🐣 “Easter comes from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.” There is no etymological connection between these two words. Ishtar comes from the Semitic “attar,” meaning “star,” while Easter comes from the European “eastre,” meaning “dawn/beginning.” The myth of a connection was first popularized in the now discredited 19^th century book “The Two Babylons,” by Alexander Hislop.

☀️ “Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre.” It’s true that the Venerable Bede theorized that there was an ancient goddess named Eostre as an explanation for the month of Eosturmonath. Outside of Bede’s one reference, however, there is no evidence that such a goddess existed. In his 725 work “The Reckoning of Time,” Bede offers explanations for the etymological origins of the English months, which he prefaces by saying, “ut suspicamur”—“we suspect.” What’s more, several of his other suspicions have proved wrong: he theorized that “Hrethmonth is named for their goddess Hretha”—another goddess who did not exist; and that Solmonath is so named because “they offered cakes to their gods in that month”—although the prefix “sol-” actually means “mud” and indicates that the February equivalent was a muddy season. Most scholars agree that Bede was mistaken, and that Eosturmonath was named thus because it was the “beginning” of the months.

🐇 “Constantine and the Catholic Church invented Easter.” The early church called this holiday “Pascha,” the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew “Pesach,” meaning “Passover.” What’s more, the overwhelming majority of Christians *to this day* refer to the holiday as some version of “Passover” (Spanish: Pascua, French: Pâques, Dutch: Pasen, Filipino: Pasko, Hawaiian: Pakoa, Turkish: Paskalya, Swahili: Pasaka). Very few languages (like English, German, and Japanese) call it something related to “Easter”—which, again, simply means “Beginning/Dawn month.”

🗓️ “The Catholics changed the calendar.” According to the biblical text, Jesus died during Passover—the first full moon after the spring equinox—and was raised three days later on the day after the Sabbath—Sunday. Leviticus 23 gives a name for the Sunday after Passover—“Firstfruits,” a celebration of resurrection (v. 11). Thus, Christians celebrate the resurrection of our Passover Lamb on the biblical prescribed day—the Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.

🪺 “Eggs are a part of pagan worship.” Ova Paschalia—Passover eggs—first show up in the 13^th century, hundreds of years after Christianity was uniformly adopted across Europe, for a very practical reason. Families were not permitted to eat eggs during Lent, meaning that (by Pascha/Easter) they had a surplus of uneaten eggs. This abundance of hardboiled eggs was subsequently viewed as a fun treat after forty days of fasting. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that traditions like Easter Egg Hunts became popularized to make the Paschal feast more fun for kids.

🐇 “The Easter Bunny is pagan.” Bunnies/hares were not regarded as a pagan symbol in Babylonian/Celtic religions. The hare actually became associated with Christianity in the Middle Ages, because they reproduced so quickly that they were lightheartedly viewed as being able to reproduce without sex—i.e., virgin births. Medieval manuscripts around this time sometimes featured illustrations of hares to represent the Virgin Mary. Around the 1600s, folktales were told to children connecting the abundance of eggs with the abundance of hares—along with a message that if you followed the rules, the hares would leave you extra treats.

What about my family?

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  We typically call the holiday “Passover Sunday” or “Resurrection Sunday,” as these are the words the Bible uses to describe this day. “Easter” isn’t a bad word—there are just better titles for this celebration.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  If time permits and the kids ask, we’ll let them dye a few eggs. Usually friends or family might give our kids chocolate bunnies, and we’re cool with that. These are harmless and silly traditions, and there’s not a great need to deprive our kids of a few fun treats.

🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒  We go to church, just like we do every Sunday morning. We worship corporately with the people of God, receive communion, hear the Word of God preached, and rejoice in His glorious triumph over death. Then we bring that celebration home, where we feast around a table with our family and friends.