Am I right then that you do not object to our celebrating Christ's Passover Supper, Passion, Death and Resurrection, but to the timing of those celebrations?FHII said:I object to the name Easter, the bunny, eggs and all that garbage. I also object to the lies about the death and resurrection. He did not die on friday and rise on sunday.
Of your stated objections can we look at the word Easter first?
The word is peculiar to English - and German (Ostern) from which it is thought to be derived.
Other languages use their word for:
1. the Hebrew & Greek Pascha (e.g. Latin, French, Dutch, Polish , and many more).
2. 'Resurrection' (e.g. Chinese, Bosnian, Korean and others)
3. 'Great Day' (most Slavic languages such as Bulgarian & Czech)
4. A few others such as Persian (Chaste Feast) & Geogian (rising)
There are several theories as to the derivation of the word Easter.
The first is that it comes from the name of Saxon godess Eostre. The only source for this the 7th/8th century monk Bede (but see more below about this).
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanics:
There is now widespread consensus that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term.
There is a third theory that the name is based on alba meaning 'white' because of the white vestments used at this time. These two theories of 'alba' are merged in the explanation from religioustolerance.org:
The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter".
A different theory is suggested by the Catholic apologist, Taylor Marshall.
The Anglo-Saxons called the Spring equinox "Eostre". It was a astronomical description. Since pagans ceremoniously celebrate astronomical events as holy days, the natural phenomenon (the spring equinox as a "shining") and the religious feast (the goddess of fertility and light, Ashtorah) were indistinguishable.
Anglo-Saxons didn't borrow the name of a goddess for the feast of Christ's resurrection. They simply denoted it by the name of the natural phenomenon (the spring equinox), since the festival is calculated by using marking the equinox. It just happens that the name of the goddess and the name of the feast are etymologically connected. This would confirm the exact context of Bede's words:
"Eostur-month, which is now interpreted as the paschal month, was formerly named after the goddess Eostre, and has given its name to the festival."
Whichever explanation you prefer it seems that the word Easter is not simply taken from the pagan godess Eostre.
Note: As the official language of the Catholic Church is Latin, the official name for the celebrations at this time of year is Pascha