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Why does the date for Easter change and what are the origins of the word Easter?

In accord with the Gospels, Easter is the solemn feast celebrating the resurrection of Christ.  In the Western tradition of the Church, Easter has been celebrated on the first Sunday following the new full moon which occurs on or immediately after the vernal or spring equinox.  This dating was established by the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D.  As such, the date for Easter may range from March 22 to April 25.  (The Orthodox Churches follow a different dating system and will thereby celebrate Easter one, four, or five weeks later.)

The word Easter is more difficult to explain. 

The origin of the word Easter is complex. In the Greek language of the Gospels, the word pascha was used for the Hebrew word pesach, meaning Passover. Latin, too, took up this word, pascha. Christ is our Passover Lamb. Most of the European languages derived from Latin use the words derived from pascha such as Italian, pasqua; Spanish, pascua; and French, paques.

However, the English language draws from a different source. According to St. Bede (d. 735), the word Easter comes from the word Eoster, the Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day — that is, spring and of dawn. The Old German plural for dawn, or east, is ostern, and it also influenced the English word for Easter. As the English language developed, Easter came to denote that Sunday morning in spring when Christ, our true Light, rose.

Whatever pagan roots the word had (all our words have many different origins), the word Easter in present times clearly refers to the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The fact is, the Church, when she is strong, is often able to take non-Christian practices (as long as they are not intrinsically evil) and often “baptize” them by giving them Christian meaning. This is clearly the case with the name most commonly used for Easter.




Author Bio:
Deacon Dan Vaughn