What Does Easter Mean ?

Grandpoppy and I drove past our local city park, on the way to the grocery store this afternoon. We noticed it was filled literally, with hundreds of people. The park was abuzz with the noise of happy families busy grilling, eating, talking and playing this sunny Easter holiday.

I noticed while we were shopping at Walmart, that many of the patrons were wearing dresses and attired in Sunday clothing, aisle after aisle.

When we returned home and turned on the television, there were many references to Easter Sunday church services. It got me thinking about the shared Christian observance of Easter.

I pondered the question, "What does it mean to be a Christian, in modern day America?"

In ancient times, the early Christians observed a memorial to Christ's sacrificial death. Christ instructed His followers to keep the Passover, it became a memorial to His sacrifice as the Lamb of God--not to his resurrection. God's Holy Days include a special date to commemorate the resurrection of faithful Christians, at Christ's return.(I Corinthians 15:12-20 and 50-52). That particular Holy Day is known as the Feast of Trumpets, which occurs in the autumn (Leviticus 23:24), not in the spring.

Eventually, over time, Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering "sunrise services" at Easter, – an obvious pagan solar celebration. The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon, – how pagan is that?

Easter is the earliest of all annual Christian feasts. It may originally have been observed in conjunction with the Jewish Passover on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan. Gradually, however, it was observed everywhere on Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection. The First Council of Nicaea (in A.D. 325) prescribed that Easter should always be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.

Among the most familiar Easter symbols are the egg and rabbit. The egg symbolizes new life breaking through the apparent death (hardness) of the eggshell. Probably a pre-Christian symbol, it was adapted by Christians to denote Christ's coming forth from the tomb. In many countries the exchange of colored or decorated eggs at Easter has become customary. The Easter Bunny or Rabbit is also most likely of pre-Christian origin. The rabbit was known as an extraordinarily fertile creature, and hence it symbolized the coming of spring. Although adopted in a number of Christian cultures, the Easter Bunny has never received any specific Christian interpretation. 

I have raised some rabbits and I know, rabbits are very fertile animals and procreate like crazy! The Encyclopedia Britannica's hypothesis is that the use of these common symbols, credibly and pragmatically explain the religious origins of "Easter". They explain that "Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit are simply symbols of a continuation of ancient spring fertility rites."

Among Easter foods, the most significant is the Easter lamb, which is in many places the main dish of the Easter Sunday meal. Corresponding to the Passover lamb and to Christ, the Lamb of God, this dish has become a central symbol of Easter. Also popular among Europeans and Americans on Easter is ham, because the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian European culture. 

The pig is still considered a symbol of luck and wealth in Asia, today. Asian families believe the astrological symbol of the pig is wealth. Hence, the popular and well-known "Piggy Bank".

Well,... Dear Readers, I don't think I've gotten very far in trying to answer my own query, about what it means to be Christian today. However, I think I've illuminated the concept of the Christian practice of the observance of "Easter". Unfortunately, I have not eliminated my original question with satisfactory examination or explanations of the map of my own spiritual journey back to God. I guess, like most people,...I am still working on it.


                                        "Happy Easter" and "Boner Appertite!"