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We are now in the Easter season and the feast of Easter is rapidly approaching so perhaps it's a good time to start the conversation again. But this time, please, let's investigate the documented history behind the various customs that have come to be associated with Easter, at least in the West. It seems in recent years the frantic and non-stop "Easter is pagan" voices have gone virtually unchalleneged and it's time we Christians educate ourselves on the history of our Christian holidays and observances.
There will always be those, unfortunately, who serve an agenda the purpose of which is not to arrive at the truth about why Christians have come to associate eggs and chocolate and bunnies and baby chicks with Easter, but rather their goal is to discredit not only our Easter customs, but even Easter itself, and ultimately all of Christendom which celebrates the historic event. For them, no amount of truth will prevail as their's is not a quarrel with history, but with Christianity.
The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus was originally observed every Sunday dating from New Testament times. But for the 300 years that followed, the Christian churches suffered frequent and often brutal persecution and suppression. It wasn't until the early 4th century that the persecution was ended and Christians were able to turn their attention to matters of doctrine and worship.
However, as is our wont, as soon as we could turn our attention from surviving imprisonment and death to matters of doctrine and observance, a dispute broke out that nearly tore the church apart and the argument soon spilled over from the pulpit into the pew. In an attempt to heal the breach, and to bind together more closely his far-flung Empire, Constantine convened a council of all the heads of all the churches throughout the world. One of the issues that were to be decided was the date on which Christendom would observe the annual Feast of the Resurrection.
I’d like to address that in particular at a later time, the many charges and accusations made against this early generation of Christians are not only historically inaccurate, but grossly misrepresent a whole generation of men and women who not only were not adopting pagan holidays and practices as they are accused of ad naseum, but they bore in their own bodies the proof of their faithfulness to the Gospel and their complete refusal to bow to the dictates of Rome and pay even cursory homage to pagan gods. The truth of the faithfulness of these early Christians is testified to by no less than those men who would be in the best position to know the truth of these things ... the Emperors of Rome. But more on that later.
To the subject at hand: since the earliest days of our faith the 40 days before the annual Feast of the Resurrection was a time of preparation by Christians with prayer and fasting, which was practiced by every Christian congregation the world over. The churches worldwide were most heavily influenced in these early years in doctrine and in practice not by the Roman Catholic Church, which is often the target of the anti-Easter/anti-Christmas/anti-Christian accusers, but the most influential church was in fact the Coptic Church of Alexandria, Egypt. Again, more on that later.
The custom of fasting during these 40 days before Easter, which came to be called "Lent," dates back in writing to the early 4th century, which gives evidence that the practice was well established at that time. The theologian Athanasius, Bishop of the Coptic Church at Alexandria (the same Coptic Church founded by St. Mark the Evangelist and author of the second Gospel who was taken from his home on Easter Sunday and dragged through the streets of Alexandria until he was dead … and the same Coptic Church in Egypt which is today being brutally persecuted, Christians being crucified on telephone poles in the streets of Cairo) ... this Athanasius composed a "festal letter" in which he mentions that Christians were fasting during the 40 days before the Feast of the Resurrection: NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters - Christian Classics Ethereal Library . This practice is also testified to in Canon V of the first Nicene Council dated to 325 A.D. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nicea1.txt .
So this was a custom observed since ancient times, 40 days chosen to honor the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing himself for his ministry. But the point is that the fifth-century historian Socrates Scholasticus noted in his Summa Theologica that during Lent believers commonly “abstained from flesh meat, eggs, and milk foods,” which include butter, cheese, etc., although Socrates was arguing against these things being enjoined by the church while the church was not enjoined to abstain from alcohol, which he considered more likely to lead to concupiscence (fleshly desires). Summa Theologica - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Then fasting from these products became canon law at the Council in Trulo in 692: "It seems good therefore that the whole Church of God which is in all the world should follow one rule and keep the fast perfectly, and as they abstain from everything which is killed, so also should they from eggs and cheese, which are the fruit and produce of those animals from which we abstain." Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIV: The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council.: Canon LVI | St-Takla.org
Then the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) wrote the following: "Eggs and milk foods are forbidden to those who fast, for as much as they originate from animals that provide us with flesh … Again the Lenten fast is the most solemn of all, both because it is kept in imitation of Christ, and because it disposes us to celebrate devoutly the mysteries of our redemption. For this reason the eating of flesh meat is forbidden in every fast, while the Lenten fast lays a general prohibition even on eggs and milk foods."
So fasting during the 40 days leading up to the Feast of the Resurrection is a very ancient custom of Christians that is still practiced today by Catholic and Orthodox churches. In my own home city of Mobile, AL we have a period called “Mardi Gras” which originally was a time of merriment and religious processions by Christians to enjoy some revelry before Lent. This period of revelry has unfortunately been adopted by non-religious people who abuse the spirit of Mardi Gras with gluttony and drunkenness, but the Mardi Gras season ends on “Fat Tuesday,” called “fat” because it was the last day on which eggs, cheese, butter, and other dairy products could be eaten. Fat Tuesday is followed by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the 40 days of fasting, which in modern times is signified by the “ashes” on the foreheads of the orthodox.
Protestants of course do not participate in all these observances, nor do we fast during Lent. So what has happened is that we Protestants have kept many of the customs left over from our Catholic and Orthodox roots, such as eggs being a big part of our Easter feasting, but since Protestants generally refrain from the practice of fasting, the reason that eggs play such a role in our Easter feast has been too long forgotten. It’s time we remember our roots so that we will no longer be prey to the wiles and deceptions of those who in truth oppose not only the observances of Christendom, but Christendom itself.
The Feast of the Resurrection is a time of feasting and joy, and being able to once more partake of eggs was and still is a cause of celebration for those who fast from them during Lent. And since chickens do not stop laying eggs during Lent, there is a surplus of eggs for the Easter feast. How innocently did parents begin the practice of coloring and hiding eggs for the children to find, to make the day more enjoyable for little ones. I myself have children and grandchildren and it is an impossible thing to explain to the very young, 2 or 3-year olds, exactly what the death and resurrection of Jesus means and such hard lessons must be kept for when they are a bit older. But even a 2-year old can be taught that the day of Jesus’ resurrection is special, and a time of joy and celebration, even if they are, at such a young age, unable to understand exactly what death and resurrection even means, lessons which must wait until they are ready.
And being the granddaughter of a farmer I can well understand how 40 days of refraining from eating eggs would mean a surplus of eggs that would not all last until Easter but many would inevitably spoil. So a smart mother would allow her hens to set on the eggs and the Easter season would see many new baby chicks fill the farmyard. Is it any wonder then that children would come to associate baby chicks with Easter? These simple Easter customs did not come from worship of pagan idols, but from the simple lives of simple folk who lived out the Christian faith in day-to-day life.
Now the Easter bunny didn't come along until very late in Christian customs. The first recorded evidence of an Easter Bunny was in a book called De ovis paschalibus (About the Easter Egg) by George Franck von Frankenau (1643-1704) in which he recorded that the tradition first existed in Alsace (a region in modern day France that was previously populated by Germans). By this time the region had been Christianized for several hundred years, and there is no reason to believe that ancient pagan practices would have influenced its religious celebrations so many generations later. The explanation for the source of the Easter rabbit is: “Easter egg hunts usually took place in open fields or meadows. Children who sought the hidden eggs regularly frightened rabbits concealed in the grass. As eggs were often discovered in the same location from which the bunnies had just fled, children naturally associated their newly found colored treasure with the furry animals.”
This Easter custom came to America with the early German immigrants but it should be noted that in other countries it is other animal characters that are credited with delivering Easter eggs on Easter morning, for example in Switzerland a cuckoo delivers eggs, and in Westphalia (a region in Germany) it is a fox. But it is for this reason that even today Christians, and non-Christians who celebrate Easter with baskets, line them with plastic "grass" and fill them with Easter eggs and other goodies.
But for Americans, and much of the west, the German Easter Hare has become a fixture for the holiday, made even more popular by a series of books written by a man named Thornton W. Burgess (1874-1965), affectionately known to a whole generation of children as “the Bedtime Story-Man.” He wrote 170 children’s books and 17,000 stories for his daily newspaper column. In his books he picked up on the work of Beatrix Potter and her “Tale of Peter Rabbit” and wrote the very popular book “The Adventures of Peter Rabbit.” But it wasn’t until 1950 that the Easter Bunny reached into the broader culture beyond the church when the childhood Saturday morning television hero Gene Autry, the “Singing Cowboy,” recorded a song called “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail__Gene Autry.wmv - YouTube which hit #3 on the Billboard country hits and #5 on the Billboard top 100 hits, endearing the Easter Bunny to millions of Americans and making the Easter Bunny a fixture in American culture.
In more modern times candy is one of the foods Orthodox Christians fast from, so grass-lined baskets filled with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks have become the mainstay of the Easter feast for young children. These customs of Easter have no connection with anything pagan but are all derived from generations of Christians living out their faith and observing those things that are nearest and dearest to our hearts, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in a manner that is fully in keeping with Biblically sanctioned practices ... fasting and feasting.
To all the brethren in Christ,
Happy Easter ~
Pilgrimer
There will always be those, unfortunately, who serve an agenda the purpose of which is not to arrive at the truth about why Christians have come to associate eggs and chocolate and bunnies and baby chicks with Easter, but rather their goal is to discredit not only our Easter customs, but even Easter itself, and ultimately all of Christendom which celebrates the historic event. For them, no amount of truth will prevail as their's is not a quarrel with history, but with Christianity.
The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus was originally observed every Sunday dating from New Testament times. But for the 300 years that followed, the Christian churches suffered frequent and often brutal persecution and suppression. It wasn't until the early 4th century that the persecution was ended and Christians were able to turn their attention to matters of doctrine and worship.
However, as is our wont, as soon as we could turn our attention from surviving imprisonment and death to matters of doctrine and observance, a dispute broke out that nearly tore the church apart and the argument soon spilled over from the pulpit into the pew. In an attempt to heal the breach, and to bind together more closely his far-flung Empire, Constantine convened a council of all the heads of all the churches throughout the world. One of the issues that were to be decided was the date on which Christendom would observe the annual Feast of the Resurrection.
I’d like to address that in particular at a later time, the many charges and accusations made against this early generation of Christians are not only historically inaccurate, but grossly misrepresent a whole generation of men and women who not only were not adopting pagan holidays and practices as they are accused of ad naseum, but they bore in their own bodies the proof of their faithfulness to the Gospel and their complete refusal to bow to the dictates of Rome and pay even cursory homage to pagan gods. The truth of the faithfulness of these early Christians is testified to by no less than those men who would be in the best position to know the truth of these things ... the Emperors of Rome. But more on that later.
To the subject at hand: since the earliest days of our faith the 40 days before the annual Feast of the Resurrection was a time of preparation by Christians with prayer and fasting, which was practiced by every Christian congregation the world over. The churches worldwide were most heavily influenced in these early years in doctrine and in practice not by the Roman Catholic Church, which is often the target of the anti-Easter/anti-Christmas/anti-Christian accusers, but the most influential church was in fact the Coptic Church of Alexandria, Egypt. Again, more on that later.
The custom of fasting during these 40 days before Easter, which came to be called "Lent," dates back in writing to the early 4th century, which gives evidence that the practice was well established at that time. The theologian Athanasius, Bishop of the Coptic Church at Alexandria (the same Coptic Church founded by St. Mark the Evangelist and author of the second Gospel who was taken from his home on Easter Sunday and dragged through the streets of Alexandria until he was dead … and the same Coptic Church in Egypt which is today being brutally persecuted, Christians being crucified on telephone poles in the streets of Cairo) ... this Athanasius composed a "festal letter" in which he mentions that Christians were fasting during the 40 days before the Feast of the Resurrection: NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters - Christian Classics Ethereal Library . This practice is also testified to in Canon V of the first Nicene Council dated to 325 A.D. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nicea1.txt .
So this was a custom observed since ancient times, 40 days chosen to honor the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing himself for his ministry. But the point is that the fifth-century historian Socrates Scholasticus noted in his Summa Theologica that during Lent believers commonly “abstained from flesh meat, eggs, and milk foods,” which include butter, cheese, etc., although Socrates was arguing against these things being enjoined by the church while the church was not enjoined to abstain from alcohol, which he considered more likely to lead to concupiscence (fleshly desires). Summa Theologica - Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Then fasting from these products became canon law at the Council in Trulo in 692: "It seems good therefore that the whole Church of God which is in all the world should follow one rule and keep the fast perfectly, and as they abstain from everything which is killed, so also should they from eggs and cheese, which are the fruit and produce of those animals from which we abstain." Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XIV: The Canons of the Council in Trullo; Often Called The Quinisext Council.: Canon LVI | St-Takla.org
Then the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-74) wrote the following: "Eggs and milk foods are forbidden to those who fast, for as much as they originate from animals that provide us with flesh … Again the Lenten fast is the most solemn of all, both because it is kept in imitation of Christ, and because it disposes us to celebrate devoutly the mysteries of our redemption. For this reason the eating of flesh meat is forbidden in every fast, while the Lenten fast lays a general prohibition even on eggs and milk foods."
So fasting during the 40 days leading up to the Feast of the Resurrection is a very ancient custom of Christians that is still practiced today by Catholic and Orthodox churches. In my own home city of Mobile, AL we have a period called “Mardi Gras” which originally was a time of merriment and religious processions by Christians to enjoy some revelry before Lent. This period of revelry has unfortunately been adopted by non-religious people who abuse the spirit of Mardi Gras with gluttony and drunkenness, but the Mardi Gras season ends on “Fat Tuesday,” called “fat” because it was the last day on which eggs, cheese, butter, and other dairy products could be eaten. Fat Tuesday is followed by Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the 40 days of fasting, which in modern times is signified by the “ashes” on the foreheads of the orthodox.
Protestants of course do not participate in all these observances, nor do we fast during Lent. So what has happened is that we Protestants have kept many of the customs left over from our Catholic and Orthodox roots, such as eggs being a big part of our Easter feasting, but since Protestants generally refrain from the practice of fasting, the reason that eggs play such a role in our Easter feast has been too long forgotten. It’s time we remember our roots so that we will no longer be prey to the wiles and deceptions of those who in truth oppose not only the observances of Christendom, but Christendom itself.
The Feast of the Resurrection is a time of feasting and joy, and being able to once more partake of eggs was and still is a cause of celebration for those who fast from them during Lent. And since chickens do not stop laying eggs during Lent, there is a surplus of eggs for the Easter feast. How innocently did parents begin the practice of coloring and hiding eggs for the children to find, to make the day more enjoyable for little ones. I myself have children and grandchildren and it is an impossible thing to explain to the very young, 2 or 3-year olds, exactly what the death and resurrection of Jesus means and such hard lessons must be kept for when they are a bit older. But even a 2-year old can be taught that the day of Jesus’ resurrection is special, and a time of joy and celebration, even if they are, at such a young age, unable to understand exactly what death and resurrection even means, lessons which must wait until they are ready.
And being the granddaughter of a farmer I can well understand how 40 days of refraining from eating eggs would mean a surplus of eggs that would not all last until Easter but many would inevitably spoil. So a smart mother would allow her hens to set on the eggs and the Easter season would see many new baby chicks fill the farmyard. Is it any wonder then that children would come to associate baby chicks with Easter? These simple Easter customs did not come from worship of pagan idols, but from the simple lives of simple folk who lived out the Christian faith in day-to-day life.
Now the Easter bunny didn't come along until very late in Christian customs. The first recorded evidence of an Easter Bunny was in a book called De ovis paschalibus (About the Easter Egg) by George Franck von Frankenau (1643-1704) in which he recorded that the tradition first existed in Alsace (a region in modern day France that was previously populated by Germans). By this time the region had been Christianized for several hundred years, and there is no reason to believe that ancient pagan practices would have influenced its religious celebrations so many generations later. The explanation for the source of the Easter rabbit is: “Easter egg hunts usually took place in open fields or meadows. Children who sought the hidden eggs regularly frightened rabbits concealed in the grass. As eggs were often discovered in the same location from which the bunnies had just fled, children naturally associated their newly found colored treasure with the furry animals.”
This Easter custom came to America with the early German immigrants but it should be noted that in other countries it is other animal characters that are credited with delivering Easter eggs on Easter morning, for example in Switzerland a cuckoo delivers eggs, and in Westphalia (a region in Germany) it is a fox. But it is for this reason that even today Christians, and non-Christians who celebrate Easter with baskets, line them with plastic "grass" and fill them with Easter eggs and other goodies.
But for Americans, and much of the west, the German Easter Hare has become a fixture for the holiday, made even more popular by a series of books written by a man named Thornton W. Burgess (1874-1965), affectionately known to a whole generation of children as “the Bedtime Story-Man.” He wrote 170 children’s books and 17,000 stories for his daily newspaper column. In his books he picked up on the work of Beatrix Potter and her “Tale of Peter Rabbit” and wrote the very popular book “The Adventures of Peter Rabbit.” But it wasn’t until 1950 that the Easter Bunny reached into the broader culture beyond the church when the childhood Saturday morning television hero Gene Autry, the “Singing Cowboy,” recorded a song called “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail__Gene Autry.wmv - YouTube which hit #3 on the Billboard country hits and #5 on the Billboard top 100 hits, endearing the Easter Bunny to millions of Americans and making the Easter Bunny a fixture in American culture.
In more modern times candy is one of the foods Orthodox Christians fast from, so grass-lined baskets filled with Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks have become the mainstay of the Easter feast for young children. These customs of Easter have no connection with anything pagan but are all derived from generations of Christians living out their faith and observing those things that are nearest and dearest to our hearts, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and in a manner that is fully in keeping with Biblically sanctioned practices ... fasting and feasting.
To all the brethren in Christ,
Happy Easter ~
Pilgrimer
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I think there may be some responses to your post re the pagan origins and I am sure they are right too, if thats the slant one wants to take. As you say, thats not how many people in the west view Easter. I find it is a wonderful opportunity to share the Good News, winter is over, Spring has sprung, the daffodils here are glorious and a bunch of daffies, a basket / box of chocolate and the story of our risen Lord? what a combo!!!