It crossed my mind for the first time today to look up the origin of the word "Easter", especially whether it has any relation to "east"; I was right - and this supports my developing thesis that Christianity is ultimately meant to be an East-West synthesis of balance and harmony between the two opposite directions, which in fact represent two opposite philosophical worldviews and outlooks.
The term "Easter" derives from the same root in the proto-Indo-European (i.e. Caucasian) language family that gives us "ost" in modern German and its equivalent "east" in modern English - a term that means "to shine", as in the rising sun in the east; the Anglo-Saxon goddess "Eostre" is apparently most widely believed to be the direct etymology of "Easter" into present-day English, as first used by the famous monk St. Bede in the early 8th century whilst evangelizing the Germanic barbarian conquerors of the British Isles.
(One doesn't even have to do any particular research to draw the connection between a shining goddess of the East and the Resurrection: after all, Jesus arose from the dead just before daybreak and was first seen by two women, St. Mary Magdalene and one of the "other Marys" in the Gospels; indeed there are Church Fathers who believe that in fact it was Mary, the Mother of Jesus, who was actually first to meet her risen Son even though this is - apparently deliberately - omitted from the resurrection accounts.)
So why is the reference to "east" in the language of an explicitly White European culture so crucial in our understanding of the mainstream Christian faith, given that the very holiest day of the creed is so Eurocentric, yet literally points towards Asia? Think of it this way: Christianity is essentially a Western, even European religion, yet one that orients (pun intended) its entire focus eastward - towards Jerusalem, of course, but in a more general sense towards the ancient wisdom believed to be found in the East, not the West.
And therein lies the crux of the Divine revelation embedded within all Scripture as borne out by both Tradition and actual history of Holy Mother Church: the West represents the freedom of the unearned and unmerited Mercy and Grace of God in Jesus Christ, but this liberty's ultimate expression is in the willing offering of itself as a sacrifice to the Law and Truth of God the Father as represented by the rigid patriarchy and hierarchy of the East - all, of course, in the loving unity of the Holy Spirit.
So what is Easter, then - just what makes it the holiest of holy days? It is literally the once-for-all passage from Death to Life: the bright Sun of the Son of God rising anew from the East in such a way, having lifted the veil separating Law from Grace - that is, East from West - that humanity can at last serve God unshackled by the bondage of sin, liberated by said Sun of the Son to march all the way into the glorious Western dusk by returning an oblation of thanksgiving every moment of the way back to the Easter(n) dawn.
