Importance of Easter
From the ancient world, the Easter it is one of the most important dates on the calendar of festivals in the Christian world. Its best-known religious connotation is linked to the three days that mark the death and the resurrection in Jesus Christ. However, many scholars try to give another interpretation to this fact, bringing a view less connected to the resurrection story.
The relationship between Christian Easter and pagan myths
In a historical perspective of the formation of Christian beliefs, some scholars point out that Christianity, when flourishing in societies marked by polytheism and for several narrativesmythical, ended up incorporating the idea of immortality present in other religious manifestations. According to researchers M. Goguel, C. Guignebert and A. Loisy, the tragic death followed by the resurrection process that is linked to Jesus is very similar to the stories of other gods such as osiris, attis and Adonis.
More recent studies indicate that this association between the Christian Easter and other mythological narratives is wrong. The very conception of the world and the functions that death and resurrection assume in Eastern and Greco-Roman beliefs cannot be seen in the same way as in the construction of Christian ideas. The scholar A. D. Nock points to the fact that in Christianity the belief in
truth of the biblical story it is a fundamental key to their thinking and one that is absent in most religions that coexisted in antiquity.The relationship between the Christian Passover and the Jewish Passover
Interpretations more linked to the jewish culture and the Biblical narrative point to Easter as something that gives a new meaning to the festival of deliverance of the Hebrews from Egyptian captivity.(You can get more information about this event by clicking on here). In this view, the liberation from captivity, as an episode of redemption for the Hebrew people, would be equated with the renewal of Christ who gave new hope to Christians. Although the biblical narrative states that the resurrection episode was close to the Jewish festival, the definition of the day of Passover caused a dispute with representatives of the Church. (To better understand how Christians conceive the Jewish Passover and its relationship to Christ, click on here).
Council of Nicaea (325) and the date of Easter in the Christian calendar
In the year 325, during the Council of Nicaea, there was the first attempt to establish a date that would end the disputes regarding the Easter Day. Even trying to resolve the issue, it was only in the 16th century – with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar – that the difficulties of defining the date of Easter were alleviated. It was determined that the Easter celebration would take place on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the Spring Equinox, between March 21st and April 25th.
Even being the target of so many explanations and disputes, Easter marks a period of renewal among Christians, when the death of Jesus must be remembered with resignation and joy. At the same time, it brings Christians the renewal of a whole set of values that are fundamental to their religious practice.
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History