Whenever a major Christian holiday rolls around, so do the critics. Not just from outside the church but within, too. Christians ought not to celebrate Christmas or Easter, they say, because those holidays have pagan origins. We’ve already addressed the alleged pagan roots of Christmas. What about Easter? Let’s look at the so-called pagan history of Easter, examining the holiday’s name, the Easter Bunny, and Easter eggs.
Why “Easter”?
Christmas is obviously linked to Christianity, as it has Christ in its name. But where does the word Easter come from? Some people claim that it refers to a pagan fertility goddess with a similar-sounding name, like Ishtar or Eostre. The major problem is that in English-speaking countries, Easter is only the name of the holiday commemorating Jesus’ resurrection. The rest of the world calls it some variation of Pascha, a derivation of the Hebrew word for Passover. If Easter were rooted in worship of the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, we must wonder how her influence traveled hundreds of miles from the Middle East to England without leaving a trace in the countries and cultures between.
What about the goddess Eostre? While Ishtar worship has historical support, there is none for Eostre. Her only mention is in passing by an eighth-century monk, Bede the Venerable, in De ratione temporum. He claimed that a goddess named Eostre gave her name to the ancient English month, Eosturmonath, in which the resurrection is celebrated. Critics then argue that Easter is a Christianification of a holiday or time period celebrating Eostre. The problem is that, apart from Bede, there is no evidence for a pagan goddess named Eostre. As a result, his claim is likely conjectural and lacks historical support. However, Bede’s mention of Eosturmonath does explain why the holiday is called Easter. Christian celebration of the Resurrection tended to fall within this month (April in modern calendars), so they may have simply called the holiday Eosturmonath, in the same way that Americans refer to Independence Day as the Fourth of July. Over time, people may have morphed Eosturmonath into Easter month and then shortened it to simply Easter. So while we have a potential linguistic connection from Eostur to Easter, there is no credible religious connection to a pagan goddess of a similar name.
This Ishtar/Eostre controversy highlights a major fallacy: just because two things share similar-sounding names doesn’t necessarily mean that the concepts they describe are related. We need evidence to make such a connection, to trace the development between the two. In the case of alleged pagan goddesses and Easter, there is none.
Easter Bunny
People have also claimed that the Easter Bunny is a pagan symbol of fertility. Is there truth to this? The earliest reference to a hopping, egg-laying mammal is actually the Easter Hare, which dates back to 1572 in Germany. The tradition was brought to the United States by German settlers, and over time, the hare became a bunny. This springtime symbol certainly has no connection to the resurrection of Christ and is simply a fun character that has become attached to the holiday. If anything, the Easter Bunny is more of a symbol of American consumerism than anything else—a marketing mascot used to promote baskets and chocolates, just like Santa Claus is for Christmas and Cupid for Valentine’s Day. Regardless, its history seems cultural rather than religious; there is no evidence that the Easter Bunny is rooted in paganism.
Easter Eggs
Unlike the Easter Bunny, eggs do have a connection to Christian traditions. During Lent, Christians often abstain from eating many foods, including eggs. But chickens continue to lay eggs whether or not people eat them. Thus, Christians would collect and boil eggs during Lent to make them last longer. This overabundance of eggs then became a symbol of Lent and Easter. Early Mesopotamian Christians dyed eggs red to symbolize the blood of Christ, and this tradition spread throughout other branches of Christianity. However, much like today, dyeing and hiding eggs may also have just been fun activities for children to celebrate the season. And even if pagans may have used eggs in their worship ceremonies, there is no reason to think that this in any way influenced the prominence of eggs around Easter time.
So What?
Although we have debunked the alleged pagan roots of Easter, what if some elements of the modern holiday were appropriated from ancient pagan practices? Should we then stop doing them? This would be a conscience issue.
On Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, not a pagan goddess.
Christians believe that Jesus’s resurrection is not merely a symbol of nature coming back to life after winter, but a true historical event. If the name of the holiday bothers your conscience, then call it Resurrection Sunday, as many Christians do. The Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs are intended as fun for children, similar to Santa Claus, lights, decorations, and presents at Christmas. If these things trouble you or become the focal point of the respective holidays instead of Jesus, then do not participate in them. But if you see bunnies and eggs as nothing more than childish fun, like giving presents on Christmas or children collecting candy on Halloween, then enjoy. Some Christians even argue that if Christian holidays do contain pagan elements, we should treat them as trophies of Christianity’s victory over paganism. All good things belong to God, and this includes bunnies and eggs.
Wherever you land on this issue, the most important point is that celebrations do not become stumbling blocks for ourselves and others.
Whenever someone claims that a Christian celebration is rooted in paganism, you can most easily respond by asking why that person believes it. Christians should be committed to truth, not hearsay or baseless theories. Whether you call the holiday Easter or Resurrection Sunday, it is the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Let that be the season’s main focus. He is risen!