Is there an important person who is honoured on Easter?

Answer 1

Christianity is an evangelical religion, which means, part of practicing the religion requires followers to convince others that it is the only valid way of believing in God. Consequently, when Christianity finally became mainstream, those in charge of establishing the Christian holy days often chose existing holy days of older religions they wanted to discredit. Hence, holidays like Easter, which many westerners think of the holiday in which their messiah, Jesus, rose from the dead, actually pre-dated Christianity.

The goddess Ostara (Oestre) was a Germanic goddess of fertility and renewed life. It is interesting to note that the story of Jesus contains a similar theme of rebirth. Below is a link to a story about Ostara which may illuminate some of the connections between Christianity and older religions. Like, "What about the Easter Bunny?"