Oct
31
When examining Easter the
history it’s important to understand all the elements that make up the holiday religious, linguistic,
and elements of pagan rituals. Click through here for more
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For the word aspect of Easter the history, the word Easter dates back to the Greek word Pascha
which came from the Hebrew word for Passover. Easter and Passover are similar in that
both, from the religious standpoint, celebrate life. For Christians
Easter is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, while for Jews Passover relates the story of the
angel of death killing every first born but passing over homes marked with blood, the Jewish homes. It’s also significant
that Jesus and his apostles took the last supper as a Passover meal. Our English word, Easter,
comes from the Old English name of a month in the Germanic Calendar, Eostre, which itself may come
from the name of a goddess, Eostre, who often carried a basket filled with eggs.
Eastertide in Easter the history is the whole of the Easter season. The season used to last only
the forty days from Easter until Ascension Day, when Christ rose into heaven, but now is marked for 50
days ending in Pentecost when it’s said the Holy Ghost visited the apostles. Another link to Judaism comes in that
Pentecost happened on Shavout, the day 50 days after the Exodus that God delivered the Ten
commandments to Moses. You can obtain extra worthwhile information
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Over time in the Christian church there were many disputes over the date that Easter should be
celebrated. The final argument is commonly called the Quartodeciman controversy. It all came down to whether Easter should
be celebrated on Nisan 14 of the Hebrew Calendar, or on the following Sunday. Nisan 14 is the Lord’s Passover, the day when Jews prepare for the Feast of
Unleavened Bread. Only the Christians in Phyrgia, located in Asia, celebrated
Easter on this day, while everyone else marked it as the next Sunday. Nisan 14 could be any day of the week. Originally the dispute was
only verbal, and the Bishop of Rome took no action. But one generation later all the Asia minor
Bishops were excommunicated because they would not celebrate Easter the Sunday following Nisan 14. You can obtain
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There’s another element to the controversy in that Christians had to rely on Jews to set the
date for Nisan 14, and thus for Easter whether or not it fell on that date or on the following
Sunday.
Sometimes there were two Nisan 14’s in the same year, because Jewish scholars set the date one
year before the spring equinox after the last year it was after the spring equinox. The whole
thing was cleared up with the First Nicaea Council who separated Easter from the Jewish calculations
for Passover.
For more on Easter the History and the ways the date was calculated through time, visit
Wikipedia.
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