Did You Know…

that Easter is named after a Germanic goddess associated with the dawn?

Ostara by Johannes Gehrts
April was her month, and so the name carried across to the Christian festival which took place around that time. But only in Germanically descended languages, like English. Most other languages refer to the occasion with some form derived from Pesach or Pascha, which comes from the Passover feast which it originally – and not coincidentally – coincided with.

Myself, I feel English could do likewise. Or perhaps we can have two names: one, perhaps Passover-related, for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and “Easter” for the feast of chocolate eggs laid by a magical rabbit.

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