Easter - Pagan Festival?Easter was originally a pagan festival of the ancient Anglo-Saxons who celebrated the return of spring with a festival commemorating their goddess of springtime, Eastre.
The second-century Christian missionaries met with the pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity and in the process, “Christianised” the existing pagan festivals.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre happend at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ, which was originally at the time of the Jewish Passover.
Therefor the Eastre festival was altered, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were won over.
The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.
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