![]() Prominent symbols in this celebration of the resurrection of nature after the winter were rabbits, signifying fecundity, and eggs, colored like the ray of the returning sun and the northern lights, or aurora borealis. Modern observance of Easter represents a convergence of three traditions: (1) The Hebrew Passover, celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew lunar calendar (2) The Christian commemoration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, which took place at the feast of the Passover and (3) the Norse Ostara or Eostra (from which the name "Easter" is derived), a pagan festival of spring which fell at the vernal equinox, March 21. Early Christians in Rome could not openly celebrate the resurrection of Christ, so they held their celebration at the same time as the pagans. There is also a connection between the Christian Easter as we have it and the pagan celebration of Ostara. Further, the Homilies of the Church of England (1563) refers to " Easter, a great, and solemn feast among the Jewes." Therefore, we see by definition, that the word Easter is correct in the understanding of the English language. Likewise, the Coverdale Bible often used the word Easter instead of Passover in its translation because the two had the same meaning to the English mind. The Oxford English Dictionary states that Easter also means, "The Jewish passover" and cites examples dating to 971 A.D. It should be noted that the English word Easter originally carried a meaning that would encompass the Jewish Passover. Gerhard Kittel notes that pascha came to be called Easter in the celebration of the resurrection within the primitive Church. Lampe also points to various Greek words such as paschazo and paschalua that came to mean celebrate Easter and Eastertide. Lampe lists several rules and observances by Christians in celebration of their pascha or Easter. Instead they kept as holy a day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ near the time of both Passover and the pagan festival celebrating the goddess Ostara. The ancient Christians did not keep the Jewish Passover. Lampe has correctly stated that pascha came to mean Easter in the early Church. The use of the word pascha in early Christian writings dealt with the celebration of Easter, and not just the Jewish Passover. Also, the translation of pascha as Passover in Acts 12:4 was known to the king's translators since this is the reading of the Geneva Bible. However, earlier English translations such as Tyndale's NT, the Great Bible, and the Bishop's Bible also translated pascha as Easter in this verse, showing that the understanding here dealt with something other than the Jewish Passover. Therefore, some point to this passage as a translation error on the KJV's part. The Greek word pascha is translated as Passover in the KJV with this one exception where it is translated as Easter. "And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people." Thomas Holland's Crowned With Glory, ©2000, used with permission.
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