The Story of Easter
The change to Spring is dramatic. Trees burst into color, flowers bloom, rain pours and thunder bolts. Nature is reborn. Even snug in our modern lives, our senses never fail to come alive with the changes brought on by this annual rotation of the sun. We marvel at how our world changes by being slightly at a different angle to it. It makes sense that the so many of our holidays have been rooted in ancient parties designated by the position of the sun- at a time when the seasonal changes meant huge differences to their daily lives.
Easter is celebrated in the season where the days have equal parts light and darkness- the sun is exactly at its midpoint between solstices, which we call an equinox. Any date on the calendar at all implies certain position in relation to the sun’s path (we have a solar calendar), but determining the date of Easter has been especially tricky historically because it uses both the sun AND the moon to track its date. The ancient attempt to gain consistency with this solar/lunar timeline has created some drama, since it’s tricky to put a hard date on natural phenomena- even if everything is cyclical.
And though our spring traditions seem to be the same, no matter where in the world we are, and what religion we practice, we see similar imagery and icons of blooms, eggs and bunnies. But the story about EASTER, the origins of the word EASTER, imply something very specific.
The Easter most Americans celebrate today has been placed on the very particular: first SUN-day after the first full MOON of the Spring EQUINOX. Our other favorite holiday, Christmas, is celebrated when that SUN is furthest away from us, 9 months after this season of fertile abundance. Our celebration on the longest cold night is one of triumph- in knowing each subsequent day will have more light. Celestial enough for you yet?
Either way you look at it, whichever religious or spiritual or scientific portal you take, we come to the same conclusion: the modern celebrations in spring represent regeneration and rebirth. We can all embrace that in whatever way we choose, using any name that feels right to us. (And what family we were born into plays a lot into how this, and any, celebration feels to us). The amazing thing is we have freedom- and access- to stories like never before in her-story. (this is huge). The internet has cracked open this ability to communicate, and dive into topics whenever we feel like it. And, most of the time, aside for some strange looks, talk as much about it as we like- even the religious stuff! So to learn about the origin of this story, we can go as far down this rabbit hole as you’d like to go!
And the history of transition of words really help us out here.
What’s in a name?
Names for the Feast of the Resurrection around the world:
Hebrew, Pesach
Aramaic, Paskha
Greek, Pascha
Spanish, Pascua
Italian, Pasqua
Danish, Påske
Dutch, Pasen
Albanian, Pashket
French, Pâques
Finnish, Pääsiäistä
Indonesian, Paskah
Romanian, Paşte
Turkish, Paskalyanız
Biblical term: Latin, Pascha
But in English and German, it’s called Easter. Why is that?
The English language is kind of funny. In America, we have inherited the strange ways of a small British island to the north of all the activity of the ancient Mediterranean. In the words of our language, we see a split personality: that of the Roman Latin of the Church, and the Pagan aspects of the rest of Europe and Northern Africa. The term pagan itself just means “non-christian”, but implies country folk, simple people, and most importantly, “other”.
In digging into this history of parts of the alphabet where we diverge- we reveal something kind of special. We see where there could have been total ancient assimilation, but instead reveal a rift in the sheets where something deeper lies.
When we talk about ancient “Germanic” tribes, we entail a huge amount of land consisting of most of central modern Europe, many different groups of people much larger than the small country of Germany today. And we find even more pagan groups from Rome herself, all through the hotspots of European vacations today, through the Middle East into Babylon, even touching into India, Egypt and North Africa. Again, the term pagan, and even better, heathen and barbarian are all used to describe these various people rather indiscriminately. When you start to look at the map comparing the many groups of people of the time, the Latin population of Rome starts to look smaller and smaller.
Modern Roots
Efforts to find the origins of the story of Easter force us to confront the religious words many use for the spring holiday around the world: Easter and Passover.
First, let’s define Easter today.
The contention stems from a change brought on by the Christians having an identity crisis. They had to decide how to celebrate the season of resurrection in one of two ways (since they were voting new on everything anyways). They could:
Continue celebrating the Jewish celebration of the Exodus from Egypt (embedded into the Jewish calendar based on the position of the moon during the spring equinox), or
Follow Pagan celebrations of the spring (particularly around the visible solar equinox).
Either way, they would be using a star map to time our celebrations. But, this contention, (among others) was powerful enough to eventually split the Church in two: into the eastern and the western segments.
Which did they choose? The most pagan thing of all: they created a new holy day altogether: SUN-day, and chose to celebrate the rebirth (of the sun/son) after a string of calculation of the position of the sun and the moon (which is all our calendar is anyways).
But where did the word Easter come from? Ask Christians, and they will say it was always theirs, though its origins are unknown. (makes sense, right?)
The word Passover (or any variation of Pascha) is pretty easy to understand. It is all about the Exodus from Egypt and the journey to find a homeland. The word Pascha refers to the Paschal lamb, or a sacrifice, which was part of the Jewish tradition (and many pagans as well). Jesus himself, in the Christian interpretation (which does NOT approve of sacrifices), was the ULTIMATE sacrifice.
So let’s break this down further: Jesus himself was a Jew. But the Christians like to debate just how Jew-ISH he really was. Based on history, Jesus was QUITE Jewish, and was celebrating Jewish things (like Passover), when he had his last supper in the spring. He died via Roman punishment (crucifixion) after being tried and convicted as a rebel (which Romans, occupying foreign land, had many of).
In all the early controversy of the first 1,000 years of our calendar, the term for the rebirth (of the sun/son) was synonymous with the Jewish celebration, a variation of Pascha. It’s hard to find exactly when the use of the word Easter starts to be used in the Christian sense, because all English versions just placed Easter on TOP of the Latin Pascha.
The new use of the word Easter, as well as choosing to put the holiest day of the week on SUN-day, was an intentional act by the Christians as a way to separate themselves from the Jews. But in breaking away from one tradition, they clung to another, the pre-existing Easter celebrations of the pagans, at the timing of the spring position of the sun.
You can see this aim of separation in the words of Constantine, “Now that we have been freed from the evils of darkness, we have been deemed worthy of light.” Pretty celestial language. He gets much uglier regarding what he thinks of the Jewish people, but I do not want to repeat it, since that is exactly what has propelled antisemitism for the last 2,000 years. When the Christians chose to separate themselves from the Pascha of the Jewish people, they had to choose a new term. And you would think, being a fairly modern choice, we would know exactly what the roots mean. And we do- but the Church instead denies them, rather saying, “we don’t know.” Which is a major red flag. Germans have more to say on the topic.
In the Christian biblical story, we do not we see a word Easter at all until almost a thousand years later. This word seems to appear out of nowhere. There is some implication of East, as to the East of the rising sun, which of course they co-opt to symbolize their sun/son. This alliteration of the word sun was also an intentional play on words in the English language which still was developing along side the church as the Anglo-Saxon, the Angelic language. It mirrors exactly with the point we are trying to make.
And this whole thing would have been buried under the sands of time were it not for a comment that survives, by a Christian monk named Bede in 731. Born at a time in Germany before full acceptance of Christianity, he mentions the word “Easter” as a heathen term, named after a Germanic Pagan Goddess Esther. And the story about how we got to the word Easter gets way more interesting.
The Word Easter
Etymology (study of the root words) of “Easter”, gives us:
Ostern (German word for Easter of “unknown” origin per Christian scholars)
Oestermonth (German calendar month of April, spring)
Ast (literally the rising sun)
Aurora (Latin cognate with the word for dawn in many languages)
Austrô (Goddess of spring, and usrâ, ‘dawn’ from the Western Teutons (Germanic)
Easter: the celebration held world over for spring (pre AND post christianity)
East (location of the rising sun)
Ishtar (Egyptian goddess, she is the planet Venus, the morning and evening star)
Side note: the Roman goddess/planet Venus shares the root of the word VENeration (ie: the literal word for worship and deep devotion is rooted with respect for a female deity)
and you also see another telling word base: VENereal disease (a perfect example of how women were falling out of favor). But the term “VENus” essentially has meant “desire” and “fulfillment”.
In the same token, we see similarities in the words crown>croan (as in “old croan,” the idea of an older woman had its origins being highly regarded as royalty, then demoted to imagery of an old hag. The word croan to describe a woman used to be positive.)
Now all of this is fine and good, but still a bit ambiguous term insinuating the new birth of spring. But the most telling of all is:
Estrogen (the dominant female hormone, which also means “mad desire” in the Greek oistros )
now do the terms female and mad desire sound particularly male centered and Jesus-ical?
And MANY spring goddesses can be found around the Mediterranean and ancient Germania with similar sounding names:
Hausos, Ushas, Isis, Ishtar, Aushtra, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Eástre, Eostre, Eos… (and more below in a table)
With this root, eos, we span the known world of the biblical tales:
Baltic Aushtra
Middle Eastern Astarte
Germanic Eōstre in the West
Vedic Ushas in the East (dawn goddess)
Egyptian/Babylonian Ishtar
So let’s break this down:
On the natural side of the argument, Ester is the goddess of love, desire, rain, spring, sunrise, blossoming, thunder, volcanos, sex, revival, resurrection (of the seasons and sun), as well as a female sex hormone, mad desire and copious amounts of sex symbolized with bunnies and eggs, celebrated in spring when the world is most lush and fertile. Plus 9 months after this season of sexual abundance (on the spring equinox, a solar event) brings us to the renowned birthday of the sun (on winter solstice, another praised solar event). Her story is literally mapped in the heavens above.
Plus a very clear statement of Bede, a Christian Saint and his-storian in 730 AD, that the term Easter refers to the spring goddess Esther
And again Charlemagne, the King of France around 814 AD, mentioning the Oestermonth celebrated in a whole different germanic group with different kinds of ancient celebrations
VERSUS
the Christian argument of: shrugged shoulders?
and when you listen to an argument of Christians explaining the topic, the concept is always phrased in such a way that “there is no evidence against it except this one guy Bede…” questioning the validity of one of their much loved Christian Saints (and a monk). Saying, yea, but he’s the only one. (Actually, he’s not. But how many sources would you need?)
The word Easter has etymological ancient roots to a sexy Northern European (and Egyptian) goddess, and has nothing to do with a man.
Sure, either way you come at it, whichever religious or spiritual or scientific portal you take, we come to the same conclusion: the modern celebration of Easter is all about spring and regeneration and rebirth.
Timeline, Simplified
In pulling out the most telling dates pertaining to this story, a few names synonymous with Easter stand out:
2,450 BC: Egyptian goddess Ishtar, “Queen of Heaven”, goddess of love and sexuality
Responsible for all life, symbolized by the morning star (ie: east, dawn, sunrise), and born of an egg
1,600 BC: Known links of trade of Egyptians, Greeks and Germans (blue beads, ie. sharing of stories)
465 BC: The beautiful Queen Esther saves the Jewish people in the Book of Esther (of the Bible).
This is celebrated in the form of Purim, celebrated in the month of Adar: March/April (spring!)
150 AD: Thousands of female goddess statues in “Germany” inscribed “Austriahenae” (Easter maidens)
700 AD: Spring Goddess Esther attested by the CHRISTIAN scholar/saint Bede, in Germanic towns
The same guy admitting in writing, proudly, that he and his buddy destroyed pagan temples/icons
And the whole German month of April was called Eastermonth
All while the Christian explanation of the origins of the term Easter is the very scholarly: “we don’t know.” By my count, pagans have a score of 4, versus the christians of 0 (overt explanations of their interpretation of the name Easter, all female badasses).
The Timeline
Let’s look into a breakdown of his-story by dates to help form an opinion on why this happened. This includes details on the development of Germanic tribes, plus any reference to women named Ester, and her variations. If we cannot find the origins of the word “Easter” itself, we can look into the use of the German language as a whole, giving us an upper bound to the timeframe of its possible development.
And the more you dig, the more you learn that whichever route you take, the story of Easter is really just a Ratio Solis vel Lunae (an account of the sun and moon); no matter which calendar you place the rebirth of the spring season on, we are all counting revolutions around the sun, sometimes broken into cycles of the moon.
Egyptian Pagan calendar (solar/lunar)> Jewish > Greek/Roman/Germanic Pagan > English
For any Christian who says there is ONLY one piece of evidence of the term Easter used by anyone to designate a female goddess, that is way better than their score of 0 trying to explain the origins of the word. AND HE IS FROM YOUR TEAM. But we actually have two more: the two Queens Ishtar/Esther in Egypt and Judea from antiquity (pre-JC), plus feminine worship in general, which is stripped in the Christian world. With all of this, we also can prove a path of transmission (proven trade links between these ancient cities), as well as a confession that Bede himself was part of the process of destroying the evidence of the pagan worship. And Christians can try to say, well, there is not much to see here? And that is acceptable? Burn the evidence and say there is nothing left?
Score: Pagans 4+, Christians 0 (in terms of proof where the word Easter originated)
A Full Timeline of Easter
5,000 BC: Climate in Scandanavia (part of “Germania”) was much warmer than today, w/ lush forests
Archeological evidence shows many copper tools, people becoming highly developed since habitation around 10k BC, after the ice age
4,500 BC: Origins of the PIE Proto-Indo-European Languages (European Steppes & areas of Sanskrit)
4,000 BC: Inscriptions in Egypt mines show an intermediate stage of our modern alphabet
link between Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Jewish derived Semitic Alphabet originating in the turquoise mines of Egypt (see my whole article on this!)
2,450 BC: Worship of the Egyptian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love and sexuality
She is responsible for all life. She is the represented by the planet Venus, the morning and evening star (and brightest star in the sky)
And for even more easter symbolism: eggs were hung up in the Egyptian temples. Dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in Egypt, as they are still in China and Europe.
The mystic egg of Babylon hatched the Venus/Ishtar, who then fell from heaven to the Euphrates.
To this day, an Easter tradition is the baking of “hot cross buns.” The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan history.” Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon-goddess Isis. Greeks offered sacred cakes to Astarte. Even the birthday cake has its origins with cake offerings: prayers that get taken up to the moon god with the smoke of a blown out candle.
2,250 BC: Inanna/Ishtar is a Sumerian/Akkadian poem attributed to Enheduanna, high priestess
The poem tells the story about the “Queen of Heaven” with striking resemblances to the Book of Jobs in the Hebrew Bible. Not coincidentally, Abraham’s home was in Ur, where this poem was the most popular literature for hundreds of years. It is not hard to imagine the story traversing deserts with families to embed itself into the psyche of the bible.
Mary was also later called the “Queen of Heaven” after 300’s AD. This term was used in the elder testament of the Hebrew Bible, but absent in the Christian version.
“Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods.” - OT
Another modern Christian Easter tradition is the pouring out of wine upon graves (a direct copycat of the pagan tradition). But oh yea, the Christians don’t like to read from their Elder.
Then Jeremiah is repeated in 44: Just following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, a heated discussion took place between Jeremiah and the Jewish refugees, who refused to give up their traditions including making “cakes” for the “Queen of heaven”.
Jeremiah also mentions “burn[ing] incense to the queen of heaven”. And this parallels yet another Easter tradition—lighting incense, especially a large incense candle (known as a “paschal candle”) embedded with incense grains.
In another connection with Inanna and Easter, this “Queen of Heaven” was married to the sun- god Dumuzi. Together, they controlled the seasons (hello, spring). The seasonal death and regrowth of vegetation was embedded into the story of his death, her weeping for him, and his rebirth. This celebration of resurrection has been seen time and time again, with:
Ishtar/Tammuz (Assyrians and Babylonian stories)
Astarte/Tammuz (Phoenicians, Syrians and Canaanites)
Isis/Osiris (Egyptians)
Myrrha-Aphrodite/Adonis (Greeks)
Cybele-Nana/Attis (Romans and Phyrgians)
in all of these, the weeping of women played an important role, whose tears were symbolized by the rain of spring.
In another quote from the Elder Testament, Ezekial writes, “Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord’s house; and, behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz.” (This was written about Israeli women 1,500 years AFTER the Sumerians were adhering to the same practices!)
And my favorite: “And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!” (Ez 16). God responds by saying that “their wickedness was the same as sticking that idol right in my face.” In Deuteronomy 17:3, God says, “I have forbidden bowing down to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven.” But the sun and the stars and the sky still rule. So what do Christians do about it? Since they couldn’t stop it, we now see an Easter service known as the “sunrise service.” This service takes place outside on Easter Sunday, facing East to observe the rising sun. (omsg! oh my sun god!) Remember, Ester is the goddess of the rising sun.
All of this might start to feel overwhelming. The ritual of ancient ‘pagan’ cults is startling enough to look like a conspiracy. While some details may have been celebrated at different pivotal moments mapped in the sky (like the vernal equinox or midsummer solstice), their universal theme—the drama of death and resurrection, AND the alignment of Easter at the exact midpoint between the summer and winter solstices, is no longer quaint with coincidental details of Spring. But we are just getting started…
1,800 BC: Nebra sky disc in Germany: the Sun, Moon, and star constellations (Pleiades)
Including an arc, identified as a solar boat (Egyptian sun symbol for the sun’s ride at night)
1,700 BC: Evidence for horse-drawn Sun-god chariots first appears in Scandinavia (also Ireland)
1,600 BC: Trade links of Egyptians, Greeks and Germans
Ancient Egypt, Mycenaean Greeks, and Germanic tribes (Scandinavia/Denmark)
Blue glass beads from Egypt (exchange of goods means also language/stories)
It is also likely that Ancient Egyptian trade with Minoan Greeks happened even earlier (art)
1,400 BC: Jewish Exodus from Egypt, Origins of the Passover celebration in the Hebrew Bible
(and we know JC was celebrating a Jewish Passover dinner celebrating this moment during his last supper/execution)
1,400 BC: Early calendar found in “European Steppes”, encoded with a 19-year lunisolar Metonic cycle,
1,204 BC: Earliest known stele (sign post saying “I am here”) in Israel by the King of Egypt, Merneptah
1,200 BC: Possible writing of the Homeric epics (no definitive date)
Iliad and Odyssey mention Egypt SO MANY TIMES (trying to get a count). They are noted for their medical knowledge, training the Greeks, later also attested by Plato (428 BC) and Herodotus (460 BC).
Some argue the original story was oral from Egypt, then written in prose by the Greeks
1,090 BC: Evidence of trade between Egypt and Judea (some argue back to 3kBC, First Kingdom)
Papyrus sent from Egypt to Byblos (Lebanon, just north of Judea) for book making, the basis for the word “bible” (foundations of this city go back to 5,000 BC)
Judean lumber purchased to build Egyptian ships, at the very latest attested in the literary work The Report of Wenamun, 1,090 BC
1,000 BC: Germanic people migrate out of Scandinavia and Northern Germany to adjacent lands
Eventually pushing the Celts west, and others south, causing lots of other migrations.
1,000 BC: First temple of the Jews built by King Solomon in Judea, recently captured
For hundreds of years, the Temple in Jerusalem was the center of sacrifice
900 BC: The Coffin of Bakenmut in Egypt shows images of sacred eggs and bunnies
900 BC: Evidence of human sacrifices in Germanic areas, thousands of them (Haga mound, Nordic)
800 BC: Celts had clay domes used to bake grain and bread
700 BC: Tunnels of the Jewish town re-enforced, prepping for siege, a natural cave, widened
Hezekiah’s tunnel to the well, the only spring in Jerusalem
600 BC: Greeks own a port town in Egypt called Naucratis for trade
Greek Easter symbolism: In the Classical Greek tradition, hares were sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Meanwhile, Aphrodite’s son Eros was often depicted carrying a hare, as a symbol of unquenchable desire.
586 BC: The destruction of the first Temple of Israel, which was the center of ritual sacrifice for Jews.
Cue a mass exile of Jews into Babylon and Egypt
500 BC: More modern Germanic tribe dialects of the PIE language family.
Republic of Rome forming.
482 BC: Dating of Queen Esther, written into the Elder Bible called the Book of Ester
A beautiful jewish woman named Queen Esther, chosen as the bride of the Persian King, saves the Jewish people from a mass murder, creating the Jewish festival of Purim. This date is still celebrated today in Spring: March/April (ie, Ester’s party is celebrated in Spring).
400 BC: Hares (bunnies) were considered sacred to ancient Britons (pagans)
A team of experts from Oxford found skeletons of carefully buried hares “with no signs of butchery”. These animals, long associated with Easter, reached the UK between the 400-200 BC. “When new animals arrive into a culture, they are often linked with deities.” European rabbits are native to Europe and Northern Africa.
A rabbit is an obvious symbol of fertility: a single rabbit reproduces so quickly that it creates more meat than a cow in a single year.
325 BC: Traveller Pytheas reported by Pliny the Elder (died AD 79), described Germanic tribes
Teutones as neighbours of a northern island where amber washes up in the spring, and traded
300 BC to 300 AD: 600 years of Hellenism, Greek/Egyptian religious syncretism after Alexander the Great
Creation of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, Mediterranean center of learning
200 BC to 950 AD: Evidence resembling baptism in at Lunda near Strängnäs in Södermanland
A child was accepted into the family via a ritual of sprinkling with water (Old Norse ausa vatni) which is mentioned in two Eddic poems, "Rígsþula" and "Hávamál", and was afterwards given a name. The child was frequently named after a dead relative, since there was a traditional belief in rebirth, particularly in the family
150 BC: Germanic writing on the Negau Helmet in early Runic/Gaul letters
135 BC: More slave rebellion wars against Roman occupation, again in 104 BC
113 BC: Cimbrian War, one of many groups of ppl resisting Roman occupation around Europe
Ancient germanic Teutons (possibly Celtic and others) vs the new Roman Republic
The timing of the war had a great effect on the internal politics of Rome, and its military (since the germans were so fierce and almost won). Strabo mentions the Cimbrians as friendly and wanting to make truces, but the Romans refusing.
100 BC: Rabbanic Judaism starts to include prayer sacrifices as replacement for animal sacrifices
73 BC: War of the Gladiators (Third Servile War), 70 Gladiators escaped and fought Romans!
Many more slaves recruited possibly 120,000, including the famous gladiator Spartacus.
Romans killed most, and crucified 6,000 people along the main trade road called Appian Way
Plutarch's account of the revolt suggests that the slaves simply wished to escape to freedom and leave Roman territory by way of Cisalpine Gaul.
60 BC: Burning of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt (first major loss of evidence)
53 BC: Caesar seems to be one of the first authors to distinguish between Germanic groups
Greeks and Romans referred to the groups to their north as Gauls, Celts, or Germani rather indiscriminately. (which is why we lack strong written evidence of their goddesses, insignificant to the Romans)
Caesar also wrote that the hare “was deemed sacred by the Britons.” And that the egg was a sacred emblem of the druidic order, particularly the “Ovum Anguinum, or serpent’s egg, of the Celtic priesthood.”
“The Britons consider it contrary to divine law to eat the hare, the chicken, or the goose. They raise these, however, for their own amusement and pleasure.”
44 BC: Queen Cleopatra of Egypt marries and has sons with TWO Roman Emperors
both Roman emperors are killed (along with their children, including twins named sun and moon, selene and helios)
Total loss of Egyptian cultural legacy and language. Rome steals her treasures and grain. Grain was a huge deal at the time… Rome did not have enough food to feed its citizens, so this Egyptian grain literally fueled the economy of Rome for the next couple hundred years until depleted, and the land overtaken by the Muslims in 641 AD (right around the time Islam started to form).
0 BC/AD: “Syncretization of Deities”
Throughout the few hundred years before and after time “0”, we have a (many cultures colliding and assimilating)
0-200 AD: NOTHING in the New OR Old Bible mentions the word Easter AT ALL.
(we only see the name of Queen Esther in the Older Hebrew Bible)
9 AD: German victory over the Romans at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Haulted Rome’s expansion east for 160 years, stopping at the Rhine River.
56 AD: Tacitus observations of Britain are recorded, “the climate is wretched.”
“Their food is plain. They were lazy and content enough to subsist on the most primitive of diets.” To the Romans, natural was synonymous with uncivilized.
70 AD: The Christians had much greater success exporting their spiritual beliefs than food preferences
The Latin Romans of the church could not change the hardy meat-eating and blood-drinking habits of the of the northern Europeans.
98 AD: In Roman historian Tacitus's book Germania, he describes the worship of "Isis" of the Suebi.
"Isis" is an Egyptian Goddess, while the Suebi are a group of Germanic peoples.
100’s AD: Regarding the term Easter, the Catholic Encyclopedia admits that:
“the Apostolic Fathers do not mention it”
150 AD: 1,100+ statues of women found in Northern Europe with inscriptions as “mother goddesses”
Under the etymologically related name “Austriahenae.” The style of the inscriptions parallels that of Roman imperial armies
150’s AD: Finalizing of the new Testament Bible, written on Byblos paper from Egypt
As the Prophet Jeremiah wrote (Jeremiah 10:2-3, 5-6; New English Translation):
“The Lord says, ‘Do not start following pagan religious practices. Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky [season worship] even though the nations hold them in awe. For the religion of these people is worthless.’ I said, ‘There is no one like you, Lord. You are great.” (yea yea, you are great. eye roll)
161 AD: Marcus Aurelius (121 – 180) emperor, philosopher, student of an Egyptian tutor
The last of the “5 Good Emperors” (all of whom were voted in, not given through inheritance).
Last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace for the Roman Empire (27-180 AD)
168 AD: Polycarp, the church leader, was persecuted for refusing to adopt the Sunday observance of Pascha (that pulled it away from the Jewish traditions).
Shortly thereafter, was arrested and burned alive for failing to worship in accordance with the new Roman expectation.
Many new Christians fought back against changing of the celebration dates in Spring.
The worship of the resurrection is not in the bible, and Sunday had nothing to do with JC.
197 AD: Christians obstinant in keeping the observance of Pascha fixed on the Jewish date
(40 years after Polycarp), Victor, the Bishop of Rome remains on the 14th, instead of the pagan Sunday, saying:
“We, for our part, keep the day [Passover] scrupulously. So I, my friends, after spending 65 years in the Lord’s service and conversing with Christians from all parts of the world, and going carefully through all Holy Scripture, am not scared of threats. Better people than I have said: “We must obey God rather than men.”
This dispute about observing a 14th Passover crucifixion memorial versus an Easter Sunday resurrection celebration continued for another 100+ years, until the Nicean Creed of 325 AD.
In summary, the Christians could not decide if they wanted to identify themselves as Jewish or Pagan. (Do they choose to celebrate JC on Passover or Sunday?). But one thing is for certain: they are not original in anything.
235 AD: Maximus the Thracian (of the germanic tribes) became the first “barbarian” Roman emperor
The emperor was reported to eat between 40 and 60 pounds of meat daily (Germans loved meat!)
This ritualization of meat-eating sets man's behavior apart from that of the animals (the Greeks rarely had meat outside of religious feast days). Germans and Egyptians loved it.
Right around this time, it is mentioned the word Easter starts to be used in Rome, but in the context of debate over the celebration. In original Latin, I can only find the word “pasch” used, later translated into “Easter” in English.
Being Roman Emperor was dangerous, and rule unsteady. Religion and its rules kept swaying, with heavy “heretical” consequences. One year paganism was law, the next reign it was heretical, and back. The average rule lasted only 7 years (during the 500 years from 14 BC to AD 476).
200-300’s AD: Labeling of the days of the week to German gods (we do not have a perfect date of this)
225 AD: The Romans built a great barrier, Hadrian’s Wall, to keep invaders out of the “civilized” part of Britain (stealing English as slaves!)
AD 367 the Picts smashed through the walls.
325 AD: Constantine makes Christianity the official Roman religion, though he remains pagan
He worships “Sol” the Sun god until his death bed. He institutes “Sun-Day” as the holiest day.
He establishes the date of Easter as fixed similar to the solar/moon calendar of judaism based on the timing of the solar equinoxes already celebrated
This dispute about observing a 14th Passover crucifixion memorial versus an Easter Sunday resurrection celebration continued for hundreds of years before and after the Nicean Creed.
In summary, the Christians could not decide if they wanted to identify their holiday with the Jews or the Pagans. (to celebrate JC on Passover or the Sunday after the first full moon after the Solar Equinox). But one thing is for certain: they are not original in anything. They chose to separate from the Jews superficially to celebrate on the pagan solar/lunar holiday instead.
350 AD: Romans leave Britain, few culinary traditions remained, even after 400 years of occupation
Mediterranean imports vanished from England when the Romans left
Roman agriculture was no longer studied, nor were their practices continue
363 AD: The Romans made “Sunday” worship official: as the day of the sun god, Sol (or Sol Invictus), calling it dies Solis in Latin. (more on this below)
Notably, Romans also regarded December 25th as the “birthday” of this “unconquerable sun god”—this was the original Julian date of the winter SOLstice (visual and trackable sun phenomena) and applied as the birthday of Jesus.
383: When Jerome translated the Bible into Latin, he used the Greek word, pascha
385: The second, more destructive, burning of the library of Alexandria Egypt by Christians
Burning of the library came by Theophilus, Pope of Alexandria, who also turned the Temple of Serapis into a Christian church. Some sources say nearly 10% of the library’s collection was housed in the Temple of Serapis (ie, also a place of learning).
In the following years, the Christian attack against the library escalated, and the last great pagan philosopher and librarian, Hypatia (a woman!), was tortured and killed.
Hypatia was another Alexandrian female mathematician, astronomer, philosopher. Ancient sources record that Hypatia was widely beloved by pagans and Christians alike and that she established great influence with the political elite in Alexandria. Hypatia was the daughter of the mathematician, and head of the school/Museum in Egypt.
Hypatia's murder shocked the empire and transformed her into a "martyr for philosophy", leading future Neoplatonists such as the historian Damascius (c. 458 – c. 538) to become increasingly fervent in their opposition to Christianity. During the Middle Ages, Hypatia was co-opted as a symbol of Christian virtue and scholars believe she was part of the basis for the legend of Saint Catherine of Alexandria. During the Age of Enlightenment, she became a symbol of opposition to Catholicism.
394 AD: Extinguishing of the Vestal Virgins in Rome by Christian Emperor Thodosius
A specially selected group of 6 women. Highly revered in Rome, high priestesses of the Fire Goddess, guardians of the sacred fire of Vesta, a sacred eternal flame in Ancient Rome.
The goddess Vesta was represented as a burning flame in the temple. It was the Vestals’ job to never let the sacred flame die out, as the Romans believed that it would endanger Rome.
They served a term for 30 years. Because of their required chastity, the Vestal Virgins did not hold the expectation of raising children and taking care of a family like regular women. In fact, they had to remain chaste during the most fertile period of their lives: between the ages of ten to forty. Vestals were the only Roman women allowed to testify orally in open court.
The Atrium Vestae, which housed the community, was repurposed, and the physical remnants of their presence gradually faded away. Still, the legacy of the extraordinary women is ongoing. Their image persisted in art, literature, and folklore, symbolizing the virtues of chastity, purity, and devotion.
400 AD: Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus wrote of Pascha in Historia Ecclesiastica
“The feast of Pascha came to be observed in each place according to the individual peculiarities of the peoples, since none of the apostles legislated on the matter. The observance originated not by legislation, but as a custom.”
“The ancients who lived nearest to the times of the apostles differed about the observance of this festival, and always kept the celebrations after the equinox.”
(the pagan argument is the celebrations IS about rebirth, as in the balance of the solar equinox itself, the natural marking of spring as designated by the sun).
400 AD: Collapse of the Roman Empire (in part due to invading Germanic tribes)
ie: Dark ages matches with christianity’s rise
This “two-language” society of German and Latin would endure into the present day.
Latin would die out by 700 AD, but various Germanic tribes each took their own variant which became French, Spanish, English, etc.
410: Roman rule in England ends. Harldly any changes because little cultural mixture.
‘Britannia’, had never been entirely subdued by the Romans.
In the far north – what they called Caledonia (modern Scotland) – there were tribes who defied the Romans, especially the Picts. This is why they Built Hadrian’s wall.
Roman emperor Honorius supposedly told the Britons to look to their own defenses because Rome itself was beleaguered by barbarian attacks.
The power vacuum was filled by incomers from northern Germany and southern Scandinavia, known later as Anglo-Saxons, ruling England the next 600 years.
450 to 750 AD: Anglo (Angelic) Saxon developing, variants of Germanic paganism dominant religion
They had sacrifices, open-air temples, cultic trees and sun-tracking megaliths, until the forced Christianization of its kingdoms
The arrival of the Saxons, Ables, and Jutes into Britain from northern Germany push the Celtic speaking people as far north and west as possible (into the modern Celtic fringe of Britain), and establish the Germanic dialect as the language of the island.
A folk-myth of the story of Arthur may be one of the leaders of the period, but names were not recorded well from the time. A cheiftan on the British side named Cuneglas stood out, who had a nickname “the bear”, same as Arthur. Regardless, the advance of the Anglo-Saxon tribes were checked, for a time.
7 major Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were carved out of the conquered areas of “England”. All these nations were fiercely independent, warring each other, although they shared similar languages and pagan traditions. They faught among themselves, like the ancient Greek states of Sparta and Troy, each fighting for who would pay tribute to the other.
500s AD: The introduction of Christianity did not make the Nordic peoples give up their foods
They continued their traditions of blood dishes (black soup, black pudding, paltbread).
They believed drinking blood of slain beasts would give them power and virility.
“You shall not eat fleash with its life, that is, its blood” did not go over well.
Pagan Celtic seasonal festivities transformed into Christian ones.
Anglo-Saxons dinner parties were full of drunken warriors throwing large animal bones at each other in the hall.
They were given exceptions to Christian practice: To this day, the eastern orthodox church does not require its eurcharist to be the dry wafer that Rome insisted upon.
England may have been thoroughly converted, but its food preferences were not,
Old food names stuck. Real sign of assimilation would be mixing of genes and food words. Germans and Romans retained distinct DNA, meaning they did not mingle and intermarry. And the goddesses remained embedded in the stories, with their foods and holding onto their traditions.
The derogatory terms paganism and heathenism were first applied to this religion by Christianised Anglo-Saxons.
Writers of the time were not interested in providing a full portrait of the pre-Christian belief systems, so any portrayal of these religious beliefs is fragmentary and incidental.
525 AD: The new Pascha dating table compiled by Dionysius Exiguus, using the word Pascha (NOT Easter).
Accepted by the Roman church, this table was used, with revisions, including Bede's own, until the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582, a thousand years later, when dates shifted to center around JC’s birth. And even then, the Gregorian calendar still has not been fully accepted in some places today. Ukraine literally just switched to the Gregorian calendar in 2023.
597: The Pope sent St Augustine to convert the Germans in England (Anglo-Saxons) to Christianity.
It took a while, but eventually, all 7 kingdoms converted by the 700’s, and even converted their old tribal homelands in Germany.
The church said that the Christian God would deliver them victory in battles (as Woden had). Some kings renounced (took back) their faith when Christianity didn’t work.
It was hard to get volunteers: people in the “civilized” Mediterranean dreaded the idea of going to England, which was considered barbaric and had a terrible reputation.
610 AD: Islam starts to form as a religion as it spreads through the Mediterannean and captures Egypt.
While another offshoot of the Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Christianity, but its focuses its praying times when the sun is LEAST strong- specifically to make sure people do NOT accidentally think they are praying to the sun (as Christianity just had to embrace).
642 AD: Complete destruction of the Library at Alexandria, Egypt by the Muslims
Arab sources write, "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them."
655: Most feared of the English/Germanic warrior-Kings was Penda.
Hoards of treasures were found as recent as 2009, of unique importance were male warrior elites. Vast treasures were awarded as they ransacked other towns.
One of the last pagan Anglo-Saxon kings. He offered up the body of one of the other Kings as a sacrifice to Woden, the god of war.
In the 650’s, the Britons were Christians, but cut off from Rome. The Anglo-Saxons remained pagan.
700 AD: Christian monk/saint Bede mentions Easter, calling it out as a festival celebrating a goddess
Bede says: “Eostur-monath has a name which is now translated ‘Paschal month,’ and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance (more on Bede below)
The Celtic church insisted on reckoning its own date for Easter (now using the term Easter instead of the word Pascha) and continued to abide by the “older cycle, an adherence to custom and tradition” that challenged the entire religious discipline of Rome. At the time, the place of England was a tiny island of rebels. And even today, its English language is the only of the Romance languages to use the term Easter instead of a variation of Pascha.
790 AD: Evidence of women as “seers” still living, (Gambara in Northern Germanic areas)
A gap in the North Germanic historical record occurs for about 1,000 years, until the Old Norse sagas frequently mention female ritual specialists, as priestesses and diviners.
798-1066 AD: The Viking Age (the Runic alphabet still used from 450 BC in Scandanavia)
800 AD: Charlemagne (r. 768–814) King of France recorded the farmer’s Old High German names for the calendar year, which differed from the ones Bede mentioned except for one similarity: Easter Month
The only agreement between the Old English and the Old High German (Carolingian) month names is the naming of April as "Easter month".
Both traditions have a "holy month", however it is the name of September in the Old English system and of December in the Old High German one.
857 AD: 40,000 northern Europeans died of ergot poisoning in a single year.
This was a fungus that was written about in an Assyrian tablet from 600 BC, and recorded in Roman books from 50 AD. If the British had opened one of the older Roman books, they would have seen a warning for this fungus.
911 AD: King of France gives the NW part of the country to the Vikings to pacify raids
1006 AD: Normans (mix of French and Vikings) defeat the English, rule the island of Britain
French (Latin based) words transform Anglo-Saxon (English) language into Middle English
For the next 300 years, the English Kings would speak French as their first language (until 1413)
King Henry IV (1399–1413) was the first English ruler since the (Viking French Norman) whose mother tongue was English rather than French.
1100 AD: Human sacrificial skulls from this time found in in Denmark (rituals continued)
1100 AD: Anglo Saxon Chronicle (Dictionary) for Easter/Pascha interchangeable
When King Henry went to Winchester, England, it was called Easter
In another year he went to Northampton, England for Pascha
1300’s AD: English still forming as a language
History of Richard the Lionheart, uses the term: “At the Pask.”
in Brunne’s Story of England, they held Pasches at London
1382: When John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, he used the word Pascha
1450: in Merlin or the early history of king Arthur, you read
“Syr, we pray yow that the swerde be suffred yet in the ston to Passh.”
1525: Tyndale translated the Bible into English, and was burned for it, condemned for heresy
He thought all believers should be able to read the Bible in their own language.
He used two different terms: Passover for the Jewish holiday, and Easter for Christians
His version served as the model for English translation for 400 years, inlcuding the King James version in 1611.
They translated the Greek word Pascha as Passover when it was referring to the Jewish feast.
In the book of Acts, they translated it as Easter.
1585: Calendar change to the Gregorian (to set the 0 date at JC’s birth)
Winter solstice used to be on Dec 25th, but this shifted it to the 21st, and other confusion
1704: English starts to be used as a scientific language
1809: History of New York mentioned the “great cracking of eggs at Paas or Easter.”
by mogul Washington Irving, also important in changing of Christmas celebrations
1835: One of the creators of Grimm’s fairy tales, a scholar writes:
In Deutsche Mythologie: “We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart [the eighth-century secretary of Charlemagne]. The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of ohg remains the name ôstarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted that the Christian teachers tolerated the name and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries.”
“The heathen Easter had much in common with May-feast and the reception of spring. … [T]hrough long ages there seem to have lingered among the people Easter-games so-called, which the church itself had to tolerate: I allude especially to the custom of Easter eggs, and to the Easter tale which preachers told from the pulpit for the people’s amusement, connecting it with Christian reminiscences”
the goddess Eōstre turned a bird into a hare, which continued to have the ability to lay eggs, and would do so at Easter time. The goddess was “attended” by this hare, sometimes even depicted as flying in various artwork (as above). This association with the spring goddess was important, as hares and rabbits reproduce rapidly, befitting a symbol of fertility.
1865: Alice in Wonderland, where the story follows a white rabbit into a rabbit hole
The rabbit has been legendary for being able to cross into different realms, and the term “going down a rabbit hole” means to dig deep into a topic, almost getting lost!
1960: Playboy bunny is established, with a bunny as the ultimate symbol of sexuality
2012: The Netherlands attempt to break records for the largest Easter bonfire
This too is another famous Easter tradition not mentioned in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament of the Bible, (Jeremiah 7:18) mentions the kindling and burning of fires in honor of Astarte/Ishtar (and he wasn’t happy about it).
Bonfires (in that German word we find: bone-fires, aka for sacrifices)
The ancient Egyptians lit huge bonfires to drive winter away and welcome the sun on the solstice, as the birthday of their main god: Ray, the sun (and yes, that is the place we get the name for a sunray, and reign of a king). They tracked the solstice because it lined up perfectly with the flooding of the Nile.
Conclusion
I have to use another metaphor: If we adopt a dog, do we care what their name was in their previous home? Does it matter what the spring traditions are called to celebrate the beauty of spring?
I argue that if we have the option to find out what is the real origin of our spring festivities in the modern popular culture, and HAVE the freedom and access to deeper knowledge about this celebration, why not dive into this rabbit hole? Why not allow women to be passionate sexy creatures overflowing with love in spring vs partaking in the complacency of the ideal celibate woman of the Christians who gives birth without the pleasure of having sex at all?
Notes:
Syncretization of Deities*
Interpretatio Romana/Germanica: During the Roman period, Germanic gods were equated with Roman gods and worshipped with Roman names. Germanic names were also applied to Roman gods.
German god’s names eventually won out and labeled the European days of the week.
Due to the scarcity of sources and the origin of the Germanic gods, it is not possible to reconstruct a full pantheon of Germanic deities; this is only possible for the last stage of Germanic religion, Norse paganism.
Interpretatio Christiana: Christianization of the Germanic peoples was a long process during which there are many textual and archaeological examples of the co-existence and mixture of pagan ideas into Christian worship. Germanic deities and gods were immortalized as either Christian Saints or demons.
St. Lucia is one example of many Germanic goddesses transferred to a Saint, with similar rituals
As an example, ‘hel’ referred to a German underwold/afterlife (pre-Christian times), and may have just referred to the grave itself (meaning “to hide”). This idea matched the Egyptian idea that the dead can come back through their graves, which was one reason the Egyptians took such care in preserving the bodies of the elite as mummies in their pyramid burial tombs. The Egyptians had to stand up to a jury of judges before moving on to the next world. The Christianized “hell” became understood as a place of punishment only in the Middle Ages.
Other pagan months mentioned by Bede (to refute the claim he would make this up, as some Christians claim):
Ġiuli; January, with the New Year starting on Mother’s Night of Dec 25th (Gregorian) and Solstice
The [two] months of Giuli derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back [and begins] to increase
Solmonath; February (the month of cakes as offerings, found in the Old Testament as pagan)
Hrethmonath; March, is named for their goddess Hretha, to whom they sacrificed at this time
Eosturmonath; April, literally Easter month
Thrimilchi; May, the cattle were milked three times a day; such at one time, was the fertility of Britain or Germany,
Litha; (light) June & July. Litha also means “gentle” or “navigable”, because both months have calm breezes, great for sailing
Weodmonath means “month of tares [weeds]”, for they are very plentiful then. August
Helegmonath; “month of sacred rites”, (I think I see ‘hel’ in there…) September
Winterfilleth; October, a name made up from “winter” and “full moon”, because winter began on the full Moon of that month
Blodmonath is “blood month”, cattle sacrifices, November
Days of the week:
Sunday: Sun’s Day, the holiest day (same for both Latin and Germanic week names)
Monday: Moon’s Day (same for both Latin and Germanic week names)
Tuesday: Tyr (Germanic god combat)
Wednesday: Woden (Germanic god of magic and knowledge)
Thursday: Thor (God of thunder)
Friday: Frig (Goddess of Venus)
Saturday: Saturn from Latin, also German word Samstag derives from the name for Shabbat (Jewish, sabado in the romantic languages)
Transposing of the terms: Pascha (Passover) vs Easter
In a single example of Bede’s work we find the following translations, TRADING paschalis for Easter:
“Adomnán subsequently convinced large numbers of Irish to the ‘catholic observance of Easter’.” 49
49: ‘cum reuersus ad Scottiam multas postea gentis eiusdem turbas ad catholicam temporis paschalis obseruantiam sua praedicatione correxit’ HE, 550.
I have yet to find a single early pre-translated writing of the church use a word remotely close to Easter until almost the 1700’s. And there is good reason for this! Most romance languages use a variation of the word Pascha STILL for easter. English is the only language to grab hold of the word Easter, and it came much later in language development than various verions of the word for the Jewish celebration of Passover. And England was just the small island of Europe still holding onto its pagan customs, as seen by Bede’s longer quotes below.
Bede
So what else did this Christian monk say explicitly? Since he is the only person at least acknowledged by Christians to say Easter has ties to something other than JC, let’s look into this a bit more.
Writing in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum around 730 AD, ("Ecclesiastical History of the English People"), Bede complains about the obstinacy of the Celtic Church in Britain, especially in regard to the celebration of Pascha (Dies Paschae). (Note, the term he used was Paschae, NOT Easter)
"Now the Britons did not keep Paschae at the correct time, (all easily available translations PUT the term Easter here, but we see in the title the word Paschae is used). Furthermore, certain other of their customs were at variance with the universal practice of the Church. But despite protracted discussions, neither the prayers, advice, or censures of Augustine could obtain the compliance of the Britons, who stubbornly preferred their own customs. The Britons said again that they could not abandon their ancient customs without the consent and approval of their own people... In reply, Augustine is said to have threatened that if they refused to unite with their fellow-Christians, they would be attacked by their enemies the English; and if they refused to preach the Faith of Christ, they would eventually be punished by meeting death at their hands. And, as though by divine judgement, all these things happened as Augustine foretold."
So, the English were more pagan (at least harder to convert to all customs fully), and the only of the Latin language families to use the germanic (and pagan) word Easter. They were even considered mostly Christians, just not abiding by all the intricate rules, and still murdered for it.
This contention between the Celtic and Roman churches as to the proper observance of Easter was a matter that would not be resolved until a Synod in 664 AD, when King of Northumbria decided in favor of the Roman church. The King was celebrating Pascha according to the Celtic custom, while his wife was observing Palm Sunday. Bede records the debate, as presented by the Romans:
"The only people who are stupid enough to disagree with the whole world are these Scots and their obstinate adherents the Picts and Britons, who inhabit only a portion of these two islands in the remote ocean.... But you and your colleagues are most certainly guilty of sin if you reject the decrees of the Church.”
The Celtic church insisted on reckoning its own date for Easter and continued to abide by the older cycle, an adherence to custom and tradition that challenged the entire religious discipline of Rome.
Originally, the early Christians had followed the Jewish calendar and celebrated the resurrection on the Passover. But eventually, the Church wanted to separate itself from its Jewish roots.
So instead of using the JEWISH date, they used the PAGAN one instead, centered on the equinox. Very original. And this makes sense. The jewish dating system was obviously complicated. It would have been much easier to center a date on the SUN phenomena of the solar equinox, where the days are split evenly between hours of light and dark, when most “simple” minded folk (as Romans considered the pagans) would be already celebrating. The equinoxes are tangible, literally seen, and harder to take away.
Bede says the Germans have a whole month dedicated to the Spring goddess, literally calling April Easter-month, a deity who would retreat to the underworld in the winter and emerge in the spring.
Christian missionaries active in converting the pagan societies of Europe: Willibrord and Boniface
Bede claimed that the greatest pagan festival was Modraniht (meaning Mothers' Night), which was situated at the Winter solstice, (Dec 25th on the Gregorian Calendar), which also marked the start of the [pre-converted] Anglo-Saxon year.
Bede claims that the pagans offered cakes to their deities. (an Egyptian ritual, and in the Old Testament as a pagan observance)
Bede says in Eostur-monath Aprilis (April), a spring festival was celebrated, dedicated to the goddess Eostre, and the later Christian festival of Easter took its name from this month and its goddess.
Bede's account reveals "that there was a strong element of heathen festivity" at the heart of the early Anglo-Saxon calendar.
The historian James Campbell described this as a "complicated calendar."
Evidence
Various goddesses listed under a wiki article on “Eternal Rebirth”. Can there be a better example of a man trying to steal a woman’s thunder (literally)?
Various goddesses listed under a name related to “Eternal Rebirth”. Can there be a better example of a man trying to steal a woman’s thunder?
A more nuanced conversation about timing.
Since there has been so much debate over this dating of Easter, let’s look at some of that. The Jewish calendar itself is a solar/lunar calendar, meaning dates, and the year itself, plus the hours that our day are broken into, are all based around the sun. Our modern calendar is a similar version to this- the same one used back in Egyptian and Babylonian times. (Romans copied it over around 0 AD, but messed it up, and it had to be “fixed” in the 1500’s, then centered around JC’s birth year.) And our major modern celebration of Easter is still a mobile one, tied to the shifting dates of the full moons and solar equinoxes. Our whole concept of time is based around the sun and moon- a very pagan concept- no matter where we take this conversation.
But in regards to Eater, Mathew says in the Younger Testament of the Bible, that “just as Jonas spent 3 nights and 3 days in a whale’s belly, our son of man also spent 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.” Okay, so right off the bat we have a note of a prior concept that this story is replicating (and there are many other gods/goddesses mentioned above that have this same 3 day turnaround before resurrection). But even in reconciling these 3 days before the JC rising, Good Friday and Easter Sunday do not give us 3 days and nights. Was it three nights or two (Friday and Saturday nights)? The math just does not work out. And this is a critical question—because as the verses in Matt and Luke show, it is on the precise fulfilment of this very sign that Jesus staked his entire messiahship!
In fact, the Jewish books are quite clear in saying JC was killed and resurrected on the third day of the month. It is also understood that crucifiction was a common Roman practice, espcially for people considered as rebels. JC was held for 30 days with other captives, and on the new year (which the Jewish people considered as the start of Spring) a single captive would be released. And someone else was chosen for release, not JC. And on the first of the month, his punishment was carried out. (Pausing here, I would love to understand why JC’s life is considered a sacrifice at all, when it wasn’t necessarily his choice: the Romans were just carrying out their judicial process. He was being punished, in the form of crucifixion used thousands of times before and since JC).
But based on the internal calendar evidence in the New Testament, Jesus was neither crucified on a Friday nor resurrected on a Sunday. Instead, the dates align with a Wednesday afternoon crucifixion, the day of the Passover (14th Abib—Leviticus 23:5), and a Saturday afternoon resurrection. Buried “in the heart of the earth” just before sunset Wednesday, and—with the biblical calendar count “from even unto even” (i.e. Leviticus 23:32)—Wednesday night, Thursday night and Friday night as the “three nights”; and Thursday, Friday and Saturday as the “three days,” with the resurrection late Saturday afternoon.
There is actually a fascinating reason for a “Good Friday” crucifixion and “Easter Sunday” resurrection. They are antithetical to the timeframe given in the New Testament—yet fit perfectly with the above-described, sun-related worship. Enter the Quartodeciman (“14th”) Controversy. The New Testament doesn’t say Jesus rose on Sunday, but that he was already risen by the first day of the week, allowing the Jewish understanding of dates to match the 3 days and nights described by Luke.
By about 168 AD, a great debate had broken out between the churches in the East (including Jerusalem) and churches in the West (led from Rome). The churches in the East continued to keep the Passover on the 14th of their month Abib, no matter the day of the week it fell on—the Rome-led churches wished to anchor worship to Sunday. (While Sun-day is not important in ANY of the bibles (new or old), since it respects a ROMAN pagan notion to worship the Sun god, Sol).
168 AD: Polycarp, the church leader who had succeeded the Apostle John, was persecuted for refusing to adopt the Sunday observance of Easter (remember, Sunday had nothing to do with anything regarding JC) and, shortly thereafter, was arrested and burned alive for failing to worship Caesar.
197 AD: (40 years later) Victor, the Bishop of Rome remains obstinent in keeping the Christian observance of Pascha fixed on the Jewish date on the 14th, instead of the pagan Sunday, saying:
“We, for our part, keep the day [Passover] scrupulously. So I, my friends, after spending 65 years in the Lord’s service and conversing with Christians from all parts of the world, and going carefully through all Holy Scripture, am not scared of threats. Better people than I have said: “We must obey God rather than men.”
This dispute about observing a 14th Passover crucifixion memorial versus an Easter Sunday resurrection celebration continued for another 100+ years, until the Nicean Creed of 325 AD.
In summary, the Christians could not decide if they wanted to identify themselves as Jewish or Pagan. (Do they choose to celebrate JC on Passover or Sunday?). But one thing is for certain: they are not original in anything.
325 AD: Roman Emperor Constantine rules at the Nicean Creed, choosing the Pagan side of the debate
Constantine is a pagan ruler who was the first to make Christianity an official religion of the Roman Empire. (He saw Christianity as a uniting tool for his empire, not his chosen personal religion. He worshipped Sol Invictus, the “Unconquerable Sun” until his deathbed). In the same decade, he officially instituted “Sun”-day as the holiest day of the week. He ruled that Easter Sunday would be made the official day of worship and branded all others heretics. “None hereafter should follow the blindness of the Jews,” it was decreed.
The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the subsequent success that Rome had in bending Christianity to Sunday Easter worship. “The few who afterwards separated themselves from the unity of the church and continued to keep the 14th day were named Quartodecimani, and the dispute itself became known as the Quartodeciman Controversy.” (these were the people who refused to celebrate on a pagan holiday)
363 AD: Council of Laodicea affirms Sunday worship: “Christians must not Judaize by resting on the Sabbath (Saturday, Jewish holy day), but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord’s day [Sunday].
See the syncretisation happening here? This is exactly where we see the [Pagan] Sun start to be equated with the [Christian] Son, which was eventually embedded into the English language developing over the next 1,400 years. The language equivalent of the Sun with a holy person also brings us further back in time, the the Sun god Ray in Egyptian language, which is also equated to the king, and is subsequently embedded in our words: royal, rey (king), and sun-ray.