Yay! Pagans and the Old Religion, things I actually know about. Okay, so here goes. You were right, Holybell-san, at least partly. When the Christian church tried to 'force' their religion onto the pagans, they used a really smart trick. They used their holy figures, such as Mary, to replace the ancient gods and goddesses of the pagans, such as Freya. That way they got the pagans to accept Christianity. The Christmas Tree, for example, is something that the pagans were allowed to keep.
And now about Easter in the pagan tradition, Cole-san. While it falls a bit earlier (21 March), the ancient feast of Ostara (or the Spring-equinox) basically means the same as the Christian Easter, which is rebirth. The symbols of Ostara are the egg and the hare. People believed that the hare (now the Easter bunny), a creation from the moongoddess, layed eggs around this time of the year.
The name 'Easter' comes from 'Eostre', the Mediterranean name for the feast of the ancient goddesses Ishtar and Astarte, who represented fertility and the holy matrimony respectively. Nowadays, the wiccans use this theme around Beltane (30 April).
Hmm...hope this helps.
02-Mar-2005