I think the celebration we call Easter was going on before it was called Easter, do you know when we began to call Easter Easter?
Here is an excerpt from Gail Ripplinger
The etymological focus for ‘east-er’ or ‘ea-ster’ has been on both ‘east’ and ‘star’ (ster or stern in Germanic languages). Let’s look at the genuine origin of ‘east-er’ first:
The sun rises in the east; it sets in the west. The reader of the Bible and the natural man, observing his world, are preconditioned to understand that the word ‘east’ is a reference
to the place where the sun rises. Jesus Christ is referred to as the “Sun of righteousness.…” Mal. 4:2 says, “But unto you that fear my same shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings:…” The parallel between the Son of God and the sun (Sun) is obvious. The O.T. made it clear that the Sun of righteous would rise from the dead, just as the sun rises in the east in the morning. Numbers 2:3 refers to the “east…rising of the sun.” Numbers 24:17 calls Jesus the “Star”: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a
Star
out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel…”The counterfeiter came along quickly, as in Deut 1:4 we see “A-
star-oth” appears. She is the fertility goddess (Astarte, Ishtar, etc.), from which the word ‘Easter’ is sometimes traced. Her reproductive proclivity is portrayed by the bunny rabbits and eggs. Of course, the pagan counterfeit continues to this day with the focus on bunnies and eggs. In Ezek. 8:16 we see an example of the pagan practice, with their "...faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east." Just as there is “another Jesus,” (2 Cor. 11:4) there is ‘another’ Easter. But, according to the Bible, the word ‘east’ and ‘star’ (Ea-ster) first related to the resurrection of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ. Therefore, Easter, as seen in the KJB, as well as in Luther and Tyndale’s Bibles, is a perfectly good word, identifying the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Just dump the eggs and bunnies.
I examined all the usages of the word 'east' in the O.T.. In the surrounding contexts there are reference to the sun (Son) rising and numerous prophetic statements about Jesus rising from the dead. The sunset pictures the red blood of Christ, as it covers the earth and as he goes down to hell. The dark night pictures the burial of Christ. The sunrise, of course, pictures his glorious resurrection. (Remember that in the Bible, “And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen. 1:5). The evening, that is, the sunset or death of Christ, comes first; the resurrection, that is, the ‘day’ and the ‘Son’ rise, occurs second. Look up the words "sun," "shine," "rise," "east," "eastern," and "risen" for many more pictures of the resurrection. Observe the following sample verses, which pre-condition the reader to understand the word ‘Easter’ and point, as “shadows,” to the resurrection of Christ. The reader of the Bible will
not be preconditioned, through Bible reading, to understand the word ‘Easter’ as a pagan word.
Gen. 2:8, 9 "And the LORD God...eastward...out of the ground...the LORD God."
Gen. 2:14 "east...fourth" (like unto the Son of God)
Rev. 20:8 “four quarters of the earth,”
Deut 22:12 “four quarters of thy vesture,”
1 Chron. 9:24 “four quarters, east, west, north, and south,” etc.
Numbers 2:3 "east...rising of the sun
Josh. 12:1; Isa. 59:19,20 "the rising of the sun...the Redeemer"
Isa. 60:1-3 "Arise, shine; for thy light...the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee...the Lord shall arise upon thee...thy light...to the brightness of thy rising..."
Ezek. 44 et al. "looketh toward the east...This gate shall be shut...it is the Lord, the God of Israel hath entered by it."
Ezek 43:4"The glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east."
Ezek. 43:20 "four corners" (NSEW)
Ezek. 44:1 "the east"
Ezek. 44:2 "God...hath entered"
Mat. 17:1, 2 "Jesus…as the sun"
Luke 4:40 "Now when the sun was setting...he laid his
hands...healed them"
Mark 16:2, 6 "rising of the sun...he is risen"
Ezek. 44-48 "looketh toward the east...the sabbath...the
prince…he shall enter…offering...east...go forth...shut the gate [sun set]...four corners of the court…foursquare.”
Ps. 50:1, 2 "rising of the sun...God hath shined..."
Isa. 41:2 "raiseth up the righteous man from the east" (see
also verse 41:25)
2 Peter 1:19 "day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts"
Ps. 84:11 "For the LORD God is a sun..."
Ps. 19:4-6 "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun" "which as a bridegroom going out...His circuit..."
Not only does the Bible condition its readers to understand ‘Easter’ as coming from the word ‘east,’ but modern usages does likewise...