Easter
The term “Easter” is of pagan origin and is derived from the word “Ostara”. Ostara is another name for “Ishtar” or “Astarte”. Ishtar was worshiped in European paganism as the so-called “goddess of spring” and “kings of heaven”. In China, Greece and ancient Egypt, eggs were used for religious rites. In pagan Anglo-Saxons, painted eggs were offered to the "goddess" Ostara (Ishtar). They were placed in graves to symbolize rebirth. The hare was considered a symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt.
The festival of Easter was originally a se-xual orgy celebrating the return of life through the fertility of Ishtar. Pagans typi-cally baked cakes dedicated to the Queen of Heaven on the Friday before Easter. The Jews' worship of Ishtar (and other pagan idols) instead of the one true God was one of the reasons God had to judge His people several times over the centuries.
Ishtar or Astarte represents the deified Semi-ramis in mythology. Semiramis was the mo-ther and at the same time one of the four wives of Nimrod. Nimrod, who according to biblical tradition is considered the first ty-rant in history, is the founder of sun wor-ship and all pagan religions, some of which still exist today. After Nimrod's death, Semi-ramis claimed that her husband ascended to heaven and became the sun. When she gave birth to her son, she made people believe that these were the rays of the sun radia-ting from her husband and falling on her belly. This son of the sun god Nimrod was called "Dammuzi". The Hebrews called him “Tammuz.”
Tammuz was killed by a wild boar. Semiramis claimed that when her son died, some of his blood fell on the trunk of a green tree and that a new tree grew from this trunk over-night. This tree is today's Christmas tree; to the honor of Tammuz, the son of Nimrod and his wife Semiramis. The story goes that Semiramis descended into the underworld to bring her son Tammuz back to life. From then on, Semiramis proclaimed a period of mourning for 40 days every year before the anniversary of Tammuz's death, during which people should "weep for Tammuz" so that it would come back to life. This prac-tice, which is also mentioned in the Bible, is viewed by God as an abomination. The Ca-tholic Church later converted this forty-day period of mourning into a period of fasting.
Furthermore, according to mythological tradition, a gigantic egg fell from the sky on Easter Sunday and landed near the Euph-rates. It is said to have been Semiramis herself who returned to earth and emerged from this egg as the goddess Ishtar. Superstitious tradition holds that anyone who finds her egg would receive the special blessing of Ishtar. Later Semirami herself was worshiped as “Mother of God” and “fertility goddess”. She was made the first mother of the gods and queen of heaven, as it was believed that she would have ascended to heaven upon her death. The parallels with Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is similarly venerated as a resurrected icon in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches, are obvious.
Contrary to church tradition, the death and resurrection of Jesus did not occur at Easter, but at the time of the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated in Israel in the week from Nisan 15 to 21. There is no connection between the Passover festival of the Jews and the pagan Easter cult. Christians regu-larly commemorate Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead as part of the so-called Lord's Supper. Nowhere did Jesus command that a festival be celebrated in this regard; especially not if it contains elements of pagan rites, as is clearly the case with Easter. Instead, Jesus commands all people to follow him; that means living the way Jesus teaches us in the Bible.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Americana
Catholic Encyclopedia
Encyclopedia of Religion