Is Easter Pagan?

[Rival]

 

[Augustus]

Gifs are pagan

 

[syo]

Yes, Easter is pagan.

 

[Rival]

No, Easter is not Pagan.

 

[Ella S.]

I have a comment about its import to Christians. Let us momentarily suppose that egg dying is somehow historically influenced by some pagan myth (which I don't know if it is). Does this make it pagan within the Christian holiday? No, and carrying a cross does not make one a Christian either. The painted egg is an egg, and the cross is two sticks. This as always been my understanding through all phases of my journey from being a charismatic to being an official hypocrite. Its always been consistent everywhere I've talked to Christians. All evangelicals. All Catholics. All mainstream protestants. These all hold this view, generally. There are only a very few who fear that the similarity of an egg or of a tree to some pagan symbol long ago could somehow affect them. Its always a rarity for someone to think that, and to me it seems very odd. Its akin to fearing demon possession from touching something.

I agree. Much of Christian theology is influenced by Platonism, Aristotleanism, and Stoicism as well.

In fact, I find that a good portion of Christians are of the mind that most religions have had some sort of experience with the Holy Spirit and just don't recognize it as such. In that light, a few syncretic practices from paganism actually make sense. It's not like they're actively worshiping and sacrificing to other gods. There's a nuanced distinction there.

 

[Ella S.]

The timing is driven by the Jewish Passover so clearly has nothing to do with pagan roots - unless someone wants to propose pagan roots for the Passover itself. The Passover will also be the origin of the practice of eating lamb at Easter.

The egg business seems to be complicated. Partly it may come from the lifting of the privations of Lent, when people abstained from eggs (using them up is one explanation for the pancakes on Shrove Tuesday), but it seems that decorated eggs may have been adopted from Persian tradition by the early church, as a symbol of the rebirth associated with the Resurrection.

The Easter bunny seems to be something from German Lutheran tradition and quite recent, dating from the c.17th.

These are some of the only claims in this thread that I have been able to independently verify with scholarship so I think I'm comfortable in saying that you have persuaded me here.

I appreciate the information.

 

[Ella S.]

Jesus and his church never heard of Easter. The eucharist, more properly the bread and wine,
are integral to Christianity.

Interesting. Do you see Easter as mostly harmless? Do you think followers of Christ should avoid celebrating it?

 

[Kooky]

It's not like it is a near universal feature of all human cultures or anything...

Well, yes, but that also undermines the point that every Christian festival is Christian sui generis, and therefore pure and virtuous and devoid of all those degenerate polluting pagan influences (the latter of which always seems to be the vibe when devout Christians are trying to deny syncretic influences in Christian religion)

 

[Kooky]

Jesus and his church never heard of Easter.

According to the gospels, they celebrated Pesach, which is the Jewish predecessor to Christian Easter.

 

[metis]

Peter Cotton Tail easter eggs etc......................

No, they're not pagan as symbols that are now used have meanings that Christians eventually attached to them. IOW, what they used to be is irrelevant.

 

[lostwanderingsoul]

No, they're not pagan as symbols that are now used have meanings that Christians eventually attached to them. IOW, what they used to be is irrelevant.

Actually, what they used to be IS relevant.. The Bible says Christians should not do what pagans do. If pagans celebrated with eggs and bunnies then Christians should not just change the name and keep doing what the pagans did. And they really did not even change the name because pagans called their celebration Ishtar. Almost the same as Easter. So the whole thing is pagan even if you say you are doing it for Christian reasons.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

Gifs are pagan

The uzis in the gif aren't though, because they're Israeli, and Israeli are Jewish.

But then again, the Bible speaks of their ancestors building altars, a temple, and bringing sacrifices, which was a very common practice in Pagan cultures older than theirs.

So even Israeli Jews are Pagan!

 

[metis]

Actually, what they used to be IS relevant.. The Bible says Christians should not do what pagans do.

Nope, that's not how it works, as that approach is like "guilt by association".

There's a common Buddhist saying that "When pointing at the moon, it's important to remember that the end of your finger is not the moon". IOW, it's what the symbol symbolizes in one's religion or denomination that's important, not what some other religion might use the symbol for. No one has a patent on using the egg as a symbol.

 

[Augustus]

And they really did not even change the name because pagans called their celebration Ishtar. Almost the same as Easter. So the whole thing is pagan even if you say you are doing it for Christian reasons.

Is it really that hard to understand that early Christians in the Middle East and North Africa didn't speak English and thus the English name Easter has nothing to do with the origins of the holy day in the Middle East and North Africa?

 

[amorphous_constellation]

The name "Easter" is Germanic and had pagan connotations but English is a Germanic language and is riddled with these sorts of things. Even the name "God" and the word "Hell" come from Germanic paganism so I don't think it's as simple as etymology.

The question that I have is whether "easter eggs" and the "easter bunny" have pagan roots and whether or not the time that we celebrate Easter was influenced by Germanic paganism.

Etymology is probably a great place to measure differences though, and I don't think it's really that simple. How many goddesses are linguistically similar to the eostre goddess? There are piles of articles on that. What exactly is the etymology of these other practices/words/concepts that might connect to easter? There is surely something there

 

[metis]

Etymology is probably a great place to measure differences though, and I don't think it's really that simple. How many goddesses are linguistically similar to the eostre goddess? There are piles of articles on that. What exactly is the etymology of these other practices/words/concepts that might connect to easter? There is surely something there

And "Easter" is in English, whereas I wish my Italian wife "Buona Pasqua" on Easter morning, with the latter word dealing with lambing.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Nope, that's not how it works, as that approach is like "guilt by association".

There's a common Buddhist saying that "When pointing at the moon, it's important to remember that the end of your finger is not the moon". IOW, it's what the symbol symbolizes in one's religion or denomination that's important, not what some other religion might use the symbol for. No one has a patent on using the egg as a symbol.

Well, there is the phoenix myth. This story seems to involve multiple civilizations, probably had a lot of variations, sometimes involving an 'egg.' Apparently, early christian writers would try to use it as well. I wonder if the phoenix story is connected with easter, seeing as it involves rebirth and the power of the sun

 

[metis]

Well, there is the phoenix myth. This story seems to involve multiple civilizations, probably had a lot of variations, sometimes involving an 'egg.' Apparently, early christian writers would try to use it as well. I wonder if the phoenix story is connected with easter, seeing as it involves rebirth and the power of the sun

Hard to say, imo.

Obviously, an egg can be pictured to symbolize birth and possibly rebirth, plus Jesus resurrecting from the tomb can be pictured using an egg that's hatching. It's not always possible to know what the original intent may have been.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

Hard to say, imo.

Obviously, an egg can be pictured to symbolize birth and possibly rebirth, plus Jesus resurrecting from the tomb can be pictured using an egg that's hatching. It's not always possible to know what the original intent may have been.

Hm.. well I think there has to be more to look at with the 'egg' question. People looking more directly to nature for their sense of religion, probably had strong thoughts about the egg as a symbol, obviously. It was surely another symbol that represented a door between life on earth, and the worlds beyond. It fits in well with the idea of a co-blossoming springtime sun, the enthusiastic rays of which I just witnessed a moment ago, through the cloudiness. The tomb of jesus might be likened to an egg. I don't know. There's something fishy here

 

[Clara Tea]

Peter Cotton Tail easter eggs etc......................

When Reverend Jimmy Swaggart was arrested for paying a prostitute in Lancaster, California, he used a red herring to divert attention from his misdeeds. Batman, he said, was evil. So, his followers went forth to ban Batman. Batman is fictional. Batman is a good person who fights criminals. But, because he dresses like a bat (to scare criminals), Reverend Jimmy Swaggart wanted to turn the wrath of his congregation on the cartoon character.

With the world falling apart, and much of that destruction was at the hands of the Religious Right's hand picked candidates, we are supposed to divert our attention, once more, to fearing a fluffy bunny.

1. Nuclear bombs might fall out of the sky from Russia, but a fuzzy cute bunny is all that we have to worry about.

2. Factories have been outsourced to take advantage of cheap foreign labor and cheap foreign materials (so the junk falls apart), and we don't even make enough emergency supplies in case we have a biowar (according to Fiona Hill).

3. Are we supposed to go to war with China and ask China to make more weapons for us so we can fight them? Are we supposed to use mach 5 missiles carrying 20 kiloton nukes made in the early 1960's to fight the brand new mach 10, 15 megaton nukes of Russian and China? Ill prepared for war and rattling sabers at world powers.

4. Covid grips the world, crushing the economy, causing inflation (inflation begets more inflation...it is a vicious circle and never-ending). Did those biolab trucks of the W. Bush administration help with the covid disaster? We didn't even have enough masks for our health workers.

5. Homeless people drop dead in the streets and many have contracted (and spread) covid.

But a cute, fluffy bunny, that brings candy eggs to children, and brings joy to their hearts is the main concern of the world.....what are we thinking?