Easter image credit: Image by Rebecca D from Pixabay
Easter has a few humorous aspects that could be considered irreverent until the history of Easter is a little better understood by the average American. Consider the 6-year-old asking their mother,
“Do rabbits lay eggs? OK, if they don’t, then how do rabbits make bunnies?”
Or maybe the insufferable teenager asking dad,
“Why is Easter on a different day every year? I mean, Jesus died on a specific date, just like he was born on December 25th, but he died on a Friday that is all over March and April. How does that work? And what about Good Friday? Why do they call it Good Friday if that’s the day he died? Sounds like a bad day to me.”
Each question has a story that can be explored for a lifetime. The quick answer for the date is that Easter is centered around the Jewish holiday Passover. Passover is celebrated based on a lunar calendar (the Hebrew calendar). From this, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (March 21). The other questions have longer stories for their answers, but if you ponder long enough, you may find that these spring holidays tie into the rebirth of the seasons, the eternity of life, and the meaning our existence.
Jeff Bensch 