Though the New Testament contains no reference to an annual feast celebrating the Resurrection, the practice was well-established by the second century。
Early churchmen were divided on whether to hold a feast on 14 Nisan (the date of the Biblical Pesach, which morphed into the name for Easter in many languages) or on the following Sunday; disputes and excommunications ensued in this Quartodeciman controversy until the Council of Nicea in 325 decided it must fall on a Sunday。
Eventually the date was formulated roughly as "the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox。
" This can range between March 22 and April 25。
According to the eighth-century theologian the Venerable Bede (who came up with the dating system of AD and BC), Easter is named for Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring。
She is associated with the egg and with the hare, both symbols of procreation that have been enduringly incorporated by the church in the form of Easter eggs and the Easter bunny who brings them。
希拉文名 Pascha
英文名 Easter