Easter is suppose to be the time of the year when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So from where do all the chocolate bunny rabbits and painted eggs come from? And according to Church Traditions, if "Good Friday" is the day He died and "Easter Sunday" is the day He rose, where are the three days and three nights He said that He would be in the heart of the earth (MATTHEW 12:40)?
Lets tackle the 2nd question first. How do you get three days and three nights from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning? You don't! Yeshua (Jesus) wasn't crucified on Friday, nor did GOD raise Him from the dead on Sunday. He was crucified about 9 am Wednesday morning, died that afternoon around three, and rose three days later, sometime after three pm on Saturday, the weekly Sabbath. Then, "The first day of the week [Sunday] cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre" ( JOHN 20:1).
One reason this is so rarely understood, is because Church tradition has refused to admit that it has painted itself into a corner. We all know that Yeshua was crucified just before the Sabbath, but they err in thinking that it was Saturday, the weekly Sabbath. Therefore tradition concludes He must have been crucified on the day before, which was Friday. Of course the problem with that is you can't get three days and three nights between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. They therefore conclude that Yeshua didn't really mean three whole days, but just parts of three days. Still, where are the three nights? Rather than believing the Bible is accurate, they hold that their traditions are accurate and go about to make the Bible fit into their traditions. When one understands the Jewish culture of the time, all is made clear.
Saturday was their weekly Sabbath. However, on this particular week there were two Sabbaths. One was the regular Saturday Sabbath and the other was a special Sabbath, "a high day" (JOHN 19:31), which happened to fall on Thursday. Today, it would be like if Christmas fell on Thursday that would be a special day. Yet Sunday would also still be the weekly special day. The Jews Passover feast was that Thursday, so Wednesday was the preparation day for the feast, and Friday was a regular work day, so to speak. See "Biblical Chronology".
So how about "Easter" itself, where did it come from? Many are surprised to learn that "Easter" is never used in the Gospels. In fact, only once in the entire Bible can the word "Easter" be found.
ACTS 12:4 And when he [Herod] had apprehended him [Peter], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
The word translated "Easter" in ACTS is pascha in the Greek. It is used over seventy times in the Bible and only here, this once, is it translated "Easter." In every other occurrence it is translated "Passover". It was the Jewish feast for celebrating Yahweh (GOD) delivering Israel out of bondage in the land of Egypt. While slaves in Egypt, Moses had commanded them to slay a lamb and sprinkle the blood on the door post, promising them that the angel of death would not visit their house but "pass over" if they did so. The feast was celebrated from the fourteenth of NISAN to the twentieth.
Not only did "Passover" give the Hebrews a time for reflection but more importantly, it was instituted by Yahweh to point unto the ultimate sacrifice of HIS own Son, the very Lamb of GOD, Yeshua. He was their Passover Lamb, which they themselves sacrificed that year.
So one has to wonder, what has "Easter" got do with all this Passover stuff. Very little! Our Easter revolves around boiling, painting, hiding and then finding chicken eggs. Why? This is the story.
The origins of the name "Easter" is not known for sure. Most scholars accept it as Pagan, probably derived from "Eastre" (or "Eostre"), the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of spring and fertility. The Venerable Saint Bede, (672-735), an early Christian scholar, reportedly asserted this first in his book "De Ratione Temporum".
The Pagans followed and worshipped the Sun with great attention. As they watched it drift southward in autumn, they felt winter descend from the north. Thus they held feasts and celebrations to assure its return again in the spring. Then in the spring, during the "Vernal Equinox" they celebrated its return as the beginning of the spring season. Thus they had many customs and traditions associated with the Sun's movements. Though called by many names in the Pagan world, springtime was a great celebration of life anew. Crops were beginning to grow, trees were budding and rivers were rising. The resurrection of "the first born from the dead" was easily merged with the pagan Easter celebrations. The early Church was made up of many pagan converts. They brought with them their rites, symbols and customs, which were associated with Easter. Failing to ardently measure these "traditions" with Scripture, the early Church accepted them as their own.
Sun worshippers predate Christianity by thousands of years. Many believed that the Sun was a god that traveled across the sky during the day, then at night had to fight its way back through the underworld so as to be able to rise again in the east. The worship of the Babylonian god Tamuz was thus shown by the Lord GOD, 'Adonay Yahweh, to Ezekiel in a vision.
EZEKIEL 8:13-16 He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the LORD'S [Yahweh's] house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD'S [Yahweh's] house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD [Yahweh], between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD [Yahweh], and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east.
From Easter Candles, Lilies, Hot Cross Buns and Sunrise Services, many traditions associated with Easter have Pagan origins. The ability of the rabbit to quickly multiply in the spring, is why it is such a big player in the "Easter" celebration. It was also sacred to the Goddess Eostre, being sacrificed to her. Supposedly, the hare was originally a bird, which Eostre changed into a rabbit. Eggs were painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring.