Easter 2018: Why Are Rabbits And Eggs Associated With The Christian Celebration?
While Easter is a Christian celebration, some of the things associated with it have been a part of pagan customs that had long existed even before the holiday was first observed.
Easter is a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Christ after His crucifixion and death on Good Friday. As the holy event is based on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox, its date changes every year. This 2018, Easter Sunday falls on the first day of April, coinciding with April Fool's Day.
Although Easter is considered as the most important Christian holiday, as it commemorates Jesus' victory over death, it is believed that the celebration has its pagan origins. Supposedly, while the holiday is also known as Resurrection Sunday, the name Easter is derived from the Celtic goddess Eastre, the goddess of fertility and spring. As Easter was honored by the pagans in her rabbit symbol, the animal eventually became a symbol of the Christian Easter celebrations.
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The reason why Easter has some pagan elements is said to have started from the attempts of second-century Christian missionaries to convert tribes to Christianity. As it would have been suicide for the early Christian missionaries to celebrate their holy days with practices that did not blend with celebrations that already existed, it is believed that they allowed their converts to continue celebrating pagan holidays with a major Christian twist. As the feast of Easter was celebrated around the same time with Resurrection Sunday, it eventually became Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile, apart from the Easter Bunny, another popular secular symbol for Resurrection Sunday is the Easter Egg. While it is said that Easter Eggs symbolize new life, reflecting the new life Christians have upon Christ's resurrection from the dead, Easter Eggs actually came from the practice of exchanging eggs at springtime way before the Christians celebrated Easter Sunday.
As it is said that, during earlier times in history, people would wrap eggs in gold leaf or color them brightly by boiling them in water with the leaves or petals of certain flowers before exchanging them, the practice of coloring eggs on Easter Sunday is now an inherent part of the secular celebrations of Easter Sunday.
