Ausos. Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were: Ishtar from Assyria, Astarté from ancient Greece, and Ashtoreth from ancient Israel. The Old English word for Easter, "Eastre" refers to Ostara.

     Modern day Neo-Pagans celebrate Ostara with the coloring of eggs, ritually planting seeds symbolizing the growth of new ideas and projects, as well as, the greening of the spring of the year. Ostara is a celebration of conception, regeneration and the triumph of light (Lucifer) over darkness. Ostara is a time for pagans to celebrate the fertility of mind, body, and spirit.

The Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs

     The egg and the rabbit, two of Easter's most common symbols, have ancient associations with spring. The meaning of which is connected to fertility and fecundity. According to Anglo-Saxon myth Ostara, wanting to delight some children one day, turned her pet bird into a rabbit. The rabbit proceeded to lay brightly colored eggs, which Ostara gave to the children.

     One explanation for the Ostara myth concerns the plover and rabbits in Europe. In the breeding season, the plover needs different conditions for nesting and for chick rearing. The nest is a scrape in the ground, lined with a variable amount of plant material. The birds need a good all around view from the nest to spot predators, and nest either on bare ground or in short vegetation. They often choose rough or broken ground to aid concealment of the nest. Spring sown crops and rough grazing are ideal. They lay clutches of four cryptically coloured eggs from late March to early June, and chicks hatch 3-4 weeks later. It was thought when the plover left her nest to find food people would mistake her nest for a rabbit's nest. Especially since they could find rabbits hopping around nearby and rabbits and hares are known to make similar nests.

     Easter Egg Hunts have their roots in the European tradition. In ancient Europe, eggs of different colors were taken from the nests of various birds and used to make talismans. The eggs were often ritually eaten. The search through the woods for eggs gradually evolved into the Easter egg hunt, while painted eggs eventually replaced wild birds' eggs. Easter baskets were probably originally intended to resemble birds' nests.

     In Medieval Europe, eggs were forbidden during Lent. Therefore, they were a prized Easter gift for children and servants after the Lenten season. Eggs were painted bright colors to resemble the sun and springtime. Often, the colors and patterns had romantic symbolism, and lovers exchanged eggs with each other as a sign of fertility.

What Easter Should Be

  If you are a true, born again Christian you should be celebrating the resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ and not the pagan holiday of Easter. The two celebrations should not be confused even though they are celebrated during the same season. Easter should be recognized for what it is and defined as its name implies. Easter is the pagan, spring festival worshipping the false goddess Eostre (Ostara). Today, neo-pagans and Wiccans (white witches) celebrate Ostara (Easter) around the world. Any Christian calling their worship of Jesus Christ and His resurrection after the name of a false goddess, and participating in the same pagan practices, needs to repent of their blasphemy and renounce their pagan practice.

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