Introduction to Easter

Easter, Latin pascha, Greek pascha, the main feast of the Christian church, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after he was crucified. The first recorded accounts of the celebration of Easter date back to the second century, although the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus took place earlier.

The English word Easter, which is similar to the German word Ostern, is uncertain. One theory, explained by the Venerable Bede in the eighth century, is that it derives from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of water and fertility. This idea is taken – as the idea connects the beginning of Christmas on December 25 with the pagan festivals of the winter season – that the Christians took the name and feast of the pagans for their highest celebration.

Given the determination with which Christians fight against any form of idolatry (polytheism), this seems like an incredible idea. It is now widely believed that the word derives from the Christian name of the Easter week as in albis,

The Latin word which is understood as plural alba (“morning”) and became eostarum in Old High German, carrier modern German way. . and English words. The Latin Pascha in Greek (“Passover”) provides the root for Easter, the French word for Easter.

What is the history of the festival?

The history of Easter goes back to the events related to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to the Bible, Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, and three days later, he rose from the dead on Good Sunday. This event is a cornerstone of the Christian faith and Easter is the most important Christian holiday along with Christmas. The word “Easter” itself comes from pagan traditions. It is believed to be derived from the Old English word \”Eostre\”, which is the name of a pagan goddess of water and fertility.

That is why Easter was incorporated into Christian culture as a way to attract pagans. The exact date of Easter has been a subject of debate for centuries. The early Christian church used the Jewish calendar to determine the date of Easter, and it was celebrated on the first Sunday after Passover. However, in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea established a system for calculating the date of Easter based on the solar calendar.

This system is still used by many Christian churches today. According to the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus was arrested by the Roman authorities because he claimed to be the “Son of God”. Later, Roman Emperor Pontius Pilate sentenced him to death by crucifixion. His resurrection three days later is the celebration of Easter.

Determine the date of Easter

In Western Christianity, Easter Sunday can fall anywhere between March 22 and April 25. Easter is always celebrated on the Sunday immediately after the Easter full moon. Since the early history of the Church, determining the exact date of Easter has been a subject of ongoing discussion and there are many disagreements about how to calculate the date of Easter.

The root cause of the problem is a simple explanation: Easter is a portable feast. The early believers of the church in Asia Minor wanted Easter to coincide with the Jewish Passover since the death and resurrection of Jesus took place immediately after the Passover. The disciples wanted Easter to always be celebrated after Passover.

But, since the Jewish holiday calendar is based on the solar and lunar calendar, each holiday can be moved, and the dates change from year to year. Eventually, the Western churches decided to establish a standardized system for determining the date of Easter using the church’s full moon calendar. For this reason, the Eastern Orthodox Church often celebrates Easter on a different day than the Western Church.

What happens when the full moon and vernal equinox occur on the same day?

Generally, if the full moon occurs on the same day as the vernal equinox, Easter is celebrated on the following Sunday. However, there are signs:

As mentioned above, the Christian Church decided to simplify the process of calculating the date of Easter by always observing the vernal equinox on March 21, although the date of the equinox changes over time and is at first.

This agreement between the date of the sky and the date of the equinox observed by the Church can sometimes cause confusion, as in 2019, when the full moon in the sky occurred on the same day, Wednesday, March 20.

According to the above system, this should mean that Easter will be celebrated on Sunday, March 24. However, since the Church observes the equinox on March 21, the full moon enough did not technically happen “on or only after the equinox,” which means that the next month will determine the date of Easter. . So, in 2019, Easter took place on Sunday April 21, when the moon was full on Friday April 19.

Why is Easter called “Easter”?

According to crosswalk.com, the origin of the word Easter is unknown. Venerable Bede, a monk and scholar of the 8th century, suggested that the word comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre or Eastre – the Teutonic goddess of water and fertility.

Recent scholars have not found anything about the goddess Bede mentioned and consider the theory to be debunked. Another possibility is the Norse eostur, eastur or Ostara, which means “time of rising sun” or “time of new birth”.

The word comes from the same root. In this case, Easter will be associated with the change of time. The recent explanation and confusion comes from the Christian background of Easter rather than the pagan one.

The original Latin name for Easter weekend was hebdomada alba or “white week”, while the Sunday after Easter in Dominica was called albis after the white robes of the newly baptized.

The word alba is Latin, both for white and dawn. Old High German speakers made a mistake in their translation and used plural for dawn, ostarun, instead of plural for white. From ostarun we get German Ostern and English Easter.