The religious festivals of the Christian church are regulated by both the solar and the lunar year; the years are reckoned by the sun, and the months by the moon. The fixed feasts, such as Christmas, fall on the same day every year. The movable feasts, such as Easter, vary from year to year in order to keep the festival in tune with the cycles of the moon.
Easter embodies many ancient practices of pagan people of Europe and Asia. To celebrate the return of spring, the pagans held festivals reenacting regeneration myths and performed magical and religious ceremonies to make their crops grow and prosper. Some of these rites and symbols, such as the colored Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit, are still practiced today.
Although Easter is a Christian festival that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, the origin of the name is unknown. However, one explanation of the name “Easter” is found in the Teutonic feast of new life in spring, a celebration of the spring sun. The German word “Ostern” and our English word “Easter” are derived from “eoster,” “eastur” or “ostara,” all meaning the season of new birth. Another word, “ost” or east, is used for the place where the sun rises.
Most scholars have accepted the writings of the English historian the Venerable Bede (c. 735 A.D.) as to the origin of the word. Bede wrote that “Eostre” was the name of the Anglo Saxon Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility whose festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox.
As Christian missionaries spread among the pagan people, they observed that these spring festivals coincided with their own commemoration of the resurrection. In time, the missionaries were able to change the joy of the spring ceremonies of the rising sun and nature’s rebirth, to become the joy of the rising Son of God and the new life of the risen Jesus Christ. Eventually, the resurrection at Easter was celebrated throughout the world.
“Herod took Peter into custody… He had him arrested and thrown into prison, with four squads of soldiers to guard him. Herod intended to bring him before the people after the Passover” (Acts 12:3-4).
Scholars use this Scripture passage as the original association of Easter with the Jewish festival of Passover, celebrated every spring to commemorate when the early Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery.
It was on the eve of a Passover celebration prior to Christ’s crucifixion that Jesus and His disciples ate a Passover meal. Various terms for this meal are found in Scripture: the Lord’s Supper, Communion and the Eucharist. The Gentile Christian regarded the Lord’s Supper as a new feature established by Jesus to commemorate the resurrection.
Although the resurrection was celebrated annually from a very early period, the days on which it was celebrated varied among different groups of Christians. The Gentile Christians celebrated the resurrection on the Sunday following Passover, which from year to year fell on different Sundays. They recalled the morning after the Sabbath: “Now on the first day of the week (Sunday), Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1). She later saw the risen Jesus.
For the Jewish Christian, Easter fell on a different day of the week each year. The resurrection was celebrated after Passover, which was connected with the law of Moses: “This month (Nisan, March-April) shall be for you the first month of the year for you” (Exodus 12:2). The feast of Passover was celebrated in the evening at sunset (Deuteronomy 16:6) on the 15th day of the agricultural feast of Azymes.
Controversies about the day to observe Easter continued between Eastern and Western churches for centuries. Finally, in 325 A.D., Emperor Constantine of Rome called a council at the city of Nicea to settle the Easter date. The Council of Nicea decided Easter would be observed in all churches on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox (when the sun crosses the equator, approximately March 22). Thus, Easter can never fall before March 22 or after April 25. If the full moon occurs on a Sunday, Easter is to be celebrated the following Sunday. This method is still followed today. Emperor Constantine also decreed the week to be seven days long, a practice begun by Moses. The Council of Nicea also decided the Easter date would be calculated at Alexandria, a cultural and astronomical center of the world.
In 525 A.D., a monk, mathematician and astronomer, Dionysus Exigus, developed some of the astronomer Victorius’s ideas and dated events from the birth of Christ. Today, some still use B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini, in the Year of our Lord) to designate the major eras of history.
Pope Gregory XIII reformed the Julian calendar also referred to as Old Style (by 1582 it was inaccurate by 10 days). The Gregorian calendar is also called the New Style. Thursday, Oct. 4 became Friday, Oct. 15, thus restoring the next equinox to the proper date and resolving Easter’s date in the arrangement of the ecclesiastical year. The Gregorian calendar, by which we now live, is so precise that the difference will increase by only .53 seconds every 100 years!
Still, it took time for other nations to adopt the Gregorian calendar. Great Britain didn’t do it until 1752. The Roman Catholic nations adopted the calendar quickly, but Protestant England and America resisted. Many Eastern churches still use the Julian calendar to date their holy days.
During the 20th century, reforms have been proposed to have a common fixed date for Easter, like Christmas. But for now, Easter will remain the joyous and movable feast that it is.
Carole Christman Koch grew up in Berks County and has been published in numerous publications. She has a passion for writing and has many stories from growing up on a farm to everyday stories.
