Why do non -christians celebrate Easter?

Answer 1

It was not a Christian holiday originally, and many of its secular traditions have been maintained.

Easter, like Christmas, is yet another ancient Pagan festival on which the Church overlaid a religious holiday in its efforts to wipe out Pagan influence in the world. Surely there are no easter bunnies nor brightly colored easter eggs in the biblical literature. The many secular traditions associated with religious holidays should be a constant reminder that more ancient Pagan festivities were hijacked by the Church. Those ancient traditions that are still practiced every year provide living proof that Paganism has made its mark on the modern world and is too deeply ingrained to be wiped out.

Spring festivals were widespread in the ancient Pagan world. In fact, the return of Spring was one of the most significant times of the year to the ancient cultures, along with the harvest. Easter is derived from from those universal ancient traditions that predated Christ by thousands of years. Consider the following:

• There was an ancient Babylonian holiday that celebrated the resurrection of the god, Tammuz, who was brought back from the underworld by his mother, Ishtar, the goddess of spring. The pronunciation of her name is very close to the pronunciation of easter. In Phoenecia she was called Astarte.
• The ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring was called Eastre or Ostera or Eostre. Many of our Easter traditions came to us from the Anglo-Saxons, especially bunnies laying eggs in little nests.
• Lent, the forty day abstinence period, was also derived from the ancient world and was used to honor several different gods.
• The egg was the symbol of fertility in the ancient world- the perfect way to welcome the return of spring. They were dyed and hung up in Egyptian temples.
• The hare was also an ancient world symbol of fertility as it is today!