Exploring Easter and Its Tapestry of Traditions

Long before Peter Cottontail started hoppin’ down the bunny trail, people all over the world were celebrating Easter. Whether you celebrate by attending church services or searching high and low for brightly colored eggs, the spring holiday provides plenty of opportunities to gather with family members, share childhood memories, and reflect on your ancestral customs.

Easter is also the perfect time to explore how your modern-day celebrations connect you to your relatives. While no official records will confirm your distant family’s Easter traditions, many collections offered by Ancestry^® can allude to affiliations with religious beliefs associated with this springtime holiday. Find out how the history of Easter has shaped the lives of humans through the ages—maybe even your own family.

The Origins of Easter

Although Easter celebrations draw on elements of pagan traditions, it’s one of the most important Christian holidays, as it celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. In many Christian traditions, Easter is preceded by a seven-day period known as Holy Week, which commemorates the episodes in the life of Jesus that precede this event. Holy Thursday, for instance, is dedicated to the night that Jesus was said to have gathered with the Twelve Apostles to celebrate the first night of Passover. It is written that he washed their feet and commanded them to “love one another.” It is on this night, after being betrayed by one of his apostles, that he was arrested.

Following his arrest and subsequent torture, Jesus was put to death by crucifixion on the following day with the consent of the Roman authorities. The Friday before Easter—referred to by Christians as Good Friday—commemorates the death of Jesus. The Christian tradition claims that three days later, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary (mother of James) went to Christ’s tomb at sunrise to find it empty and his body no longer inside. According to this tradition, an angel appeared and revealed to them that Christ had risen. The celebration of this revelation is known as Easter Sunday.

Pre-Christian and Pagan Traditions

Pre-Christian/pagan Easter traditions have had a major impact on how we celebrate this religious holiday. For example, the word Easter comes from Eostre, the name of a pagan fertility goddess. The Festival of Eostre is associated with rebirth and renewal, so it heralds the coming of spring. Many symbols of Easter have their roots in this festival. For example, eggs and hares (rabbits) represent fertility.

In pre-Christian Europe, some people would bake buns and mark them with a cross to represent the four seasons. Druids dyed eggs red and buried them in fields, hoping to draw enough energy to produce a bountiful harvest. Aspects of these traditions quickly came to be reflected in Christian Easter customs: in 1290, for example, King Edward I’s royal entourage received eggs decorated with gold leaf and other adornments.

When Is Easter?

Some Easter facts vary based on which calendar you use. The Catholic Church follows the Gregorian calendar, which is the calendar system that went into effect after Pope Gregory XIII ordered a calendar reform commission to eliminate 10 days from the month of October. He ordered this change to ensure that the vernal (spring) equinox would fall around March 20 each year.

Easter always falls on a Sunday, but the date changes from year to year due to the use of Gregorian tables. According to these tables, Easter always occurs between March 22 and April 25.

Why Is Easter Called Easter?

Just like your family name tells a story, so do the words used to represent Easter in different cultures. Surprisingly, no one knows exactly where the term “Easter” comes from, but it’s similar to the German word “Ostern.” It may come from Eostre’s name, or it may be based on the Latin phrase “in albis,” the plural form of the Latin word for “dawn” that was used to refer to Easter week. It eventually became eostarum in the earliest form of the German language.

In French, Easter is “Pâques,” which comes from the Latin and Greek word for Passover (Pascha). Many other European languages follow this pattern, from the Spanish “la Pascua de Resurrección” to the Dutch “Pasen.”

Religious Traditions of Easter

For millions of people, Easter’s meaning is primarily religious. In many Christian communities, Christians prepare for the holiday by fasting and praying for 40 days, a season known as Lent. This season ends when the sun sets on Holy Thursday. On Good Friday, Christians may attend special church services or pray at home. In Orthodox Christianity, many churches begin observing Good Friday on Holy Thursday night and continue the next day.

Good Friday is a somber time set aside to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s death. In contrast, Easter is a day of celebration. Christians typically attend mass or other types of church services. Some churches engage in the “flowering of the cross,” which involves covering a wooden cross with fresh flowers. These flowers symbolize new life.

It’s also common for churches to hold sunrise services. Holding a service at dawn recognizes the joy that the three women felt when they went to Christ’s tomb and discovered that it was empty.

Ancestry has church records and other documents available to help you discover whether your family members across the ages had ties to Christianity. Exploring these vast resources could provide insight into whether your relatives were likely to engage in historical practices that celebrated Easter.

Cultural Symbols of Easter From Around the World

No discussion of Easter history would be complete without an overview of the most common Easter symbols. If you’ve always wanted to learn about the history of the Easter Bunny or the history of Easter eggs, now’s your chance.

Eggs

Way before Christ’s birth, people viewed eggs as a symbol of fertility. Pagans also viewed eggs as an important part of their spring celebrations. Later, Christians started using eggs to symbolize Christ’s Resurrection and victory over death.

Additionally, people have been dyeing eggs since the Middle Ages. The practice started when churches forbade Christians from eating eggs during Lent. Chickens can’t follow a calendar, so they kept producing eggs anyway. Dyeing the eggs was a way to use them without breaking Lenten traditions.

Ukrainians call Easter eggs “pysanky,” which is derived from the Ukrainian phrase for “to write.” After dyeing eggs, people typically add flowers and other designs. In Northern England, people are all about pace eggs. Pace comes from the Latin word “pascha” (Passover), which was translated asPasch in Old English. To make a pace egg, you wrap an egg in onion skins before you boil it. The onion skins produce a beautiful golden pattern.

The Easter Bunny

As early as the 17th century, people in western Germany were telling their children that an Easter hare (“Osterhase”) hid colorful eggs on Easter Sunday. German immigrants brought this tradition with them when they settled in Pennsylvania. That’s when the Easter Bunny really took hold. German American children started building nests to attract the rabbit, which eventually led to the practice of filling Easter baskets.

Additional Symbols

• Lilies: White lilies represent new beginnings, so they’re often used to symbolize Christ’s resurrection.
• Lambs: In Christianity, Jesus is known as the Lamb of God. Therefore, lambs represent the suffering and Resurrection of Christ. Due to their white color, they also symbolize purity and innocence.

Easter Traditions

Whether you view Easter as a religious holiday or a celebration of spring, Easter traditions bring families closer together. These are just a few of the most common traditions.

• Bonnet parades: Many Christians wear bonnets on Easter, giving rise to the tradition of bonnet parades. During these parades, people march through the streets in their finest outfits and accessories.
• Butter lamb carving: Polish, Slovenian, and Russian Catholics often create a butter sculpture of a lamb to present with their Easter meals.
• The Exsultet: During Roman Catholic mass, a deacon or cantor chants the Exsultet, or the Easter Proclamation.
• Special Easter foods: Many people also make elaborate meals to celebrate the holiday. Americans tend to eat ham, while people in Poland make a sour soup known as white borscht.

Exploring Your Family’s Easter Traditions With Ancestry

No matter how you celebrate, Easter is a time for family. Browse collections of news articles, records, and other resources to help you piece together how your ancestors celebrated this special time of year. Church, baptism, and marriage records can also hint at religious affiliations your ancestors had.

Ancestry has digital archives filled with photos, government records, and other documents, making it possible to investigate your family’s past. Even if you don’t celebrate the same way your ancestors did, you can sign up for a free trial to develop a deeper sense of your family identity.