Many people are surprised once they do some research on the origins of Easter.

It seems that Easter most likely had Pagan origins. The name ‘Easter’ originated from an ancient Pagan Goddess of fertility, Eostre. She was a Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. She was a Goddess of fertility and sex. Her name was said to have been derived from the ancient word for spring.

Spring Equinox 

Spring represents the time of new beginnings. It may be said, it’s akin to the sunrise time of the day. Sunrise became ‘ostern’ in German. So it seems, this may be the origin of the word ‘Easter’. This ‘Easter’ origionally was a celebration of Spring Equinox. Once upon a time, this was seen as the beginning of the new year. However, somehow over time, for various reasons things were changed. In some sort of turn of events, Constantine christianised the celebration of ‘Easter’ to represent Jesus.

Christian Celebration 

Now, the Catholic Church has ruled that Easter falls on a particular day. Easter is to be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the spring equinox. Hence, it just so happens that now, this day is mostly after the true spring equinox.

This is now just the way it is. Interestingly, now-a-days, most people just simply abide by this ruling, mostly without even knowing why. Our western world seems to be now so bogged down in this dogma. Yet, strangely, most people are unaware of the ‘Spring Equinox’ … and as a consequence may be missing the true essence, the meaning inherent in this special time of year.

What’s the true meaning of Easter?

We’ve learnt from Christian studies, that Easter Sunday, also known as Resurrection Day is about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The story, as described in the ‘New Testament’ says that he was crucified on ‘Good Friday’ and then resurrected after the third day.

One may ask, is it just pure coincidence that Jesus resurrection just happened to be at the same time as the spring equinox. Celebrating an event without knowing it’s true meaning is crazy. Maybe, it’s time to be aware of dogma and to seek answers for our-self.

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