The Very First Easter Was Today In 31 AD, According To Dionysius Exiguus

Almost every culture celebrates the arrival of flowers, children, and everything that comes with spring. Pagans celebrate a time of renewal, Judaists celebrate history and hope symbolizing the Exodus from Egypt during Passover, and Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with magical rabbits, chocolate eggs, and lots of candy. what's up with that?

Where did Easter come from?

Theoretically, the first Easter took place in AD 31, although Bible scholars will forever debate when the resurrection took place. Whatever the case, most of the festivities, including their time, have their roots in the pagan celebration of Istre, honoring the goddess of the same name, though Christians put a distinctly puritanical spin on things. The Istre festival, which took place on the vernal equinox, traditionally included wine, orgy, and other fertility festivities that took place for those ancient pagan pagans to get their whims.

When was Easter fixed?

Calculating the date of Easter is not as easy as planting a flag on December 25 or October 31. The holiday, somewhat complicatedly, comes after the first full moon of the spring equinox, or Pascal's full moon. This formula was created by the Council of Nicaea, which determined that almost every Easter between 1600 and 2900 would fall on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. The whole thing was overseen by the monk Dionysius Exigus, who also dated the birth of Christ as December. 25.

Before computers and calendars, Dionysius calculated the dates of 95 Easters in the future between 532 and 626 using the Metonic 19-year lunar cycle. Through a combination of Metonic and Kryllian tables, he created a set of rules that determined the correct days to hold Easter celebrations, handing the final and much-needed consensus on one of the most important feasts of the church calendar. .

What about rabbits and stuff?

In about 1200 CE, Christians began to adopt pagan rituals, whereby Easter funers fasted during the feast before decorating eggs and eating them as a treat. They were still far from a chocolate egg left in a basket by a magic rabbit, but civilization was moving closer to the cadaverization of the holiday. They decided that the pagan fertility rite of rolling eggs was the perfect symbol of the boulder moving away from Jesus' tomb, and that's why the White House lawn is mowed every year.

Meanwhile, Osterheis, a giant anthropomorphic rabbit, was taken to the U.S. by Protestant German immigrants. was brought. The "Easter Hare" dates back to the 1600s, when German doctor Johannes Richier wrote a dissertation against eating too many eggs during the holiday. Regardless of the richier, Germans continued to cash in on festive eggs well into the 19th century, when they brought the tradition stateside.

We no longer snack on actual eggs very much during Easter, however, thanks to the miraculous invention of the chocolate Easter egg. Crafted in Germany in 1828 and perfected in France in 1842, these chocolate eggs were initially smooth ornaments of dark chocolate, but in 1875, Cadbury began rolling out different types of eggs in the UK in 1893 and making every First introduced its first version of Treat. After that Easter is a sweeter and ironically more sinful day.