Pagan Origins of Easter

[FFH]

Pagan Origins of Easter

Origins of the name "Easter":

"The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos."

Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Ashtoreth from ancient Israel[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Astarté[/FONT] from ancient Greece
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Demeter from Mycenae[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Hathor from ancient Egypt[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Ishtar from Assyria[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Kali, from India[/FONT]
[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.[/FONT]

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter". [/FONT]

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."[/FONT]

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne). [/FONT]

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]It is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." [/FONT]

[FONT=trebuchet ms,arial,helvetica]The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420) commented "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth." [/FONT]

Easter Bible Codes:
Alas! Easter is a Goddess
Easter is Pagan

The Truth On Easter

 

[Smoke]

Only a problem in some Germanic languages.

Easter is Pascha in Greek and Russian, Pascua in Spanish, Pâques in French, Pasqua in Italian, and Pasen in Dutch.

English-speaking Orthodox Christians often (but not always) say Pascha instead of Easter, at least when referring to the Orthodox feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ, which is usually (but not always) on a different day than the Western feast.

 

[Katzpur]

And I guess we shouldn't be celebrating it, huh, FFH? By the way, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir presented an absolutely magnificent Easter program for "Music and the Spoken Word" today. I missed you there!

 

[Popeyesays]

Easter is pegged to Passover.

Passover is Judaic.

TYherefore Easter cannot be a pagan holiday.

Regards,
Scott

 

[Bishka]

Well, gosh darn it FFH, we better get' er down and tell President Monson about this! He'll want to tell the Church to stop celebrating the Saviour's resurrection right away!

 

[Draka]

Whether or not the resurrection of Christ (if you believe in it) is even dated around the same time it happened or not, no one really knows. Especially since the date for Easter is a floating date based on, by many standards, very pagan methods. The first Sunday, after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. It is a very odd way of supposedly celebrating a fixed occurence.

I believe most educated people realize by now that many of the traditions normally observed at Easter, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ, are, in fact, pagan traditions of Ostara. The bunny and the dyed eggs and some other things are definitely pagan in origin. Makes sense since Ostara being so close and so many pagan converts were so used to using these traditions that it became incorporated into the Christian celebration as well.

Anywho-ha-ha, it truly matters not the date if what you are celebrating is what is important. And the bunny and dyed eggs, though religiously symbolic to pagans on Ostara, have simply taken on a fun aspect of Easter. A lot of religions borrow on each other. The newer a religion is it is more likely to borrow upon the old. It is easier to adapt practices already in existence than to totally come up with something new.

FFH, I don't know if you were trying to inform everyone of certain pagan connections to deter them from Easter celebrations, or just to inform (though I think most people here already knew this stuff). I am interested as to your motivations though. Because, regardless of where the name came from or what tradtions are used, it is still a holiday used by Christians to honor an event in their beliefs. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

 

[Mike182]

Easter is pegged to Passover.

Passover is Judaic.

TYherefore Easter cannot be a pagan holiday.

Regards,
Scott

are you saying that easter was never a Pagan holiday, or just that it ceased to be a Pagan holiday?

 

[WhiteSeal]

It would be more resonable to say it has connections to the date, which is always right around the equinox. Pretty much all religions have a holiday based around the equinox. Easter borrows a few traditions from many older religions, hence why it's so damn weird. (multicolored eggs brought by a gaint bunnyman? )

Also, the calender is diffrent depending on what sort of Christian you are, so it doesn't always have to relate. I suppose when they were deciding how to celebrate the resserection of their savior they looked to some other holidays for ideas. Ostara is actually a Pagan holiday, Easter is a Christian one.

 

[Popeyesays]

are you saying that easter was never a Pagan holiday, or just that it ceased to be a Pagan holiday?

Either way. Passover was established a looooong time ago. I don't buy it being equinox, because primitive people were quite capable of determining when the equinox took place. In terms of the plagues, it was probably more pegged to the flood of the Nile than to the equinox. The flood varies substantially from year to year but is far more important to the Egyptians than the equinox.

Regards,
Scott

 

[WhiteSeal]

Either way. Passover was established a looooong time ago. I don't buy it being equinox, because primitive people were quite capable of determining when the equinox took place. In terms of the plagues, it was probably more pegged to the flood of the Nile than to the equinox. The flood varies substantially from year to year but is far more important to the Egyptians than the equinox.

Regards,
Scott

They could determine the equinox since almost the beginning of recorded history, it was one of mankind's first achievments. The mayans knew how to determine its date before they invented the wheel. The solstices and equinoxs are very important to crop raising, even to egyptians, which also had to worry about the less predictable flooding that the Nile does.

 

[Mike182]

Either way. Passover was established a looooong time ago. I don't buy it being equinox, because primitive people were quite capable of determining when the equinox took place. In terms of the plagues, it was probably more pegged to the flood of the Nile than to the equinox. The flood varies substantially from year to year but is far more important to the Egyptians than the equinox.

Regards,
Scott

well, i haven't done nearly enough studying on Easter and it's relation to the ancient cultures to take you to task on this. Easter is one of those festivals that doesn't particularly interest me.

i think a proper discourse on this subject would require knowledge of all of the 'Pagan' cultures of the ancient days, which is simply a knowledge i don't have. can you account for the other examples (apart from the Egyptian one) given in the article about possible 'Pagan' origins of Easter?

 

[FFH]

And I guess we shouldn't be celebrating it, huh, FFH? By the way, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir presented an absolutely magnificent Easter program for "Music and the Spoken Word" today. I missed you there!

I don't celebrate Easter as the world celebrates it, with baskets of candy, chocolate and painted, dyed and otherwise decorated hard boiled eggs (nothing against chocolate and hard boiled eggs mind you ) but rather am in more of a reflective mood this time of year because of Christ's sacrifice, death and resurrection on my behalf.

See the difference ???

Not into the Easter egg hunt tradition, we all grew up on, and wouldn't raise my kids on that type of tradition, just as I wouldn't raise my kids on the Santa tradition.

These are two traditions which seem to bump Christ out of the picture, for kids, by replacing him with Santa Claus and the Easter bunny as the bearer of all good gifts.

 

[FFH]

Great link: The Truth On Easter

Will add it to the opening post.

 

[blackout]

I don't celebrate Easter as the world celebrates it, with baskets of candy, chocolate and painted, dyed and otherwise decorated hard boiled eggs (nothing against chocolate and hard boiled eggs mind you ) but rather am in a reflective mood this time of year because of Christ's sacrifice, death and resurrection on my behalf.

See the difference ???

Not into the Easter egg hunt tradition I grew up on and wouldn't raise my kids on that type of tradition, just as I wouldn't raise my kids on the Santa tradition.

Yes... but really FFH...
what does this particular day, this particular week
intrinsically have to do with what you are contemplating anyway?

Symbolically sure.
But intrinsically?

As is true with any other thing in life...
people bring THEIR OWN meaning(s) to things,
as every "thing" in life is a potential symbolism
for many a variety of ideas.

We're born into a world.
Things exist there.
We are given meanings for them...
and then hopefully one day...
we find (or at least choose)
OUR OWN meanings for them.
we begin to see NEW things there...

I used to get all worked up about this sort of thing,
(the "actual" origins of things and all that)
but now I just say,
everybody sees what they see.
"Definition" belongs to the observer.

A thing is actually what it is to you
because of how YOU percieve it.
No more... no less.

Anyway...
my RF friends...
hope you all reached deep into the experience
of your ultimate "easter" ideal today.

Whatever brand of easter majik you live by. :rainbow1:

 

[uss_bigd]

Easter is pegged to Passover.

Passover is Judaic.

TYherefore Easter cannot be a pagan holiday.

Regards,
Scott

FFH quoted sources .. what are yours?

 

[uss_bigd]

What does the bible say about pagans and people who practice pagan tradition?

I copied ad pasted verses for people to read.

1 Corinthians 10:20
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

1 Corinthians 12:2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

 

[blackout]

What does the bible say about pagans and people who practice pagan tradition?

I copied ad pasted verses for people to read.

1 Corinthians 10:20
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.

1 Corinthians 12:2You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

Anyone who "practices" a "tradition"...
or anything at all
that is NOT THEIR OWN...
is simply going through motions
dead to the self.

The living dead are all around.

now more importantly.....

debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry

Now who had an easter like that!
And why wasn't I invited?!!!

Funny thing today...
my daughter and I both but independently
realized that the "title" pagan feels right on us now.
It's a fit. Unique and personal... but a fit none the less.

 

[uss_bigd]

Anyone who "practices" a "tradition"...
or anything at all
that is NOT THEIR OWN...
is simply going through motions
dead to the self.

The living dead are all around.

now more importantly.....

Now who had an easter like that!
And why wasn't I invited?!!!

Funny thing today...
my daughter and I both but independently
realized that the "title" pagan feels right on us now.
It a fit. Unique and personal... but a fit none the less.

all i did is read ma'm please take note of that;

John 12:48
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.

 

[FFH]

Yes... but really FFH...
what does this particular day, this particular week
intrinsically have to do with what you are contemplating anyway?

You're right, it's just another day, Passover week (week Christ died) is...

Passover
15-21 Nisan (15-21 April)
Commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish people from ancient Egypt. Special dietary restrictions beginning the morning of the previous day. No foods containing fermented grain products - Chametz - may be consumed or found in any Jewish household. Special family meal - the "Seder" - conducted during the first evening in Israel and the first 2 evenings in the Diaspora. Memorial (Yizkor) services are said on 7th day in Israel, 8th day in the Diaspora.

The Month of Nissan
"Hashem said to Moshe and Aharon in the Land of Egypt, 'This month shall be for you the beginning of the months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.' " (Shemot, 12:1-2) Nisan is the Month of Redemption, because it is the month in which the Exodus took place around 3,300 B.C.E., at which time the Jewish People were redeemed from Slavery in Egypt. This event, in which the Bible records (Shemot, Chapters 1-15) G-d's intervention in human history in behalf of the oppressed Children of Israel, constituted the physical birth of the Jewish Nation."

Christ died on Wednesday at 3 pm on the cross on the week of the Jewish Passover observance. This is clearly stated in scripture.

The week changes each year though, so we don't know what day Christ's crucifixion and resurrection fell on, on the Gregorian calendar. but there are certain events that happened in the founding of the LDS faith which I believe point to April 6th as the day of Christ's resurrection, and this year April 6th falls on a Sunday. This is most likely the day of Christ's resurrection in Jewish history, with the previous Wednesday, April 2nd, as the day of Christ's crucifixion.

 

[Father Heathen]

all i did is read ma'm please take note of that;

John 12:48
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.

:faint: