refuting Easter as being a Pagan festival....

[michel]

In most other European languages, the name for the Christian holy day we call Easter is connected to the word "Pesach", from the Hebrew "Passover". English inherited from the German the word Easter, which was the name of a goddess who was celebrated at a similar time Christians celebrated Easter. The Germanic peoples were converted to Christianity.

Easter is not about bunny rabbits or Easter eggs, really. Whoever reduces the essence of this holy day to that completely misses the point. Easter, for Christians, is about the passion, death and Resurrection of Christ and the true Passover which starts the Exodus from sin.

True, but as with every Religious festival(even Christmas), the opportunists take over, and use the festival to transform it into a money making engine.

Personally, though Christmas is a pagan festival (in essense), I see no reason why we should not celebrate the birth of Christ - even though it is not at the time of his birth.....

 

[England my lionheart]

Many have instituted a seder before Easter Sunday as part of their Easter celebrations. This observance is called Maundy Thursday, Holy Thursday or Great Thursday. Those Christians who believe Passover was the last supper site Luke 22:15, in which Jesus says, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." Mark 14:12 echoes this with the comment, "And on the first day of the Unleavened Bread, when the Passover [lamb] was being sacrificed, his disciples said to him [Jesus], ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?'"

Just a snippip on Maunday Thursday,the Queen still distibutes Maunday money in a symbolic ceremony to people.

As for Easter being Pagan In Britain,yes i agree it was for fertility but there were'nt any Rabbits in Britain as they arrived with the Normans,the Missionaries who came to Britain were crafty in using Pagan celebrations and sites and most of the early Churches in Britain are built on sacred Pagan sites,if only they had left them and Britain alone it would have saved an a lot of suffering.

 

[michel]

All very valid points. What deters fromthe good though, is the money-making.

 

[Alva]

Lets imagine that in a pagan perspective all observances that connect myths with festivals where based on the earth crop cycles with its moment of sowing, growth, sproud and harvest. Is it offensive to think that all of our celebrations nawadays have roots in this observances? And is it So important to have a natural cycle of life present in our beliefes? Is that proximity with paganism wrong?

 

[Humanistheart]

That's right. The Church "Baptized" pagan festivals. December 25, which honored Mithra a son of god was baptized and became the birthday of Jesus the son of god.

This is a historical tradition of christianity. They steel and assimilate the cultural traditions of others to make their conversion easier. Look at the cult of mary.

 

[lockyfan]

Christmas was the winter solstice ritual of the pagans Them praying to their God for hte sun to come back and the land to heat back up and the tree to grow and al that, so it was a ritual by a religion not believing in the God of the bible. Thus the trees

Easter was a fertility ritual for the Pagans thus the rabbits and hte easter eggs.


Also the catholic encyclopedia tells us that 1.It wa created to oppose Jesus's Diciples thus the true christians and 2. they created these "holidays" to get the pagans into their religion and thus spread it and make it more dominant than the true christians that were actually diciples of Christ.

 

[AlsoAnima]

This is a historical tradition of christianity. They steel and assimilate the cultural traditions of others to make their conversion easier. Look at the cult of mary.

A) You're not supposed to be in this section without being in respectful curiosity mode.
B) Christians do not have a cultural tradition of metal working.
B1) For that matter, Christianity isn't a culture, so they can't have a cultural traditions.
C) Placing a religious holiday on the same day as a different religion's religious holiday does not invalidate either holiday, but it DOES make it easier to convert.

 

[Breathe]

the rabbits and hte easter eggs.

I hear that a lot. I've yet to see any definitive proof that rabbits and easter eggs were symbols of a pre-Christian Goddess.

From what I know, eggs were forbidden in Lent.
Oh, and it wasn't a rabbit. It was originally a hare.

Reason why a hare became a symbol of Easter:

Easter is in the Spring (taken over from Ostara)
Hares are fertile in Spring, so there are many hares about. Usually they are shy. Not so during around this period.

Quite simple really.

 

[nfronk13]

go to wikipedia type in Ēostre

scroll down to hares and freyja

 

[Breathe]

go to wikipedia type in Ēostre

scroll down to hares and freyja

Key word being "it is believed".
My statement on hares being being fertile in spring and not shy like normal, so they come to symbolize spring still stands.

 

[nfronk13]

THE EASTER RABBIT
The hare is the true Easter beast, not the rabbit. He was sacred to the Spring-Goddess, Eostre. Hares were sacrificed to her. The hare was an emblem of fertility, renewal, and return of spring to the heathen. The egg, in modern American folklore, is the production of the rabbit or the hare. The story is that this hare was once a bird whom Eostre changed into a four-footed creature.



sorry hares and rabbits are the same in my book haha


type in story of eostre into google


giving my 2 cents from a heathen perspective

 

[Breathe]

THE EASTER RABBIT
The hare is the true Easter beast, not the rabbit.

:yes:

He was sacred to the Spring-Goddess, Eostre. Hares were sacrificed to her.

Do you have any proof of this, or is it just hearsay and something that's claimed a lot but has no basis to it??

The hare was an emblem of fertility, renewal, and return of spring to the heathen.

Proof?
As far as I have noticed the hare is a symbol of spring because of their fertility and change in attitude during spring.

The egg, in modern American folklore, is the production of the rabbit or the hare. The story is that this hare was once a bird whom Eostre changed into a four-footed creature.

Wrong. Actually, the egg is because eggs were forbidden from usage during Lent in the Catholic church (I guess they were seen as an item of luxury?). These two items got matched together.

sorry hares and rabbits are the same in my book haha

Lol, many can't tell them apart.

type in story of eostre into google
giving my 2 cents from a heathen perspective

No worries, been there myself.

 

[England my lionheart]

THE EASTER RABBIT
The hare is the true Easter beast, not the rabbit. He was sacred to the Spring-Goddess, Eostre. Hares were sacrificed to her. The hare was an emblem of fertility, renewal, and return of spring to the heathen. The egg, in modern American folklore, is the production of the rabbit or the hare. The story is that this hare was once a bird whom Eostre changed into a four-footed creature.



sorry hares and rabbits are the same in my book haha


type in story of eostre into google


giving my 2 cents from a heathen perspective

There were'nt any Rabbits in England prior to the Normans as they introduced Them into England so it would have been the Hare here which makes sense and in Spring we have a saying "as mad as a March Hare" because Hares do a kind of ritual dance prior to mating.

 

[lockyfan]

There is no provision in hte bible given by Christ to the Christians or Jehovah God to the Hebrews that said we re to celebrate easter. Therefore Easter a man made tradition, createdby the Roman catholic church, to increase its numbers so it was more powerful than Christs Christians when the church was started. It was incorporated just as Christmas was into the calendar to make the transition for hte pagans, who had their holiday on those days or around those times, easier to deal with

 

[yourhopeboundheart]

Rather than a paganization of Christianity, it was a process of Christianizing the pagans.

and before there was a calendar of any kind then the pagans simply capitalized on equinoxes in order to raise participation in the festivals of their budding culture. everybody steals from everybody.

the upsetting fact is not the history behind it, but the lack of historical knowledge we find in common contact with the religious around festival time. when we can all be clear that every holiday (from every religion) was in one way or another borrowed and refurbished from an existing one, then why should there be backlash every x-mas and spring-time for an attempt at making these festivals (which are cultural, not religious) available to a greater population? what difference does it make to a jesus-celebrator whether they buy a 'holiday tree' or a 'christmas tree' to stuff gifts under? how is it a slight to anyone's belief in a resurrection if egg-hiding was going on for hundreds of years before the gospels were written? and, really, does a god who is supposedly triumphant over a torturous execution really shed a tear every time someone say's "happy holidays"?

 

[lockyfan]

and before there was a calendar of any kind then the pagans simply capitalized on equinoxes in order to raise participation in the festivals of their budding culture. everybody steals from everybody.

the upsetting fact is not the history behind it, but the lack of historical knowledge we find in common contact with the religious around festival time. when we can all be clear that every holiday (from every religion) was in one way or another borrowed and refurbished from an existing one, then why should there be backlash every x-mas and spring-time for an attempt at making these festivals (which are cultural, not religious) available to a greater population? what difference does it make to a jesus-celebrator whether they buy a 'holiday tree' or a 'christmas tree' to stuff gifts under? how is it a slight to anyone's belief in a resurrection if egg-hiding was going on for hundreds of years before the gospels were written? and, really, does a god who is supposedly triumphant over a torturous execution really shed a tear every time someone say's "happy holidays"?

Because they are not institued by God and if you want to live your life the way God wants you to then you dont accept or celebrate anything that takes worship away from Jehovah

 

[te_lanus]

There is no provision in hte bible given by Christ to the Christians or Jehovah God to the Hebrews that said we re to celebrate easter. Therefore Easter a man made tradition, createdby the Roman catholic church, to increase its numbers so it was more powerful than Christs Christians when the church was started. It was incorporated just as Christmas was into the calendar to make the transition for hte pagans, who had their holiday on those days or around those times, easier to deal with

Easter is just another name for passover

 

[lockyfan]

Easter is just another name for passover

No its not. Its not even held on the same day as hte passover feast.

 

[Breathe]

No its not. Its not even held on the same day as hte passover feast.

But, many languages use a term similar to "Pesakh".
For example, Swedish, Swahili, Italian, Latin, etc use a word related to the Jewish word for passover.

In fact, only German and English really use 'Easter'. Norwegian, Danish and Swedish use "påske, påske and påsk" respectively. Dutch uses pasen, Afrikaans uses Paasfees.

So really, I suppose it is. A Christianized, twisted version of Passover, but I can see the symbolism. Especially since Jesus is supposed to be the Lamb of God within Christianity.

Passover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Translations of Happy Easter in many languages

Thoughts?

 

[Mr Cheese]

I hear this a lot, but I've yet to see any evidence or proof of any kind...

easter eggs are also found in orthodox (pre catholic) churches...

typically painted red

the idea that its a pagan motif originally may be partially true, but to say thats the whole origin is a false hood.