You are either
grossly misinformed, or just another prejudiced anti-Catholic bigot who never documents their sources. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and go with the
former.
The word
Easter is of
English origin. Ishtar was worshipped in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq),
not England, which is thousands of miles away.
Despite sounding similar, the two words are unrelated.
The eighth-century British historian Bede claimed that the word
Easter came from the name of the
month in which it occurred (basically, April). He said
this month used to be called
Eostur, though this was no longer true in his day. He also thought the month was named after a Germanic goddess who was no longer worshipped.
Bede is the only source who mentions this goddess, so he may be incorrect. Regardless,
this applies only to the origin of the English word, not the origin of the feast. Its origin is revealed by its name in other languages.
In Italian, it’s
Pasqua;
in Spanish,
Pascha;
in Portugese,
Páscoa;
in French,
Pâques;
in Danish,
Paaske;
in Dutch,
Pasen;
in Swedish,
Påsk; and so on.
All of these derive from the Latin Pascha or Greek Paskha, both of which are words for the Jewish feast of Passover (Hebrew, Pesakh).
The *event* Easter (as opposed to the *word* easter
) celebrates is the resurrection of Jesus, and it is celebrated in conjunction with Passover because Jesus was crucified at Passover and rose the following Sunday (John 19:14-18, 20:1-20). That explains why Easter is not celebrated on a fixed date the way Christmas is. It can be confusing because we are talking about 2 different calendar systems.
The reason Easter’s timing is based on the full moon after the spring equinox is because that was the
timing of Passover on the Jewish calendar. The Law of Moses requires Passover to be celebrated on the fourteenth of the month of Nisan (Lev. 23:5). This is a spring month that contains the equinox, and because the Jewish months begin on the new moon, the fourteenth fell on the full moon.
The timing of the feast thus is Jewish, not pagan.
What is ultimately important is what Easter signifies today—the resurrection of Jesus—not where it came from. (
“the genetic fallacy.”)
source
You can continue to wield "easter" as a bat to beat Catholics with thus inadvertently accuse Passover as named after a pagan god because you don't know any better. Now you know better. Don't harden your heart and post the same garbage next year.