Easter or Passover?

[PetitPetrof]

Hello Everyone.

I’m writing the music for a sacred poem by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. The poem is in Italian and I’m translating it into English. But I have a doubt regarding the use of the word “Easter” or “Passover” in the following passage:

“But God goes through,
the light of the resurrected Christ wins.
It’s the Lord’s Passover. Allelulia.”

Or should I say: “It’s the Lord’s Easter?”

The problem is that in Italian both the Jewish and Christian feasts are called with the same name “Pasqua” but I am aware that in English Passover usually identifies the Jewish one whereas the Christian feast should be called Easter. However in this particular instance, being the whole section of the poem about Christ as the paschal sacrifice, I wondered whether from a theological point of view it would be more correct to translate “It’s the Lord’s Passover”, as in Exodus 12:11.

Any suggestions/opinion would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[SMHW]

I would go with “Passover” or some variation on “Pasch”. That seems to tie in more to scripture.

If you use the word “Easter” you might as well say “Springtime”.

If you prefer an equivalence translation over a literal one then you might just want to say “resurrection”.

 

[phil19034]

Easter is the name of the holiday in English. But in other languages is based off the Latin Paschalia. The Greeks use pascha. Easter is not a direct translation from pascha or paschalia. It is a translation from a German word which was used for the Easter season.

I suggest reading:
catholic.com/encyclopedia/easter
catholic.com/search/content/easter

So in closing, the correct translation would be

“But God goes through,
the light of the resurrected Christ wins.
It’s the Lord’s Passover. Allelulia.”

Personally, I wish we would call it Passover in English instead of Easter. I would help with apologetics, connect the holiday name with God, and illustrate how it connects with Judaism.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[powerofk]

Easter is the name of the holiday in English. But in other languages is based off the Latin Paschalia. The Greeks use pascha. Easter is not a direct translation from pascha or paschalia. It is a translation from a German word which was used for the Easter season.

I suggest reading:
catholic.com/encyclopedia/easter
catholic.com/search/content/easter

So in closing, the correct translation would be

“But God goes through,
the light of the resurrected Christ wins.
It’s the Lord’s Passover. Allelulia.”

Personally, I wish we would call it Passover in English instead of Easter. I would help with apologetics, connect the holiday name with God, and illustrate how it connects with Judaism.

Hope this is helpful.

Use “the Lord’s Passover”.

The Exultet (sung/chanted at the Easter Vigil Mass) in English states “This is our Passover night”, and all references to Easter at the Easter Vigil call it “Passover”.

 

[PetitPetrof]

Thank you very much for the replies, really really helpful!
I wanted to go for “Passover” but being a non-native English speaker I was worried I would make a terrible theological mistake!

Thanks a lot again.

 

[DaveBj]

Easter is the name of the holiday in English. But in other languages is based off the Latin Paschalia. The Greeks use pascha. Easter is not a direct translation from pascha or paschalia. It is a translation from a German word which was used for the Easter season.

I suggest reading:
catholic.com/encyclopedia/easter
catholic.com/search/content/easter

So in closing, the correct translation would be

“But God goes through,
the light of the resurrected Christ wins.
It’s the Lord’s Passover. Allelulia.”

Personally, I wish we would call it Passover in English instead of Easter. I would help with apologetics, connect the holiday name with God, and illustrate how it connects with Judaism.

Hope this is helpful.

And again I say,