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Is Easter Pagan
- Thread starter Riders
- Start date
Technically I suppose it’s an amalgamation 
Who cares. You and some others start threads like this every single year. Make up your own mind.
Riders
Well-Known Member
Yes yes I will. I think it's good to talk about and debate when Easter comes don't you? It's an interesting topic anyways.
No, it's boring and a waste of time.
Look up Eostra or Eastre, the name of the pagan goddes of spring
Riders
Well-Known Member
Thanks.
Heyo
Veteran Member
Easter, Ascension and Pentecost are genuine Christian holy days. (All others, including Christmas are made up later and appropriated from one pagan religion or another.) The eggs and the bunnies are pagan in origin but that is a cultural tradition, you won't see those in Churches.
Why is “Pagan” so seemingly scary and controversial? I’ve never understood why Xmas and Easter were labelled as Pagan by certain denominations.
It’s just a day to eat chocolate and/or give gifts. Enjoy the guaranteed day off and be happy.
I agree. Unfortunately Easter isn't a guaranteed day off here. Only for government employees. My store just closes early that day.Why is “Pagan” so seemingly scary and controversial? I’ve never understood why Xmas and Easter were labelled as Pagan by certain denominations.
It’s just a day to eat chocolate and/or give gifts. Enjoy the guaranteed day off and be happy.
Not terribly polite, really.
And in any case, whether Easter (or Christmas or any other celebration or rite) is pagan is not a question of making up your mind -- it's a question of looking at the historical evidence for how these things came into use, and especially came into use in the various religions that embrace them.
And for the record, taking a wander through all that history will not be (as you suggest in another post) boring, but in fact extremely informative.
Well, for anyone who cares to be informed, anyway.
Oh really? That sucks. Over here everyone is closed at least for Good Friday. Then I think only things are open are grocery stores and certain retail stores, depending on who owns them.
LightofTruth
Well-Known Member
On the US, only government workers have federal holidays off. For everyone else, it's up to whatever company or organization they work for. Retail stores traditionally would close on holidays out of respect for tradition, but they increasingly don't honor that. You see that with the stores opening up on Thanksgiving for Black Friday (which is a demented retail holiday).
I think there’d be an uproar here if that happened. I know there are like a few people who do work like Good Friday and Xmas day. But the wages are like quadruple pay or something lol
Christianity borrows from paganism in a variety of ways, and no Christians ever bat an eye at most of it (probably because they are not aware). For some reason, a big deal is made by some Christians about the pagan aspects of Christmas and Easter.
For heathens like me, both holidays are thoroughly secular and an opportunity to celebrate food and family.
Orbit
I'm a planet
Historically, it is very common for Christianity to superimpose Christian holidays onto local, pagan holidays. So it's a combination really. Rabbits and eggs were fertility symbols in paganism; those customs became associated with Easter.
The Akkadian myth of the goddess Ishtar has a counterpart in Egyptian mythology, in Mesopotamian and Greek mythology. She is related to fertility, which to ancient people is that mystical ability which allows reproduction. They observe that we die, yet through fertility we also live on.
This, then, is borrowed by the church; perhaps (I interpolate) because the church is about reproduction though not merely physical but the reproduction of the mind of Christ, the fruits of the spirit and the seed which is the kingdom of God. The celebration of Easter coincides with the resurrection celebration. When a person repents new life appears in the kingdom of God, the seed reproduces. When a seed it planted it dies, but from it springs new life. This is like the life of the individual which is buried with Christ, so that new life can appear as a result.