Dear DOD, How did eggs and rabbits get associated with Easter? Carol Dear Carol,   The word Easter, it seems, occurs only in English usage. The Venerable Bede, an eighth century English monk, noted the connection of the celebration of Jesus’s resurrection to the celebration of the Germanic goddess of spring, Eastre/Ēostre. Our word Easter most probably derives from the name of that goddess. Bede noted that Christians continued using the name of the pagan month Eosturmonath  for the season of...

Dear DOD, Why isn’t Epiphany a transferable feast? Anonymous Dear Anonymous, First of all, a transferable feast is a celebration assigned to a specific calendar date that can be moved on the Christian or liturgical calendar. For instance, when the date of the feast of a major saint like Saint Paul, January 25, falls on a Sunday, it is moved to Monday. This is because Sundays are always a Feast of Our Lord and always take precedence. The Feast of the Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of...

January 5, known as Twelfth Night, refers of course to the twelfth night after Christmas. The church year begins with the season of...