Easter is a vernal equinox festival that honors the coming of spring and the sun. It is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess of the Dawn and Spring named Eostre. It celebrates the triumph of spring over winter and life over death. The Norse Eostur, Eastar, Ostara, and Ostar, means season of the growing sun. In Wales Alban Eiler, eos is nightingale, ostl is inn, os is branch.
The festival lasts a month and is called Eastur-monath (pron. eh-YAW-stir MOH-nawth). When Christianity arrived, the church substituted Paschal fires, fires for Christ, for the old ones. Easter became Christs resurrection. (1, 2)