Happy Easter to All!

As at Christmas, when we are urged to bring back the "true meaning" of the holiday, so at Easter are we urged to do so, especially by letters to the editor and columns on the religious page of the newspaper.

Of course, we all have the right to use any reason we like for celebrating any holiday. But the implication that your Easter celebration is authentic only if you do it with the Christian resurrection in mind betrays an ignorance of religious history.

This holiday has been celebrated every spring all over the world in an unbroken tradition going back to many centuries before Jesus was even born, and thus cannot have had any original connection to him.

Easter was originally (and still is) a celebration of the fertility of the earth, renewed each springtime. The egg, the chick, the rabbit, the flowers, are all fertility symbols (and much older than the Christian symbol of the resurrected god). Its celebration has often been marked by sexual exuberance, as is still prominent in the pre-Lenten Carneval and Mardi Gras festivals and the phallic symbolism of the May pole and the cross.

Long before Jesus, many peoples associated this festival with the coming back to life of the god of fertility (Tammuz - see Ezek 8:14, Adonis, Osiris, Perseus, Orpheus), who had been dead in the underworld during the winter. Even the name by which Christians still celebrate the festival is a corruption of the name of the ancient fertility goddess Ishtar or Ashtoreth (whose name also survives in the name of one of the books of the Old Testament, the only Bible book that contains no reference to God - the Book of Esther).

The Christian church, because it could not eradicate the celebration of this popular festival, reinterpreted it and assigned to it a new meaning, but was unable to erase completely its original significance. Undoubtedly current attempts by Christians will have no more success. The egg and the rabbit, the phallic pole or cross (the real symbols of the festival) will continue to be loved and celebrated as long as we can marvel at the new life which the spring brings.

And this year, Easter falls on another "High" Holiday...

Lurker From Beyond Wrote:
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> And this year, Easter falls on another "High"
> Holiday...


Thot that one was the up coming highest of holidays, 4/20.


:o)

Thanks Richard,

This will be my response to my TBM Cuz, who recently sent me her Mormon Version of this pagan celebration.

See this rubbish:

http://easter.mormon.org/

Interesting

well thank-you for not offending pagans :)

Easter comes from a Germanic spring goddess, Ostara. I've been seeing this Ishtar/Easter connection lately and I think it may be inaccurate.

Well the word might Easter but rebirth fertility festivals are much older. Ostara, isn't near as old as Passover, which is the root for Easter in most languages. It is almost exclusively Easter in the Germanic languages and that is it.

I know rebirth and fertility festivals were prevalent in ancient cultures, especially ones with a mother goddess.

My point was that I don't think that Easter is a mispronunciation of Ishtar and it's probably the JW's spreading this misinformation.

I read a Cracked article a week ago and the article debunked the Ishtar/Easter connection. When I did a little research on my own (I've never heard of this connection and I was a pagan for a little over a decade), the only info I found stating this connection was from a JW site.

Got it.

Additionally, whole eggs are part of the Passover Seder & were incorporated into Easter, and the cross is not a phallic symbol but the instrument of the death of Jesus. Never in history have cords or ribbons attached to the top of a cross been used for formal dances, so equating the cross with a maypole is very weak & seems intended solely to offend.

Easter has borrowed some pagan elements, but its roots are in Passover and most languages reflect that.Their words for Easter are related to Passover. When people argue that Christian holidays contain pagan elements, I am tempted to say,"So what?"I learned this in elementary school. It is common knowledge and has nothing to do with the "truthfulness" of Christianity.Relgions and cultures borrow. Big deal.

Hold on one cotton pickin minute. Someone suggests that Jesus wasn't the first deity to be resurrected, to have god and mortal parentage, to sacrifice physically for humanity, to ascend into heaven, or to preach love and harmony and you call them a "mythicist" who is out of touch with reputable scholars. Yet you are perfectly happy to admit that religions and cultures borrow, in fact you don't think it is a big deal.

I'm confused.

I never said there wasnt some borrowing such as the birth story. I said Jesus was historical and the nonsense about all the savior gods who were horn on Dec 25 and were crucified is crap.There is mm a difference

I think sometimes to many people tend to twist and bend and selectively pick and choose the things in history that benefit their point of view and leave out the things that would contradict it, in order to sway others to their way of thinking and beliefs. I think Easter and any other "holiday" or "celebration" means something different to different people. I don't think everyone has to agree. I enjoy Easter with my family and I know what it means to ME, and what it means to someone else is not going to effect my beliefs.

A green arrow, bona dea. Where the term Easter is borrowed from will have no baring on my celebration.

What does the term Pascha mean then since most of the Christian world use that term?

It is related to.Passover and suffering

Oddly, Easter seemed to have been re-paganized in my Mormon home. We focused on plastic grass, jelly beans and colored eggs. The martyr was the Trix rabbit, who was denied breakfast sugar. Church lessons were about Joseph Smith.

English: Easter
German: Ostern

French: Pâques
Italian: Pasqua
Spanish: Pascua

Latin: Pascha

"pascha , ae, f., and ătis, n., = πάσχα (Hebr. ).

"I. The feast of the Passover, Easter: 'sollennibus Paschae,' Tert. ad Uxor. 2, 4: 'lege dedit pascham,' id. in Carm. adv. Marc. 2, 80: 'pascharum dies,' Symm. Ep. 10, 77: 'dominicum pascha celebrare,' Hier. Ep. 96, n. 20: 'post sanctum pascha,” Aus. Ep. 10, 17: “paschate vicino,' Hier. in Matt. 26, 3: 'per tria paschata,' id. in Dan. 9, 24.—

"II. The paschal lamb, Vulg. 1 Cor. 5, 7; cf. id. Marc. 14, 12.

— "A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1879"


Greek: Pascha

"πάσχα , τό, indecl., the Hebrew Passover (from

A. pāsa[hudot ] 'pass over') or Paschal feast, LXX Ex.12.48, etc.
2. paschal supper, Ev.Matt. 26.17, 19,al.
3. paschal lamb, θύειν τὸ π. LXX Ex.12.21, al. ; 'τὸ π. ἐτύθη Χριστός' 1 Ep.Cor.5.7'

— Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon


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What us English speakers call "Easter" and what much of the world and most of history calls "Pascha" has nothing to do with Mediterranean fertility deities, but everything to do with Passover.

Passover is a Jewish spring festival celebrating a fictional event. Those fertility deities are older than Passover, and likely the source of the Jewish spring festival.

Again don't get caught up in the name.

Then why do people make such a big deal out of the word "Easter"?

Likely?

I'm a tad cautious about that, as the "older ∴ likely source" hypothesis sounds too close for comfort to the Post Hoc Fallacy.

Well it wasn't a celibration of god killing the first born of Egypt. So likely in this case makes more sense than the alternative.

Response to several posts:

Re: connection with passover: The only connection with the Jewish passover is that Jesus' crucifixion happened (according to the Gospels) at the time of a passover. The passover festival had nothing to do with a dying god, a messiah, atoning for sins, resurrection.

Re: "pascha" as name of Easter: Yes, among Christian Europeans the name of the festival is related to the Jewish passover festival. That connection was made by the Christian church only several centuries after Jesus' crucifixion. It does NOT indicate the ORIGIN of the spring festival. It is the meaning that the church GAVE it.

Re: Shannon wrote: " I think Easter and any other "holiday" or "celebration" means something different to different people. I don't think everyone has to agree." I think I said exactly that in my original post. Please read the original post again. It was NOT about what the festival MEANS. It was about how it originated and what it meant to the ancients who started it. Same response to Bona Dea, who wrote: "It is related to.Passover and suffering"

Re: Etymology of the word "Easter": Yes, the English word is derived from the Germanic goddess whose name was "Ostara." But where does "Ostara" come from? It includes the Germanic root meaning "east" because she was the goddess of the sun as well as fertility. As anyone should know who has studied the origins of religions, religions tend to borrow. Ishtar (Astarte, Ashtaroth, etc.) was known throughout the middle east and Europe as the goddess of fertility, identified with Venus (both the goddess and the planet). Do some searching before objecting. See, e.g., https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080318090751AAKKtuE on Easter and Ishtar. Just because JWs point this out does not make it wrong. They got it from people who knew something about ancient religion.

Re: history of the cross symbol: Let me emphasize again, that I am talking about ORIGINS, not what something means to you or to me. Google "cross symbol pre-christian" for some enlightenment. The Egyptian cross (the "ankh"), which long pre-dated Christianity, was a symbol of life, of the goddess Maat, and represented the coupling of the gods. How better to symbolize the union of Father Sky and Mother Earth than to make a representation of his penis and stick it into the ground? (Ancients were obviously not as prudish as some people reading my post.)

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday, in whatever way is meaningful to them. Just don't try to tell me what it "really" means. It may mean that to YOU, but just remember that it is a meaning that YOU have given it.

RPackham Wrote:
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> Response to several posts:
>
> Re: connection with passover: The only connection
> with the Jewish passover is that Jesus'
> crucifixion happened (according to the Gospels) at
> the time of a passover. The passover festival had
> nothing to do with a dying god, a messiah, atoning
> for sins, resurrection.

Jesus crucifixion is juxtaposed with the Passover sacrifice which he celebrated — and modified with the innovations, "This is my body given for you," etc., — the night before.

According to the Christian narrative, it's this very Passover sacrifice of his which informs the meaning of the crucifixion event. Apart from that Passover sacrifice Jesus celebrated in the Upper Room, it's difficult to explain how one can view the crucifixion as anything but just another Roman execution.

Because of the importance of that Passover sacrifice — which Catholics and Orthodox memorialize in the "Mass" or "Divine Liturgy" — it's not at all surprising that the Resurrection feast, which we call "Easter," was — and continues to be — called πάσχα-Pascha.

RPackham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Re: Etymology of the word "Easter": Yes, the
> English word is derived from the Germanic goddess
> whose name was "Ostara." But where does "Ostara"
> come from? It includes the Germanic root meaning
> "east" because she was the goddess of the sun as
> well as fertility. As anyone should know who has
> studied the origins of religions, religions tend
> to borrow. Ishtar (Astarte, Ashtaroth, etc.) was
> known throughout the middle east and Europe as the
> goddess of fertility, identified with Venus (both
> the goddess and the planet).

This explanation makes more sense- Religions borrowing from other cultures...There's plenty of universal stories and myths.

Press wrote:

> Apart from that Passover sacrifice Jesus celebrated in the Upper Room, it's difficult to explain how one can view the crucifixion as anything but just another Roman execution.

First of all, the Passover feast was not a "sacrifice." It was a celebration of the Jews' belief that God had freed them from Egyptian bondage.

And yes, it is almost impossible (see "Occam's Razor") to "view the crucifixion as anything but just another Roman execution." That is what is was. It is later Christians who tried to make it meaningful. Cognitive dissonance at work!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2014 12:04AM by RPackham.

RPackham Wrote:

> First of all, the Passover feast was not a
> "sacrifice." It was a celebration of the Jews'
> belief that God had freed them from Egyptian
> bondage.


When I referred to the "Passover sacrifice," I was using the language of Exodus 12:27, which is juxtaposed with the liberation of Israel from Egypt. That this service is simultaneously a celebration and a sacrifice doesn't appear to be mutually exclusive.


> And yes, it is almost impossible (see "Occam's
> Razor") to "view the crucifixion as anything but
> just another Roman execution." That is what is
> was. It is later Christians who tried to make it
> meaningful. Cognitive dissonance at work!


Later Christians, most notably, Paul — "For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival . . ." (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Apart from whether Paul's interpretation as "our" Passover sacrifice conforms with reality, one could certainly argue that this interpretation was made possible because of Jesus' liturgical innovations that indicated the giving of his body and shedding of his blood, which Jesus inserted into the Passover sacrifice he celebrated in the Upper Room.

The bottom line is that Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. Whether you or I believe it happened or not is irrelevant What is relevant is that Christians believe it. Sure they incorporated some pagan aspects, but the celebration is about Jesus and his resurrection, ot fertility goddesses. It is associated with Passover because that is when Jesus died.

The bottom line is that you are not the end-all be-all authority on this subject. You can't just say it is irrelevant without any rational reasons except you don't want to question your belief system

The dying/rising savior god cult was all over the ancient Roman world. Zeus/Jupiter and his pals were the boring state religion so lots of people joined cults of Mithras or Demeter or Osiris or Jesus. Christianity is probably just the most successful of the ancient "mystery religions".

When I was in Sicily there was a place where Demeter's daughter Persephone was said to have been abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld to be his wife. Long story short, half a year underground = fall & winter, half a year above = spring and summer. Easter is the the beginning of the new cycle.

I found it fascinating there was an actual place you could drive to where the story supposedly took place.

If only the Book of Mormon has so much archaeological evidence ;)

It isnt my belief system for starts,but Easter started because Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead. That is what it is about,not Ishtar or other fertility goddesses evenn if they borrowed.some.pagan.customs.Got it?.Do not make assumptions about what I believe.

The chocolate eggs and bunnies on sale have a heck of a lot more to do with fertility goddesses than they do about resurrection.

My old Sunday school teacher tried to tell us the eggs represented the stone rolled away from the tomb. That made no sense to the 8 year old I was at the time.

I remember reading that the Romans gave each other decorated eggs at the spring festival. I think we owe a lot more to those Romans for our choccy eggs than we do to Passover and a resurrection.

As an atheist I don't believe in a resurrection anyway. The really dead do not come back to life .

Like I said,some pagan stuff was adopted by Christians,but Easter didnt start because early Christians liked bunnies and eggs or fertility goddesses They believed Jesus had risen and that is how it started. That is an historical fact. Of course everyone has the right to celebrate it however they wish.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2014 02:57AM by bona dea.

Not all Christians throughout the world use things like eggs and bunnies etc etc. Not sure why people think that Christian cultures across the world are monolithic in it's celebrations?