Like most
Christian rites and
festivals, Easter is an assimilation by the early
Church of the
fertility rituals that nearly every civilisation and pre-civilised
society has developed. The word
Easter derives from
Eostre, the great
mother goddess figure from the ancient
Saxon religions. The feast of Eostre was celebrated in
Spring, particularly the Spring
equinox, when the whole of
nature seemed to be demonstrating its
fertility.
When early Christian monks and missionaries started spreading their new faith across Europe, many of them found that although converts could be won easily enough, many continued to worship their old gods as much as the new ones. Gradually the old pagan beliefs about rebirth and renewal became intricately entwined with Christian ideas of resurrection, and many of the old pagan ideas still live on in our modern Easter traditions:
- Hot Cross Buns: an ox would often be sacrificed at the festival of Eostre, and the Saxon word for "ox" is "boun". The bread which was baked for the ceremony used to have symoblic ox's horns shaped in it; these became converted to a more Christian cross.
- Easter Egg: probably the most obvious fertility symbol, an egg is an instant reminder of more ancient Spring equinox ceremonies.
- Easter Bunny: another image associated with fertility and reproduction, the rabbit also harks back to older rites.