Is Easter and Pesach the same thing?
Pesach is the name of the Hebrew celebration of the Holy day when the blood of the lamb protected the houses marked with the blood.
Originally, Easter celebrations were the same as Pesach. The problem started with the addition of various pagan celebrations and the worship related to other gods.
The Name Had to Change
The name “Easter” was derived from “Eostre,” “originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover.”
According to an ancient “Sumerian legend of Damuzi (Tammuz) and his wife Inanna (Ishtar), […] Tammuz dies, Ishtar is grief–stricken and follows him to the underworld.” Here, “‘naked and bowed low’ she is judged, killed, and then hung on display. In her absence, the earth loses its fertility, crops cease to grow and animals stop reproducing. Unless something is done, all life on earth will end.”
The Underworld Connection
Inanna is missing for three days after which her assistant seeks help from other gods. One of them goes “to the Underworld” gives Tammuz and Ishtar “the power to return to the earth as the light of the sun for six months.
After the six months are up, Tammuz returns to the underworld of the dead, remaining there for another six months, and Ishtar pursues him, prompting the water god to rescue them both. Thus, were the cycles of winter death and spring life.” Since this myth was discovered on tablets dating back to around 2500 BC, Tammuz and Ishtar might be the protagonists of the first pagan Easter story.
The Origin of the Bunnies
All the fun things about Easter are pagan. Bunnies are a leftover from the pagan festival of Eostre.
The Origin of the Chocolate & Eggs
Eating chocolate bunnies and hunting for colorful eggs. The hare and egg are symbols “associated with Eostre, representing the beginning of Springtime. In Germanic mythology, it is said that Ostara a.k.a. Eostre “healed a wounded bird she found in the woods by changing it into a hare. Still partially a bird, the hare showed its gratitude to the goddess by laying eggs as gifts.”
Conclusion
If you didn’t know and was participating in the worship of other gods, now you do know. Is it a matter of conscience? In other words, if your intent is not to worship other gods but to participate in a pagan culture because it is fun – is that ok? What if the pagan tradition was carnival and the choice sin was adultery and lust? Would your good intentions preserve you from paying the price of sin? Obviously not. The bible says a lot about worshipping other gods. Even when you worship unknowingly, by ignorance or for any other reason. My suggestion is for you to stop, repent and celebrate the biblical Holy days as prescribed in the bible.
Shalom!
Rabbi Douglas