My wife and I enjoy talking to each other as we eat supper, and the TV generally hums in the background, sometimes not really being watched, as was the case a few nights ago. My wife had stepped out of the living room (we eat there more than we do in the dining room) for a few moments when an upbeat jingle caught my attention. I don’t remember what channel we were watching or even what the program was, but the little tune caused me to look at the TV long enough to watch a commercial related to our upcoming holiday, Easter.
The commercial presented kids and laughter and colored eggs and gifts and fun. I, like most people, like kids and laughter and colored eggs and gifts and fun. But as I sat there I thought, “There is nothing in this commercial about Jesus, the very reason this holiday is supposedly celebrated.”
Does that even matter? Well, it does if Jesus is who he said he is. He called himself the “I Am” in the biblical gospel of John, clearly a claim to deity, for “I Am” is an Old Testament name for God. Jesus also told his earthly followers some 2,000 years ago that he was the only way to heaven . . . in other words, without him none of us can avoid eternal punishment. In simple terms the Christian gospel declares that the perfection of Jesus’ life, which supremely exceeded that of any other human that has ever lived, is substituted for our imperfect lives, thus giving us favor with God – a particularly good thing to have if the Bible’s assertion of a future Judgment Day is true.
Now if the Christian gospel is a fabrication or hoax, and Jesus was just another person wrongfully claiming deity, then we don’t have to concern ourselves with studying his life or his words or his commands nor do we need his perfection to replace our imperfection. We can instead have fun coloring eggs every day of the year, if we so desire, because the celebration of Easter (or Resurrection Day for Christians) would be nothing more than a national Day in the Park. By the way, a growing number of individuals believe this . . . that Jesus was just another historical figure who concluded his tenure on earth in a tomb (though his body was never found by government authorities who searched for it), and so we should think nothing further of him. They contend he was an influential teacher but certainly not the sole resurrected savior of humankind.
“Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, while religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practices, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well-worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviors too,” writes Heather McDougall in The Guardian.com.
She continues, “Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering ‘sunrise services’ at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration. The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – how pagan is that?” (1)
Good question, Heather. Just how pagan is the entire celebration of Easter? I have heard for years from various sources that the Easter celebration finds its origin in Ishtar, the ancient goddess of fertility and sex whose reproductive power is symbolized by the egg – thus the eggs of Easter.
There is historical evidence that followers of Ishtar practiced harlotry when they went to their temple services, believing that they received divine blessings when they had relations with the shrine prostitutes. But there is disagreement among some historians and researchers about the connection between Ishtar and Easter.
Krystal D’Costa explains in Scientific American that “The word Easter does not appear to be derived from Ishtar, but from the German Eostre, the goddess of the dawn — a bringer of light. English and German are in the minority of languages that use a form of the word Easter to mark the holiday. Elsewhere, the observance is framed in Latin pascha, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew pesach, meaning of or associated with Passover. Ishtar and Easter appear to be homophones: they may be pronounced similarly, but have different meanings . . . Ishtar doesn’t seem to be connected to eggs in any explicit way. However, there are plenty of other older traditions that involve the egg as a symbol of rebirth and feature it prominently in creation mythologies.” (2)
Anthony McRoy, writing for Christianity Today, echoes some of D’Costa’s research.
“The argument largely rests on the supposed pagan associations of the English and German names for the celebration (Easter in English and Ostern in German). It is important to note, however, that in most other European languages, the name for the Christian celebration is derived from the Greek word pascha, which comes from pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter is the Christian Passover festival,” he penned. (3)
McRoy also points out that members of other faiths sometimes argue that early Christians compromised the true doctrine of Christ by being absorbed into the holiday practices of the pagan cultures in which they lived.
I knew none of this as a child. Not about Ishtar. Not about Eostre. Not about temple prostitutes. Not about the reproductive symbolism of an egg associated with religion. None of that. My family taught me about Jesus, and it was he that I loved because I believed the story of his love and concern for me and others. But I still hunted Easter eggs, and I enjoyed it as I hustled to find those colored eggs. Most of the time those many years ago we had real eggs, not plastic ones, so I ate plenty of the ones I found. The egg hunts and those family times were enjoyable.
But childhood memories aside – for delightful childhood recollections alone cannot quiet theological introspection – let’s get back to the question at hand: is the way we celebrate Easter pagan or Christian? The key word here is celebration.
What is our motive and focus for the celebration? The importance of what we call a holiday (which has as its origin “holy day”) rests not entirely in what we call the holiday but in why and how we celebrate it.
Each one of us has to answer the “why and how” for ourselves; we don’t need a pastor or priest or a philosopher to do it for us, though their spiritual insight can sometimes be helpful. The TV commercial I observed transmitted its “how and why” in strictly secular terms – eggs and giggles with no mention of a Savior.
We have a choice: we can celebrate on the Sunday designated as Easter the resurrection of the man called Jesus, or we can simply amuse ourselves with colored eggs and chocolate bunnies. How we celebrate is our announcement of what we think of Jesus, the man who called himself God.
This editorial is solely the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of Buckley Newspapers Inc. or its ownership.
References
(1) McDougall, Heather. “The Pagan Roots of Easter,” The Guardian.com. Document Date: April 3, 2010; Date of Access: April 5, 2019; https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism
(2) D’Costa, Krystal. “Beyond Ishtar: The Tradition of Eggs at Easter.” Scientific American. Document Date: 3-31-2013; Access Date: 4-5-2019; https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/anthropology-in-practice/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter/
(3) McRoy, Anthony, “Was Easter Borrowed from a Pagan Holiday?” (Christianitytoday.com); Document Date: 4-2-2009; Access Date: 4-5-2019; https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2009/april/was-easter-borrowed-from-pagan-holiday.html.