Here is what the vaunted Catholic Encyclopedia has to say about Easter: “The English term, according to the Ven. Bede ( De temporum ratione , I, v) relates to Eostre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring…
that the Apostolic fathers [the apostles of Christ] do not mention it and that we first hear of it principally through the controversy of the Quartodecimans are purely accidental” (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. V, p. 224).
A “Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring” ?
Well, yes, but much, much more than merely a pagan goddess of the rising light of day and spring.
She was, in the demented minds of superstitious pagans, a goddess of sex and fertility; of fecundity and procreativity.
Her symbols were, most importantly, the egg, and, secondarily, the rabbit.
Of course, rabbits don’t lay eggs, but many a child does not learn this until a later age.
Bunnies are cuddly to little children.
So are tiny chickens, and gaily-colored eggs.
Concerning Easter eggs, the Catholic Encyclopedia somewhat reluctantly admits,
“The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring [and therefore directly related to SUN-worship], gravitated to Easter.
The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring…the Easter rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden.
The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility…
In France, handball playing was one of the Easter amusements, found also in Germany…
The ball may represent the sun, which is believed to take three leaps in rising on Easter morning” (ibid. p. 227).
Dozens of “quaint” customs derived from ancient superstitions and myths.
Most revolved around cupidity, and had suggestive fertility rites obvious in their execution.
The same source admits,
“On Easter Monday the women had a right to strike their husbands.
On Tuesday the men struck their wives, as in December the servants scolded their masters…
In the northern parts of England the men parade the streets on Easter Sunday and claim the privilege of lifting every woman three times from the ground, receiving in payment a kiss or a silver sixpence.
In Neumark (Germany) on Easter day the men servants whip the maidservants with switches; on Monday the maids whip the men.
They secure their release with Easter eggs.
These customs are probably of pre-Christian origin.” (Ibid. p. 227).
These, and many other rituals, were pagan fertility rites, derived from worship of the sun.
For example, the same source says,
“The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter Mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from wood by friction; this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter…
the church adopted the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the resurrection of Christ” (Ibid. p. 227, emphasis mine).
Note that admission carefully, for it lies at the very heart of the matter.
Now, notice the origin of the name “Easter.”
Hislop says,
“It is not a Christian name.
It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead.
Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven,
whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country.
That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar” ( The Two Babylons , Hislop, p. 103).