Easter and the Glorious Resurrection of…pagan myths?!
Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most monumental event in human history. I can say that because all of human history is centered around Christ’s Resurrection.
Is Easter a baptized pagan holiday?!
Some people like to argue that Easter was a pagan holiday that was baptized by the Christians. This train of thought comes from the word “Easter.” The myth goes that Easter was originally a celebration of Ishtar, which was pronounced as Easter, who was the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, and sex, hence why her symbols were the egg and the bunny. The theory continues that after Constantine decided to Christianize the Roman Empire, Easter, which was originally about fertility and sex, was then changed to represent Jesus.1 There is a meme that circulates around during Easter.
Well, Ishtar was actually not pictured with bunnies and eggs, instead often being symbolized by the lion, bundles of reeds, eight-pointed star, and military arms, such as a bow and arrow, because she was also the goddess of war in Assyria and Babylon.2 The symbols of bunnies and eggs come from the Germanic goddess, Eostre, who was a celebrated in the spring. The only real mention of Eostre comes from Venerable Bede. He wrote
“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 Reckoning of Time, 725 AD).”
Ultimately the attempt is to make use of the etymology of Eostre, Ishtar, and Easter to draw connections between the three, however there are not any connections to make. From the little we know about German’s Eostre, she is not the same goddess as the Assyrian and Babylonian Ishtar, and neither have anything to do with the celebration of Easter, especially once we dive into the original name for the celebration of the Resurrection.
What does the word Easter mean?
The original name of Easter was actually Pascha, which is derived from the Hebrew Pesach which is the word for Passover. Thus, Pascha was in reference to the term Paschal Sacrifice which was a reference to Jesus’ one and eternal sacrifice. There are theories of origins of the use of the word Easter in place of Pascha. Easter is the word used in English, whereas others use the word Pascha. One theory is that the Latin Phrase in albis, meaning, “in white” was often used by Christians to refer to Easter week. This term found its way into Old High German as eostarum which means “dawn.” The other theory is that Eosturmonath, “the month of opening,” was comparable to the meaning of April in Latin, and both names were related to spring, when the buds open.3 None of this has to do with Eostre or Ishtar.
The bunny and baskets
Rabbits actually have roots in Christian symbolism. Since rabbits were known for their prolific breeding, they were often associated with the Virgin Mary in medieval art as symbols of purity and the virgin birth of Jesus.4
We also see ties to the Easter bunny when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania. The German immigrants also brought a tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” (Oschter Haws), possibly from their old pagan ancestors. The children would make nests for this creature to lay its colored eggs. This eventually became a widespread tradition around the United States leading to easter baskets, that look like nests, filled with candy and other gifts. It is possible this tradition came from Eostre celebrations but that does not make Easter originally pagan. It was common for converting peoples to maintain certain traditions from pagan roots while applying them to the Christian faith. This happened with Christmas as well.
Easter eggs
Going back farther than the German Easter bunny, we can see a couple different stories with Easter eggs. One story is that Saint Mary Magdalene traveled to Rome to preach the Gospel. This is where she had an audience with Emperor Tiberius. The story holds that Saint Mary Magdalene held up an egg (a symbol of birth) and proclaimed “Christ is Risen!” Emperor Tiberius then laughed and said that a man rising from the dead was as likely as that egg turning red. Legend holds that at that the moment, the egg turned a brilliant red. Iconography of Saint Mary Magdalene has carried this tradition by picturing her with a red egg in her hand.5 Additionally, Eastern Iconography developed rather independent from western influence, such as the influence from the Germans who had Eostre with bunny and eggs, thus giving merit to the Magdalene story.
The other origin story for eggs refers to Lent. Historically, eggs were not eaten in Lent which led to an abundance of eggs by the time Easter arrived. To prevent wasting the eggs, people would boil the eggs. With so many eggs laying around, people would decorate these eggs as symbols of Jesus’ Resurrection and new life. People would also dye them red to signify Jesus’ blood. When they cracked them open on Easter, the interior was white, as though they cracked open the tomb to reveal the Resurrection.6
Why does the date of Easter change every year?
Jesus rose from the dead on the first Sunday following the feast of Passover. Originally, Christians set the date of Easter with some influence from the date of Passover, however this created some complications. In theory, Passover should be the 14th of the Jewish month of Nisan, which should correspond to a full moon due to the Jewish calendar being partly lunar. It didn’t always end up with corresponding to a full moon due to the month-moon cycles falling out of synch, causing the feast of Passover to sometimes be held on a “liturgical” full moon even when the moon was not full. Because of this, people had to depend on Rabbis to announce the date for the feast of Passover.7
Christians did not like having to depend on Rabbis in order to set the date of Easter, so they decided that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the Pascha full moon. The Paschal full moon is the first full moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox, however this is determined in a couple of ways. We can look at the sky to see the astronomical spring equinox, which changes year to year, but most people fall the calendrical spring equinox which is March 21. So, the date of Easter is set to the first Sunday after the Paschal full moon which is the first full moon on or after March 21.8
Unsurprisingly, non-Christians accuse the Church of setting the date to baptize pagan holidays, however we can see that the date has never had to do with pagan holidays, instead originally being based on the Jewish feast of Passover.
How to celebrate easter
There is no harm in celebrating Easter by entertaining a story about the Easter bunny or hunting for Easter eggs. This can only be a problem if this is the sole focus of Easter, a day which is actually about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We can glorify God in all sorts of ways. We can dye eggs to share the story of Saint Mary Magdalene or to symbolize our Resurrected Lord rising out of the tomb. We can welcome God’s providential timing in the birth of the New Creation by celebrating the season of spring when everything comes into bloom. There are many different ways we can glorify God on this amazing day of the feast of the Resurrection. I pray that you will have a Happy Easter welcoming Our Resurrected Lord into your heart.
References
1 Sorensen, Jon. 2023. “No, Easter Is Not a Pagan Holiday.” Catholic Answers. April 4. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/no-easter-is-not-a-pagan-holiday.
2 Weber, Amy. 2022. “Ishtar (deity).” EBSCO. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/social-sciences-and-humanities/ishtar-deity.
3 Nash, Tom. 2024. “Easter Is Not a Secretly Pagan Holiday.” Catholic Answers. April 11. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/easter-is-not-a-secretly-pagan-holiday.
4 Show, The Catholic Talk. 2020. “The Catholic Origins of Easter Traditions | The Catholic Talk Show.” YouTube. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNirYbouyHQ.
5 Filz, Gretchen. 2025. “The Story of Mary Magdalene and the First Easter Egg.” The Catholic Company. April 2. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.catholiccompany.com/blogs/magazine/mary-magdalene-first-easter-egg-6029.
6 Show, The Catholic Talk. 2020. “The Catholic Origins of Easter Traditions | The Catholic Talk Show.” YouTube. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNirYbouyHQ.
7 Staff, Catholic Answers. n.d. “How are the dates for Easter, Palm Sunday, and Ash Wednesday determined?” Catholic Answers. Accessed January 2, 2026. https://www.catholic.com/qa/how-is-easter-sunday-determined-palm-sunday-ash-wednesday.
8 Ibid.
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