Some History of Easter

 It is Easter Monday so this still counts. It takes energy and concentration I no longer have to do a post in two days or it would have been done yesterday. Tanya remembered that yesterday was "my" Easter so today she ordered in pizza to celebrate. We'll have a real Paskha meal on May 2 which is Orthodox Easter.

In commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus, Easter also celebrates the defeat of death and the hope of salvation. Christian tradition holds that the sins of humanity were paid for by the death of Jesus and that his Resurrection represents the anticipation believers can have in their own resurrection." https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday

Easter is principal festival of the Christian church, which celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his Crucifixion. (From about 6 pm on Friday to before dawn on Sunday, Christ was in the tomb no more than 36 hours). The earliest recorded observance of an Easter celebration comes from the 2nd century, though the commemoration of Jesus’ resurrection probably occurred earlier.

Early Christians called Christ's resurrection "Pesach," the Hebrew word for Passover because it occurred during the Passover period. Today, many languages use a variation of that name: "Pâques" in French, "Pascua" in Spanish, "Pasqua" in Italian, "Pashkë" in Albanian, " Paaske" in Danish, and "Pask" in Swedish (Paskha in Russian and Ukrainian).

Passover, Hebrew Pesaḥ or Pesach, in Judaism commemorates the Hebrews’ liberation from slavery in Egypt and the 'passing over' of the forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, when the Lord 'smote the land of Egypt' on the eve of the Exodus. April 4 marked the end of Passover in 2021. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Passover

In Asia Minor, Christians observed the day of the Crucifixion on the same day that Jews celebrated the Passover offering—that is, on the 14th day of the first full moon of spring, The Resurrection, then, was observed two days later, regardless of the day of the week. In the West the Resurrection of Jesus was celebrated on the first day of the week, Sunday, when Jesus had risen from the dead. The Council of Nicaea in 325 decreed that Easter should be observed on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. Easter, therefore, can fall on any Sunday between March 22nd and April 25th.

Eastern Orthodox churches use a slightly different calculation based on the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar (which is 13 days ahead of the former), with the result that the Orthodox Easter celebration usually occurs later than that celebrated by Protestants and Roman Catholics. Moreover, the Orthodox tradition prohibits Easter from being celebrated before or at the same time as Passover.

The English word Easter, which parallels the German word Ostern, is of uncertain origin. One view, expounded by the Venerable Bede An English monk in the 7th century, was that it derived from Eostre, (Eostrae, Astarte, or Oster), the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility (Ostara in German). This view presumes—as does the view associating the origin of Christmas on December 25 with pagan celebrations of the winter solstice—that Christians appropriated pagan names and holidays for their highest festivals.

Another view derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term. Personally I suspect that the two can be combined. The goddesses, Eostre and Ostara can easily be linked to the equinox, sun, east,dawn, spring, fertility and all that goes with it including eggs and bunnies. Since Eostre is an Anglo Saxon goddess, her name likely came from Germany and Old High German.

Easter eggs are a Christianized version of a tradition dating back thousands of years of collecting, dyeing, and decorating eggs. Many ancient cultures, including the Greeks and Egyptians, saw eggs as a sign of fertility and new life; they used eggs in religious rituals and hung them in pagan temples for mystical purposes. The use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century. The church prohibited the eating of eggs during Holy Week, but chickens continued to lay eggs during that week, and the notion of specially identifying those as “Holy Week” eggs brought about their decoration. The egg itself became a symbol of the Resurrection. Just as Jesus rose from the tomb, the egg symbolizes new life emerging from the eggshell. Ukraine especially has taken the decorating of Easter Eggs or Pysanka to high level art.

Easter Bunnies were first noted in Germany in about 1722, hiding eggs for children to find. Germans brought the tradition to America and by the 19th century the bunnies had acquired current day mythology, laying, decorating and hiding Easter eggs and delivering Easter baskets. by mid-1800s sugar and pastry bunnies were available and chocolate bunny molds were found in Munich from 1850. By 1924 people could order chocolate rabbits from catalogues.

Easter candy became popular in the 19th century as companies like Cadbury gained the ability to mass produce in fancy shapes and packages. Jelly beans became part of Easter in the 1930s.

Hot Cross Buns trace back to ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, where they served as symbols of honor toward their goddesses, according to the Oxford Companion to Food. Later, these sweet breads became popular at Easter, especially in England where bakers were forbidden to sell spice breads except on special holidays, like the Friday before Easter. Today, they're mostly representations of the Christian symbol of the cross, as well as a sweet, buttery addition to an elegant Easter meal.

Easter Sunday Sunrise Services are a Protestant tradition. It was at early at dawn on Easter morning that Mary went to Jesus's tomb to find it empty. The tradition of sunrise Easter service dates back to 1732, when the first service was held in Germany by the Moravian Church. A group of young men gathered at the first light of dawn at the town's graveyard to sing hymns of praise — and the next year, the entire congregation joined in. By 1773, the first sunrise service for Easter was held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

There are hundreds of sources of information on Easter history and traditions. These are the ones I used and I lay no claim to accuracy if someone wants to argue, send me better sources.

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/g191/history-easter-traditions/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Easter-holiday

https://time.com/4738876/easter-word-origin-history/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-15/the-origins-of-easter-from-pagan-roots-to-chocolate-eggs/8440134

https://theconversation.com/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday-75025