Augustus
…
Mostly not true, but I'm not going to debate this again.
I might not have been being entirely serious
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Is Easter
- Thread starter Riders
- Start date
I might not have been being entirely serious
Augustus
…
There are also some place names in England and Germany that support it iirc.
Pretty sure I’ve got an article somewhere that talks about it.
edit: this is the article
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2021.1959143
Last edited:
Sand Dancer
Currently catless
Easter, Halloween, and Christmas I suppose.
The Kilted Heathen
Crow FreyjasmaðR
So I've got Ostara covered above; the Christian Easter is nothing related to Saxon pagan practices. So far as Halloween and Christmas;
Samhain bears almost nothing in common with the Christian observance of All Hallow's Eve (Halloween). A few of the folk traditions that have ties to pre-Christian practices of Samhain have continued in the secular observance of Halloween (Jack o' Lanterns, Trick 'r Treating, etc), but these are not practices observed in the Christian holiday. The only thing that is shared between the two holidays - and is something that Paganism absolutely cannot claim - is the remembrance of the dead.
Yule (Jól) also bears nothing in common with the Christian holiday of Christmas. Many of the traditions that are claimed to have belonged to Jól (namely the tree) have no basis in fact as being pre-Christian observances. The ties of Santa Claus to Óðinn are tenuous at best, and the act of charity and gift giving is omnicultural.
Parallels to the stories of Jesus to surrounding deities are often simplified and over-exaggerated, and claiming that the stories of Jesus are "stolen" is hypocritical when elsewhere there is no problem drawing parallels between cultures. Few would say that myths of Dionysus were "stolen" from myths of Horus.
Easter is pagan, because it involves chocolate statues of bunnies.
Wester, on the other hand, is not pagan at all, but it doesn't involve chocolate, so nobody wants it.
Wester, on the other hand, is not pagan at all, but it doesn't involve chocolate, so nobody wants it.
Augustus
…
That's why good people eat them instead of worshiping them.
Sand Dancer
Currently catless
It's like Lord's Supper but better.
Augustus
…
Does the chocolate become of one substance with their fiendish pagan god?
lukethethird
unknown member
Is it Pagan to ask if Easter is Pagan?
Augustus
…
They serve a purpose.
In the past they used to attract lots of people gloating that "Of course I know it's pagan, but these silly Christians don't understand..."
I like to think the decline in these is caused by it actually getting through to a few of them that what passes for "rational scepticism" on this issue is often just a credulous rehashing of historical anti-Catholic polemics and neo-pagan/Romantic wishful thinking about a popular paganism that survived long into the medieval period or even early modern period.
Seeing how this thread has gone down as compared to previous years it seems that you're on to something. In any case, I agree with you that those who prattle on the most about their claimed rationality are often the most blind to their own credulity when it comes to ideologically convenient claims.
The Kilted Heathen
Crow FreyjasmaðR
Mayhaps I should make an independent thread on how the various Christian holidays aren't "stolen Pagan holidays" and ours have really nothing in common with what Christians do.
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
But when did the Christians create easter, because I'm not entirely sure that the early christians even wanted to mark out special days? Do you find evidence in the early church fathers that these kinds of things were talked about? I'm not really finding much. If it was the case, that a centuries long period existed where the religion had no special holidays or festivals, then I feel that this would add a complication to the picture.
The Kilted Heathen
Crow FreyjasmaðR
Easter (Pascha) is the Christian continuation of the Jewish Passover. There is historical notations of Pascha celebrations from as early as the 2nd Century.
amorphous_constellation
Well-Known Member
I would have to see your source. But I would think that in early christianity, the initial notion was to sort of turn every tradition upside down, and further - with a strong inclination to dissolve things like holidays, festivals, and holy days etc. entirely. I think those things would only creep in a lot later, when the notion of imminent doom, in early early christianity, eventually was largely bypassed. Or somewhat bypassed, enough to make room to map out an annual plan