“Easter”

BEFORE EASTER, the secular media bombards us with anti-Christian propaganda. One thing we often hear is that “Easter” is pagan festival, that was “Christianized.” We are told that the word Easter derives from an ancient Germanic pagan deity. And so, Easter is suspect, isn’t really Christian, and we really ought not bother with going to church, and instead we should do whatever the politicians tell us to do.

But this is only an objection in English — and German, which uses the similar-sounding word “Ostern”. Now, there may be many people who may believe that Holy Writ was written in the King’s English, and so many may also believe that the word “Easter” is likewise normative. But let us consider other languages:

Language	Word for Easter	Meaning
Amharic	ፋሲካ, fāsīkā	Passover
Arabic	عيد الفصح, ʿĪd al-Fiṣḥ	Festival of Passover
Arabic	عيد القيامة, ʿĪd al-Qiyāmah	Festival of the Resurrection
Aramaic	פֶּסחא‎, Pasḥa	Passover
Belarusian	Вялікдзень, Vyalikdzyen’	Great Day
Breton	Pask	Passover
Bulgarian	Великден, Velikden	Great Day
Catalan	Pasqua	Passover
Cornish	Pask	Passover
Croatian	Uskrs	Resurrection
Croatian	Velja noć	Great Night
Czech	Velikonoce	Great Night
Danish	påske	Passover
Dutch	Pasen	Passover
English	Easter	*
Estonian	lihavõtted	Taking of the meat
Gaelic	Càisg	Passover
German	Ostern	*
Greek	Πάσχα, Paskha	Passover
Greek	Ἀνάστασις, anástasis	Resurrection
Faroese	páskir	Passover
French	Pâques	Passover
Hebrew	פֶּסַח,‎ Pesaḥ	Passover
Hungarian	húsvét	Taking of the meat
Icelandic	páskar	Passover
Irish	Cáisc	Passover
Italian	Pasqua	Passover
Japanese	復活祭, fukkatsusai	Resurrection celebration
Korean	부활절, buhwaljeol	Resurrection Day
Latin	Pascha	Passover
Macedonian	Велигден, Veligden	Great Day
Mandarin	復活節, fùhuó jié	Resurrection celebration
Manx	Caisht	Passover
Nāhuatl	Paxcua	Passover
Norwegian	påske	Passover
Polish	Wielkanoc	Great Night
Portugese	Páscoa	Passover
Romanian	Paşti	Passover
Romanian	Înviere	Resurrection
Russian	Пасха, Paskha	Passover
Scots	Pace	Passover
Serbian	Vaskrs	Resurrection
Serbian	Velikden	Great Day
Slovak	Veľká noc	Great Night
Slovenian	Velika noč	Great Night
Spanish	Pascua	Passover
Swedish	påsk	Passover
Tigrinya	ትንሣኤ, tinśā'ē	Resurrection
Ukrainian	Великдень, Velykden	Great Day
Welsh	Pasg	Passover

In most of these languages on this list, the local word for Easter literally means “Passover,” a very appropriate name. “Resurrection” is highly appropriate, and “Great Night” and “Great Day” point out that this is the greatest feast day in the Christian calendar — a feast day that begins the night before, with the Easter Vigil. Lent also ends, and so we can “take to the meat” once more, if our local Church has strict penances.

Most of what we really know about the word Easter is from the book, De temporum ratione, by Saint Bede (d. A.D. 735):

Eostur-monath, qui nunc Paschalis mensis interpretatur, quondam a Dea illorum quæ Eostre vocabatur, et cui in illo festa celebrabant nomen habuit: a cujus nomine nunc Paschale tempus cognominant, consueto antiquæ observationis vocabulo gaudia novæ solemnitatis vocantes.

Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated “Paschal month,” and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.

The German word Ostern likewise has ancient roots relating to a Germanic deity. But the popularity of the word Ostern likely was reinforced by Luther’s use of the word in his German translation of the Bible, as the popularity of ‘Easter’ may have been strengthened with its use in English translations. I wonder how much influence the Reformation and Nationalism had on using these old names, rather than the Catholic name of Pasch? English-speaking Catholics do still use the phrase ‘Paschal Tide’ to describe the Easter season.

However, both the words Easter and Ostern, despite their pagan roots, are related to the word “eastern,” the direction of the rising sun, and so are unexpectedly fitting names for the Rising of the Son of God from the tomb!