ALT-1 The Symbols of Easter
Most people associate certain symbols with the Easter holiday. Several of the symbols actually pre-date Christianity by thousands of years. They were adopted to represent different aspects of Christianity, made to fit and match. Early Christians may have felt other peoples would more readily accept Christianity if there were rituals and symbols they knew, so they adopted those of the pagans in order to convert them. Others were accepted as symbols much later.
The name Easter seems to derive from many of the ancient goddesses of the mid-east, who lorded over spring and the spring equinox. They were worshiped in festivals and religious celebrations during the springtime. Their names, Ostara, Eostre or Eastre (Anglo-Saxon Teutonic/German), Ishtar (Mesopotamian), Astarte (Babylonian and Assyrian called Ashtoreth in the Hebrew tongue) and others, were all possibly one and the same, representing fertility, spring, and reproduction. Also the rising sun in the east (the dawn) is attributed them.
Eggs have been a symbol of rebirth and spring in most known ancient cultures, so that they are used as an icon in the Easter tradition is no surprise. They were used by many ancient rituals as symbols of fertility, newness of life, etc. Some cultures believed the world started off as an egg.
Coloring eggs, egg hunts, and the egg rolling tradition held each year on the White House lawn, began with non-Christian practices. The Germans would put eggs in man-made nests. We make or buy Easter baskets nowadays, to represent the nests that carry the eggs.
Eggs also represent drops of water, seeds, and even the tomb rock where Jesus was laid.
The Easter bunny did not start out as a bunny at all. The goddess Eastre claimed the hare as her animal symbol. She had a chicken as her familiar. It would lay eggs, put them in a nest and then hide the nest. Eastre changed the chicken into a hare, but the hare continued to lay eggs. The animal was replaced by the rabbit or bunny later.
An interesting story of how the rabbit lays eggs comes from Germany. Long ago, German women left eggs for children to find on an egg hunt in their yards. A hare (called Oschter Haws) came hopping by one garden, and when the children saw it, they thought the hare left the eggs. It became traditional to attribute the hare to the bringing of eggs each spring. Possibly the Germans gave us the tradition of chocolate eggs and rabbits, also.
Having a Sunrise Service is right in line with the pagan celebrations of the dawn and spring. These celebrations were held before sunrise, and the participants made offerings of praise and gifts to the goddess of the religion. Christians practice this ritual on Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.
Chicken and chicks are symbols of Easter, and they usually show up with the rabbits and eggs. However, the chicken has long been a symbol of new life, because they lay eggs. In the spirit of Easter, Christians remember that a rooster crowed on the day Jesus dies, before Peter makes his famous denial. The rooster is a sign of remembrance, and a reminder not to deny the Risen Savior.
Of course, the cross is the symbol of the resurrection, the Risen savior, salvation, and Jesus' victory over death. But ancient crosses were used as symbols of fertility and life, the union of male and female, the spiritual merging with the secular, before they were a Christian symbol. Consider the Egyptian ankh as an example. Hot cross buns are nothing new, nor are they solely related to the Christian Easter. Ages ago, this was bread made as offering from the Anglo-Saxons to Eastre, with the cross shape on top of the loaf signifying the four phases of the moon. It was served in springtime. In Christianity, it is served on Good Friday, in remembrance of the cross on which Jesus hung.
There are other symbols without notable pagan roots associated with Easter. The Easter lily symbolizes newness. Spring, holiness, the purity of Jesus the Lamb, and even immortality are all represented by the lily. It is sometimes called the passion flower. Bonfires and candles are the light of Christ or the sun. Palm branches are used to welcome royalty.
The Lamb, of course, is the sacrifice of the Passover. New clothes represent new life. Pretzels are like crossed arms in prayer; at Lent they were made of flour, salt, and water. They were folded, and called bracellae (little arms), but the name became prezel over time. The butterfly represents the phases of Jesus' experience on Earth. The worm His life; the cocoon His death; the emergence His resurrection. The dogwood tree/flower is used to symbolize the aspects of the cross. The tree was used for the cross; the flower looks like a cross with red spots on the edges; the center is like a crown of thorns.
People tend to eat ham at Easter. The pig is a symbol of good luck, which is why we save money in piggy banks. Easter Parades give worshippers the opportunity to show off new clothes, symbolizing new lives. The ringing of bells symbolizes the resurrection. The bells are rung each day except Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and then rang again on Easter morn, to announce new life. And finally, angels are displayed in remembrance that they told the Good News of the Risen Savior.
