In 2019 Easter was celebrated on the 21st of April. Passover? the forerunner to the Easter bunny. Easter is a bad translation of a word that does not appear in the original language. Other Christian holiday words have pagan roots, too, like yule and yuletide, which come from the name of an ancient midwinter festival. The English word "Easter" relates to the name of the month in which the Holy Day was celebrated in ancient England, a month which may have been named after a … The etymological origin was Old French mandé. Jesus enters Jerusalem and gathers his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal. Sooo, since Easter is not mentioned in the Bible, who came up with this word that we use to celebrate the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead? “In Babylonia…the goddess of spring was called Ishtar. It would make sense for early peoples to give their spring festivals a name that celebrated the rising sun. It was translated into an inferior word for no syntactical reason. Most people do not realize that “ Easter ” originally had no association with Jesus Christ or Christianity. Scholars agree that Easter has pre-Christian roots. Learn more, Follow the writers, publications, and topics that matter to you, and you’ll see them on your homepage and in your inbox. The ways we celebrate should ALWAYS have this as the focus. This epic story is told in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 12 of the Torah (see above). Another theory is that Eostre was simply the Anglo-Saxon word for spring festivals. Jesus dies on the cross on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath. Rabbits, associated with fertility, were held as sacred. Verses: (Mt 26:2,18)(Mk 14:1)(Lk 22:1)(Jn 2:13)(Jn 6:4)(Jn 11:55 = 2)(Jn 12:1)(Jn 18:28,39)(Jn 19:14)(Heb 11:28)Luther Translation: osternTyndale Translation: ester (Jn 18:28 uses “paschall” instead of ester), Verses: (Lk 2:41)(Jn 2:23)(Jn 13:1)Luther Translation: osterfest/Fest aber der OsternTyndale Translation: ester in the feaste feeste/feast of ester, Verses: (Mt 26:17,19)(Mk 14:12 = 2)(Mk 14:14,16)(Lk 22:7,8,11,13,15)(1 Cor 5:7)Luther Translation: osterlammTyndale Translation: ester lambe (Mt 26:17, Mk 14:12 use “paschall” instead of ester). Many thanks. Pâques, in French, covers both Easter and Passover. Write on Medium. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) “Ishtar” was worshipped by pagans as the “goddess of spring.” From what I have read, each spring there would be a festival for Ishtar, and certain rituals were a part of this celebration. One could make the claim that Luther and Tyndale erred in using these words, and perhaps they did, but nonetheless, this does not take away from the point that the word “Easter” we use today could have come from this. The French word for Easter, Pâcques, comes from the Greek word for Passover, which is the Jewish holiday celebrated at about the same time of the year. (He only got part of the Old Testament translated before he was martyred.) It is found in the book of Acts in reference to when Herod the Great killed James and was seeking the life of Peter as well.. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. The word Easter is derived from the Anglo-saxon Eostre (pronounced the same). The word Pascha in turn came from Pesach, the Hebrew word for Passover. As you can see, all bear a resemblance to our word “Easter.”. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also . During the seder the story of the exodus from Egypt is read aloud from a Hebrew text called the Haggadah (telling). This is an attempt to provide a simple guide to the key vocabulary describing Passover & Easter. Good Friday? Eggs, connected with “new life” (i.e. Very shortly after this, William Tyndale made the first English translation of the Bible. To ensure observance of this rule, living space should be cleaned thoroughly. In Spanish, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the most common phrase used to describe the festival. Where does the name "Easter" come from? The word "Easter" is derived from Eastra, the name of the ancient German Goddess of Spring. But is it biblical? why not say resurection. Most major holidays have some connection to the changing of seasons. So where does the word Easter come from? This is especially obvious in the case of Christmas. Passover and Easter are inextricably linked from a Christian perspective. Another theory is that the English word Easter comes from an older German word for east, which comes from an even older Latin word for dawn. This is especially obvious in the case of Christmas. Scholars agree that Easter has pre-Christian roots. translated as Astarte, Ashtoreth, Ishtar... Easter. “Easter is a very old word. The German word for “Easter” is “oster” (or “ostern”). The answer is a clear ‘no!’. If the Resurrection is not the focus, I strongly suggest setting aside that way of celebrating this day. Even “Lent,” which comes from the Old English word “lencten” meaning “Spring,” appears to have come from a pagan ritual practiced during this time. It commemorates the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. Here it is used in the archaic sense of ‘holy’ or momentous. 8 Answers. You might have heard ‘codswallop’ used in British English to mean ‘nonsense’ – but where does this curious word come … According to the theory, Eastre was the “goddess of the east (from where the sun rises),” her symbol was the hare (a symbol of fertility), and a festival called Eastre was held during the spring equinox by the Saxons to … Her festival occurred at the vernal equinox. According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary: “The word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honour sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. All of these words refer to the Jewish feast of Passover, which was the setting for the Easter events recounted in the Christian Gospels. Passover begins on the 14th day of Nisan (27th April in 2021). a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. In Dutch, Easter is known as Pasen and in the North Germanic languages Easter is known as påske (Danish and Norwegian), påsk (Swedish), páskar (Icelandic) and páskir (Faeroese). This new commandment is to love one another. These “cakes” are correlated with the “hot cross buns” some make today. Eastre). He wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month") was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called … The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern Dutch ooster and German Ostern, developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun, -on, or -an; but also as Ēastru, -o; and Ēastre or Ēostre. The word Easter is not in the New Testament. Many scholars believe,however, that the main reason Jesus’ birth came to be celebrated on December 25 is because that was the date of the winter solstice according to the Roman calendar. The name is derived directly from Hebrew Pesach. Eastre is believed to be an ancient word for spring. The supreme test of this commandment would, of course, be the events of the following day: Good Friday. To summarise crudely, the Hebrew Bible/Torah cover the Moses years. Lv 7. The letter å is pronounced /oː/, derived from an older aa, and an alternate spelling is paaske or paask. The English Language — Fun Facts & FAQ (free digital teaching materials), The vocabulary, grammar & history of English, I grew up in an Irish family in west London, Medium is an open platform where 170 million readers come to find insightful and dynamic thinking. The German word for “Easter” is “oster” (or “ostern”). Rituals are acted out at key moments in the story. "Ostara" became the Old English word … While Easter, as we know it today, was never a pagan festival , its roots and many of its traditions have associations with ancient pagan customs and beliefs. According to the great Anglo-Saxon scholar the Venerable Bede, the Old English word eastre came from Eostre, "a goddess associated with spring." Beyond that there is little consensus. The name refers to Eostur-monath (Old English "Ä ostre month"), a month of the Germanic calendar attested by Bede, who writes that the month is named after the goddess Ä ostre of Anglo-Saxon paganism. imacatholic2. This contrasts with the convention in Romance languages. This ritual involved mourning for 40 days over the death of Ishtar’s husband Tammuz (another false god: mentioned in Ezek 8:14). The word maunde in relation to the Thursday before Easter first appears in middle English the mid-15C. The Greek word used is “pascha,” which is derived from the Hebrew word “pecach.” These Hebrew and Greek words are both translated over and over in the Bible as “Passover,” and this is the proper translation. The first followers of Christ would have been Jewish observers of Passover. Spring is a season of lengthening days and increased light. Most practising Jews celebrate for seven days, though some orthodox and conservative communities extend the festival to an eighth day. Explore, If you have a story to tell, knowledge to share, or a perspective to offer — welcome home. Answer Save. . The Resurrection of Christ is the key to the whole Christian faith (1 Cor 15:14,17)(Rom 10:9-10). https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/.../the-etymology-of-easter-and-passover the return of Spring),were colored and decorated. The word “Easter” was not mentioned in original Bible scripture. (They believed he was later resurrected). A majority believe that the word “Easter” has pagan roots. Since the days following the winter solstice g… Using a phrase some prefer to Happy Easter, “Happy Resurrection Day!”, Copyright © JesusAlive.cc All rights reserved. He tries to see paganism everywhere, on even the flimsiest grounds. This slightly over simplifies as the latter only describes the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament — sometimes known as the Law in Judaism and the Pentateuch. There is good evidence for this. In other words, Good marks the uniqueness of the Passion. This is what Christians refer to as the Last Supper see below. It may seem odd that Christians call their day of greatest sorrow Good Friday. It affirms the centrality of the crucifixion and resurrection to the Christian faith. Pesach - the Passover While pagans celebrated the rites of spring, the Jews celebrated Passover, the anniversary of the day God delivered them out of Egyptian bondage. In most European languages, the word for Easter comes from the Hebrew Pesach.We can see the connection easily in the Italian Pasqua and Spanish Pascua. The word Easter appears only once in the King James Version of the Bible (and not at all in most others).In the one place it does appear, the King James translators mistranslated the Greek word for Passover as "Easter.". Nor does it feature in most translations of the Bible into vernacular languages. Beyond that there is little consensus. “Easter—the name Easter comes to us from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for whom a spring festival was held annually, as it is from this pagan festival that some of our Easter customs have come” (Hazeltine, p. 53). The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Ä astre or Ä ostre (IPA: [Ë Ã¦Ë É stre, Ë eË ostre]), which itself developed prior to 899. Torah are often referred to interchangeably they conquered celebrations is a clear ‘ no! ’ way of celebrating day. And Easter are inextricably linked from a Hebrew text called the Haggadah ( telling ) & Easter to see everywhere... 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