If I'd guessed carelessly, I would have thought that Easter's timing is tied, like Christmas and Halloween are, to ancient pagan holidays. But of course it can't be, because it is tied to Passover which, Judaism being non-evangelical, does not have that relationship to pagan European traditions.
Our symbols of Easter -- eggs, chicks, rabbits -- are most likely European in origin, though.
Although come to think of it, don't most cultures acknowledge the rebirth of nature in spring? In which case, Easter's timing -- based on an episode that may not actually have occurred right after Last Supper -- might have been designated by the ancients.
Just looked it up; Jerusalem is slightly farther from the equator than New Orleans. New Orleans doesn't have a particularly dramatic spring, so it's not as big a deal there as in Europe, so maybe the New Testament's authors didn't make that rebirth connection.
actually, what I've found online suggests some ties to Pagan beliefs.
Pascha, Easter and the goddess of springIn most countries in Europe, the name for Easter is derived from the Jewish festival of Passover.
"So in Greek the feast is called Pascha, in Italian Pasqua, in Danish it is Paaske, and in French it is Paques," Professor Cusack said.
But in English-speaking countries, and in Germany, Easter takes its name from a pagan goddess from Anglo-Saxon England who was described in a book by the eighth-century English monk Bede.
"Eostre was a goddess of spring or renewal and that's why her feast is attached to the vernal equinox," Professor Cusack said.
"In Germany the festival is called Ostern, and the goddess is called Ostara."
Rabbits and eggs as ancient symbols of new lifeMany of the pagan customs associated with the celebration of spring eventually became absorbed within Christianity as symbols of the resurrection of Jesus.
"Eggs, as a symbol of new life, became a common people's explanation of the resurrection; after the chill of the winter months, nature was coming to life again," Professor Cusack said.
During the Middle Ages, people began decorating eggs and eating them as a treat following mass on Easter Sunday after fasting through Lent.
"This is actually something that still happens, especially in eastern European countries like Poland," Professor Cusack said.
"The custom of decorating hard-boiled eggs or blown eggs is still a very popular folk custom."
Rabbits and hares are also associated with fertility and were symbols linked to the goddess Eostre.
The first association of the rabbit with Easter, according to Professor Cusack, was a mention of the "Easter hare" in a book by German professor of medicine Georg Franck von Franckenau published in 1722.
"He recalls a folklore that hares would hide the coloured eggs that children hunted for, which suggests to us that as early as the 18th century, decorated eggs were hidden in gardens for egg hunts," Professor Cusack said.
As for Easter's changing date:
Easter's changing dateIn 325AD the first major church council, the Council of Nicaea, determined that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.
That is why the date moves and why Easter festivities are often referred to as "moveable feasts".
"There's a defined period between March 25 and April 25 on which Easter Sunday must fall, and that's determined by the movement of the planets and the Sun," Professor Cusack said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-15/the-origins-of-easter-from-pagan-roots-to-chocolate-eggs/8440134
