Hoppy Easter!

I'm sure people are aware that Easter Holidays are upon us, but how much do you know about Easter's origins?

 

WHAT IS EASTER ?

Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's rising from the dead (called the Resurrection) after his crucifixion which took place on what we now call Good Friday.

According to the Bible, Jesus' tomb was empty three days after his death, suggesting he had overcome death, so the biggest celebration for Christians is on Easter Sunday. 

HOW DID EASTER GET ITS NAME ?

The English name "Easter" is much newer. Before Christianity in early England, the people celebrated the vernal (spring) equinox with a feast honouring Eostre, the Pagan goddess of spring. When the early English Christians wanted others to accept Christianity, they used the name Easter for this holiday so that it would match the name of the old spring celebration. This made it more comfortable for other people to accept Christianity. 

Some believed that the word Easter came from an early German word "eostarun", meaning dawn and white. Newly baptized Christians wore white clothes as a sign of their new life on Easter. The modern day Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and coloured Easter eggs are derived from Eostre too. Hot cross buns may also have started back then, or possibly in ancient Greece, but now the white cross is generally considered a symbol of Jesus' cross.