The origin of Easter
The Easter celebration today has a chocolate bunny scattering chocolate eggs. Many people believe that it began when Jesus rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. This is true, but there was history before it as well (Travers, 2017).
Long before Christianity existed, Easter was a pagan festival that marked the end of the chilly winter and the start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, humans have celebrated equinoxes and solstices since prehistoric times, and they have planned their entire lives in accordance with natural phenomena. This makes sense given that the feast days were connected to the previous pagan festivals throughout the first couple of centuries following the life of Jesus. As a result, spring’s warmth and solace have been linked to Jesus’ victory over even death (Travers, 2017).
Why eggs?
Many traditions were later assimilated by Christianity and the pagan festivities and made a part of their own as a representation of Jesus’ resurrection.
Decorating and eating eggs as a pleasure after Easter Sunday after fasting through Lent naturally developed into a culture during the Middle Ages. In fact, this still occurs, particularly in Eastern European nations like Poland.
However, a treatise by German professor of medicine Georg Franck von Franckenau that referenced an “Easter hare” and was published in 1772 is what helped to further develop this unusual ritual. According to him, hares would conceal the colorful eggs that children would locate, which raises the possibility that the strange custom dates back to the 18th century (Travers, 2017).
Why does Easter keep changing dates?
Hughes (2023) claims that Easter always occurs at a different time each year. Easter is based on the moon cycle. Therefore, that explains it. After the first full moon following the spring equinox in March, Easter Sunday will always occur. Since the Gregorian and solar calendars are currently more widely used than the lunar calendar, any date between March 22 and April 25 can be the full moon.
References
Hughes, D. (2023). Why the dates of Easter change each year, and when it falls in 2023. [online] inews.co.uk. Available at: https://inews.co.uk/light-relief/easter-why-change-different-dates-when-2023-sunday-2261915 [Accessed 20 April 2023].
Travers, P. (2017). Origin of Easter: From pagan rituals to bunnies and chocolate eggs. ABC News. [online] 15 Apr. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-15/the-origins-of-easter-from-pagan-roots-to-chocolate-eggs/8440134 [Accessed 20 April 2023].
