Easter Through the Ages

Easter is not a Christian holiday, in fact it is the most non-Christian holiday on the liturgical calendar.

Passover

The Last Supper was a Passover Seder, everybody knows that (or should). Jews celebrated Passover for over a thousand years before the Christian religion was invented. For their first hundred years Christians continued celebrating Passover unchanged.

Ishtar & Eostre

As the Christian religion was absorbed by the pagan beliefs of invading tribes the church in Rome changed the celebration radically. Gone was the unleavening of bread and the fasting of the first born. In was the resurrection of a god story taken from a Persian cult popular in Rome at the time and the fertility rituals of German goddess Eostre.

Puritanism

Puritans waged war on Easter. And Christmas. The above notice is from early New England announcing the punishment for anyone found celebrating the "Satanical Practices" of Christmas. They were equally contemptuous of Easter frou-frou.

Egg Laying Bunnies

Such a religion. Rabbits that lay brightly colored chocolate eggs and, if you are into that sort of thing, Jesus snuff porn. Bunnies and bleeding deities. It's a pagan fertility festival mixed with Persian blood sacrifice.