Articles

The true spirit of Easter

By. Prashant Solomon

One has heard of Christmas trees, Christmas gifts, Christmas carols and Christmas parties, Santa Claus, mistletoe and wine. What is it about Christmas that it is celebrated with such fervour and enthusiasm? Every year December 25 is looked forward to as a day that is celebrated and revered not just among Christians but
also by all - as the day that Jesus Christ was born. On the other hand – Easter, the day that Jesus rose from the dead is characterised by Easter eggs and an Easter bunny! No Easter carols, Easter gifts, Easter parties. And even if there are some celebrations, in the form of an Easter parade, it does not really match up to the celebrations associated with Christmas.

But looking at it purely from the point of view of Christianity, Easter scores ahead of Christmas in the level of significance it has for the Christian. Easter
is the day that Christ rose from the dead. It is the central pillar when it comes to believing that Jesus was divine. For before him, many saints had died, many
prophets had died and some even had performed miracles. But Jesus was the only one of these that had actually risen from the dead, which was a major cementing factor in strengthening the faith of his early disciples. It was this immense faith in Jesus,
due significantly to his resurrection that the spread of Christianity was able to take place. Had the disciples and other early followers of Christ not had so much faith in Christ's divinity, resurrection and ultimate immortality, they probably would not
sacrifice their lives and personal life to spread the gospel.

Christmas signifies birth. Christ was born and so we all are born. But Easter has even a deeper spiritual possibility that reflects on all of our lives as well.

On Easter, Christ was risen. But have we all risen? Have we all been able to rise from the boiling pot of sin and overcome as Christ did? Easter can also be looked at as a possibility of our own independent resurrections. Though we can always change the course of our sinful lives and be "born again", Easter is a reminder of this and it comes our way once every year. So, every year we celebrate a day of resurrection, and
we also remember that we too have an opportunity to rise from our own sins.

Easter was actually first a Pagan celebration of the coming of spring.

This is a wonderful depiction of Christ's resurrection by artist Carl Bloch

According to the Venerable Bede, Christian historian and theologian, writing in the 8th century, the name 'Easter' is from the festival of Oestre (sometimes spelled "Estre"), pronounced "Eestruh", the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, Fertility and New Life.
It is easy to see how "Eastre time" became "Easter time".

Since ancient times, pagans have worshipped rabbits as sex and fertility gods, and have looked upon them as symbols of lust, sexual vigour and reproduction. In the traditions of Egypt and Persia there are such rabbit gods, and they were particularly honoured in the springtime. Likewise, eggs have always been an important feature of pagan springtime celebrations of new life and fertility.

This all comes together in our Easter customs in the pagan tradition of Oestre (Estre - the Goddess of Spring). In that pagan story, there was a great bird that intensely desired to be a rabbit. The Goddess Oestre (Estre) graciously turned the bird into a
rabbit, and in gratitude the rabbit (who could still remember how to lay bird eggs) came each Spring, during the Festival of Oestre (Estre), and laid beautiful eggs for the benevolent goddess. This is exactly how we got a supernatural, egg-laying rabbit
god in our Easter tradition.

However, though the word Easter may have come from a Pagan goddess, there is a way to look at the name without having Pagan undertones. Since Easter is about
rising, one could say that since the Sun rises from the 'East', we celebrate this as 'Easter'.

Whichever way one looks at it, the day should be about standing up and rising out of one's sins, depression, low self-esteem or confusion. As Christ suffered and then emerged glorious, we can also.

In these troubled times of war and hatred, it is important to remember that Christ died to save the world from sin. His resurrection was also a sign that we too can rise out of our troubles. Lets hope this Easter; we are able to do that.