ALT-3 Should we Celebrate Easter
For those who are at least nominally Christian, we all know Easter as the holiday of bunnies and eggs and bright colors and, well, it has something to do with Christ somewhere, right? Not originally.
The word 'Easter' itself is actually related to the ancient pagan goddess Ishtar from at least as early as Babylonian times. Also called Astarte, Ashtoreth, Aphrodite, and other names in various times and cultures, she was primarily a fertility goddess. The fertility basis of the holiday shows itself in the trappings and traditions that surround the day. Rabbits are known to be a very fertile kind of animal ("breeding like rabbits"), and while they don't lay eggs themselves, eggs are another symbol of fertility and have been for thousands of years.
When the early formalized church was trying to convert the pagans who had been following many gods and goddesses for a long time, they allowed the people to retain their old holidays and traditions, including the spring festival, for easier conversion. This ends up being one form of syncretism, or religious merging, because the old festivals were being used to try to celebrate in the name of God instead of the old deities. However, they have no basis in the Bible.
Nowhere does the Bible say to celebrate the resurrection. Nowhere do the disciples celebrate the resurrection when it happens, or at the same time in later years. When it happened, they did not know at first and could not celebrate at all. They were quite discouraged, in fact, thinking that Christ had actually died permanently. They would be joyful later, once they learned the truth, but not as a holiday.
Instead, the disciples celebrated the Passover with Christ the night before the crucifixion (what Christianity calls the "Last Supper" today, as if it were a real meal). They continued to keep the Holy Days that had been handed down from God for hundreds of years. For instance, the Days of Unleavened Bread are mentioned in Acts 12:3.
Easter itself is actually mentioned in the very next verse in reference to Herod keeping it. It is worth noting that this "Easter," while translated from the same word translated in other places as Passover, must refer to the pagan spring festival due to the timing. Herod jailed Peter during the days of unleavened bread, which occur after the single day of Passover. According to the passage, he intended to bring him out after Easter, which was still in the future. Therefore, Easter here cannot refer to the Passover.
While Passover is generally considered a "Jewish" holiday, it actually has much more symbolism and meaning when considered from a Christian point of view. The original day is a day of remembrance of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt. To escape the final plague, they had to kill a lamb and put its blood on the doors to their homes. The lamb was the sacrifice in place of the firstborn son that would die otherwise.
John 1:29 says, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Christ himself was the perfect sacrificial lamb, who died as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Instead of the normal meal of a sacrificed lamb on the normal night of Passover, the disciples celebrated Passover with him the night before that, using the symbols of the bread and wine. There would be no more need for physical lambs, because the next day, on Passover itself, Christ became the lamb.
While the resurrection after three days was the sign of Jonah, the important part was the death. The Jews do not commemorate when the Israelites entered the Promised Land, but when they fled from the bondage of Egypt. Similarly, the resurrection is not what is important to remember, but the death of Christ, when the penalty for sin was paid. Easter is a poor substitute for the Passover, the Holy Day given in the Bible.
For more information:"The Passover: Why Did Jesus Christ Have to Die?"(http://www.ucg.org/booklets/HD/havetodie.htm)
