Easter Does Not Have Pagan Origins! (Rewrite)
- Jason Pluebell
- 43 minutes ago
- 9 min read
We are once more entering a time of year when internet trolls come out to ridicule Christianity. With Easter approaching, many will assert that it has pagan origins. How can we respond to these claims? Are they accurate?
It's that time of the year when we celebrate and reflect on the sacrifice our Lord Jesus Christ made on the cross at Calvary. After suffering a completely unfair trial, Jesus was flogged, beaten, kicked in the dust, and then forced to carry His own cross to the place of His death (Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, Luke 23:16, 22, John 19:1). From what we know about Roman flogging, Jesus very well would have had the flesh on His back shredded, possibly with some bone visible. He then had large nails driven into His wrists and ankles, pinning Him to the cross He carried, and then erected for all those passing to see. This sacrifice was unimaginably painful physically, but much more spiritually, as He filled the sin debt of all who believe in His work. There is true forgiveness and salvation for all who trust in the name and power of Jesus, to be restored to a righteous love relationship with God.
Every holiday, there are people on the internet who attempt to bash the party with claims that the day came from pagans and not Christianity. Many say that Easter "without a doubt" has pagan roots; its modern-day symbols obviously represent fertility cults. It has to be related to paganism with painted eggs and the Easter Bunny, right? The main argument is that since some things look like they may be pagan symbols, they therefore must be pagan symbols. This claim has little to no evidence backing it, other than pure speculation and poor reasoning. The truth is a little more complex than the mere appearance of words, objects, or images.
Where Does The Name Easter Come From?
Some say that the name of the day, Easter, originates from pagan gods like the Babylonian Ishtar, or the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ostara and her festival, Eostre. These claims lack actual substance and utilize logical fallacies, sensational reasoning, and emotional manipulation to grab people's attention. But the name "Easter" has no etymological roots to either name. The truth, and it may be hard to hear for people heavily committed to these claims, is that the name Easter is only the pronunciation of the day in English and Germanic-speaking regions. Every other part of the world: Romanian, Italian, Irish, French, Dutch, Greek, Bulgarian, Swedish, Spanish, Welsh, etc., call the day Pascha.
So, for starters, the name of Easter itself does not originate with paganism, as it was only when Germanic and English-speaking regions called the day after the month it fell in, Eostremonath (more on this shortly).
Is Easter A Pagan Name?
Despite the etymology of the name Easter, some still insist that since it sounds similar to the name Ishtar, it means Christians stole the holiday from the Babylonians. This is committing the Association Fallacy. A fallacy is when somebody makes a mistake in their reasoning, and each fallacy identifies the many different ways we can mess up while thinking through things. The Association Fallacy is where the conclusion is derived from a similarity in sound, appearance, or other qualities and nothing else, hence why these pagan claims lack historical substance, as they are not reasoning soberly. The same goes for the festival of Eostre, as there is no historical connection to Easter there either. Even though there is little to no evidence other than fallacious reasoning to support the Isthar hypothesis, some will say Easter came from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ostara.
As for Ostara, we only have a single piece of documentation mentioning her that doesn't even suggest Easter was named after Eostre or Ostara. The mention comes from Saint Bede (AD 673 - AD 735), with no other records outside of this mention:
“Eostremonath has a name which is now translated Pachal month, and which was once called after a goddess of the name Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designated that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.” 2
The truth is that the name Ostara has etymological connections to the ancient Germanic word Ostaro, which simply meant springtime. We don't even know when her followers worshipped her, how they worshipped her, their traditions, only what Saint Bede records. Scholars actually know very little about Ostara, and most think that Bede may have made her up.3 We have no idea who Ostara was, what she did, where or when she was worshipped, or what people may have worshipped her. Anything else about Ostara is simply modern-day additions and stories with no roots to the actual Germanic pagan group.
Where Does Easter Come From?
Although the exact origins of the name Easter is a debate, there is a generally held consensus among scholars. Their main agreement boils down to this: the name formed from the fact that Pascha fell on, in Germanic areas, the month of Eostremonath, or the fourth month on the old English calendar.
Resurrection Sunday fell in the month of Eostremonath, with the name of the month eventually being shortened and adopted by English and Germanic people as Easter. This is a very similar situation to us today, calling Independence Day "the 4th of July". The name of the holiday originated as a nickname derived from the day of the month it fell on. Now, the name of the month Eostremonath may have originated with the festival of Eostre, but that does not immediately warrant that Easter also is derived from the name source, and it doesn't make it pagan. The names originated from the times of the Holidays. Pascha came from the fact that Jesus was crucified on Passover, so Christians eventually called Pascha Easter in Germanic regions, which were most likely under the same premise; they ended up adopting the Germanic name for the timing of the season.
Isn't The Easter Bunny Pagan?
Some will argue that since bunnies have lots of babies, they must be fertility symbols taken from pagan cult traditions. But this is false. The very first instance of an Easter Bunny was in 1571, long after paganism had any influence on Europeans, and it wasn't even a bunny in the beginning, but a hare. Here are some differences between hares and bunnies, just because some people sonfuse the two. Hares and bunnies cannot cross-breed; hares and bunnies live in different areas; hares cannot be domesticated; hares also live alone and have longer pregnancy cycles than bunnies. So simply saying "ehh, whats the difference" will not suffice here. The first Easter Bunny was not a bunny at all, but a hare, which is not a symbol of fertility.
The idea of the Easter Bunny coming from paganism finds its origin in a writing in the 19th-century from Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm (1785 - 1893) in his book, "Deutsche Mythologie". Grimm offered zero evidence for the bunny being a common fertility symbol across any cults.6 Bunnies are a very common springtime animal in the northern hemisphere: they travel in large packs with frequent mating seasons that drastically increase their numbers in the springtime after winter. Because of this, you tend to see lots of bunnies in the spring when Easter takes place. So their association with the celebration can be tied to the 16th-century Germans attaching the animals to the month of Eostremonath. Eventually, since Pascha became associated with the month, bunnies and the Resurrection were both tied to the springtime and Easter. There is simply no evidence that bunnies were fertility symbols commonly used by cults, and the only source for these claims doesn't provide any evidence either. This claim is dead in the water... taken out before it could leave the ground.
Easter Eggs Have To Be Pagan, Right?
There are claims that when people celebrated Eostre, they would paint eggs with the blood of human and animal sacrifices and hide them in hopes that the gods would bless their land. If someone were to find one of these blood eggs, it was seen as a symbol of good luck, thus leading to the Easter egg hunt. While this sounds compelling, further investigation proves it false.
Eggs were certainly part of pagan rituals and other religious traditions before Christianity, but only to the extent that any commonly consumed food was, given their nutritional importance in ancient times (as they are today). Eggs are a staple in many religions and cultures, so they did not hold special significance in this context, making it too broad a claim to suggest that Christians adopted them from pagans. The earliest reference to Easter eggs comes from AD 1290, when King Edward I decorated 450 hard-boiled eggs covered in golden leaf to be given to his friends and family:
“In 1290, Edward I Purchased 450 eggs which were painted or covered in gold leaf before being distributed to members of the royal entourage.” 7
This is the earliest the tradition can be traced back, and nobody at the time of the event even connected the eggs to anything other than his decision to have a fun tradition for Easter. There is also evidence of people making Easter eggs in the early Middle Ages because during Lent, people wouldn't eat eggs because they would fast. Because of this, they would hard-boil their eggs so that they would last longer. They were also an extremely common food source, as eggs were very cheap compared to meat and other foods. So eggs were boiled to be preserved, and may have even been decorated on holidays and festivals if they were not being served, but none of this evidence suggests they came from pagans. There simply is no evidence to draw the conclusion that they stole from pagans, as all of it suggests they simply decorated eggs.
Wasn't Easter Created At The Council Of Nicaea To Mask Paganism?
Now this is a claim I have only heard once, and I'm very surprised it even exists. Some believe that the Church fathers stole Eostre from pagans and rebranded it as Easter, but this is so far from the truth. All that happened at the Council of Nicaea was the Bishops deciding a method for calculating the date of Pascha to be on the first sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. Also, Christians had no contact with Anglo-Saxon culture at the time, and we are not even sure if Ostara was even a goddess that Germanic tribes worshipped. There simply is not enough evidence to claim paganism with any bit of confidence.
This Is A Day About Jesus!
Didn't Jesus warn us not to follow man-made traditions that replace worship of God? (Mark 7:6). With what we have covered, this claim begs the question, assuming modern Easter is pagan and replaces true worship of God. But no Easter tradition has pagan origins, and nobody is worshipping the Easter Bunny. We have these elements that make the day more palatable to all people, while remembering what the day is truly about. Heck, I still see chocolate crosses with Bible verses on them at my local dollar store! I still see every Church in my area having a Good Friday service where all the attention is on Jesus. The worship and glorification of our Lord has not ceased, and modern Easter has not been stolen by secularists.
So while we associate these things with the holiday, we are not replacing the purpose of it. Nor are we worshipping Jesus' death as worshipping death itself (as some claim), as Jesus rose again. We worship a living God, not a dead one, and this tradition of Pascha goes as far back as at least the start of the second century.8 So, should Christians avoid Easter? Should we avoid the holiday because secularists have "bunny-fied" the holiday? I surely do not think that, because some non-believer embraces the secular elements of the day, therefore I should avoid it, especially if it's the day of our risen Lord's triumph over sin and death!
And why should I avoid eggs and bunnies? I could keep in mind the true historical roots of the name and traditions while practicing them, all in honor of Jesus. I could also aid others by informing them about the true origins and help them see how the day and traditions all celebrate Jesus. Easter can be a day to learn about our saviour, the holiday's history, our own history, and how God's hand has been guiding history according to His perfect plan. All leading to the glorification of Him and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Do not let anti-holiday(ists) ruin your focus on Christ. Let this season be a time of reflection on your sin and Jesus' payment. Easter is not about bunnies, candy, or eggs. It's about the death and resurrection of humanity's saviour, Jesus Christ; It's about the graceous love God displayed in the most humble act in History; Its about the deep desire for grace and love God has for all of us; It's about the lives that can be saved eternity by simple trust in Jesus' sacrifice and Lordship; It's about the Body of Christ (the Church) coming together and remembering that we are all sinners being slowly sanctified into heavenly creatures for God's Glory on Earth; It's about the eternity we will spend with God shouting "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments.” It's about our beloved triune God's love for His creation, and you. Amen.
(2) (Saint Bede, The Reckoning of Time, XV)
(3) (Frank Snetion, Anglo-Saxon England, Pg 98)
(6) (Tanya Gulvich, Encyclopedia of Easter Carnivale & Lent, Pg 96).
(8) (Melito of Sardis, On Pascha, AD 190)