What are the origins of Easter Rabbit and Eggs?
What is Easter? Easter is the sacred celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. It is the oldest and holiest Christian festival, the climax and center of the liturgical year, and the holy day to which all other holy days point. Even denominations that do not strictly follow a liturgical calendar commemorate Easter with tremendous joy and thanksgiving. Click here to read an Easter sermon from the early fifth century. Where does the name “Easter” come from? According to the Venerable Bede, an Anglo-Saxon cleric and historian of late 7th-century/early 8th-century England, Easter gets its name from Eostre or Eastre, a Teutonic goddess of the dawn whose annual festival took place on the vernal equinox, the first day of spring (in the northern hemisphere). While some scholars dispute this theory, it appears that the name “Easter” comes from the same root as the English word “east,” the direction of the rising sun. The ancient name for the festival of Christ’s resurrection is Pascha,
