The Real Easter

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It seems that it should, what with Easter's links to renewal and fertility, and I had a sociology teacher once who claimed it did, but it doesn't.

Anywhere I might read more?

[no one]

jebus is the clingy type. Nail him just once, and he spends eternity attempting to resurrect the relationship.

[Ravenshire]

Etymology of estrus.

Etymology of Easter.

There is a lot written on the etymology of Easter and whether the Easter holiday, as observed today, has it's roots in Christianity of Paganism, and there are many authors still attributing estrus and estrogen to the goddess, but they are mostly ill informed. Christians want to dismiss the pagan roots, while Wiccans (and other pagan groups) decry the theft of their holiday by the Holy Roman Church. The majority of the evidence points to 'both' as the most likely answer. Christianity likely took over the practices of the spring renewal festivals in order to more easily convert those pagan worshipers, much like they did when changing the "proper" day of worship from the 7th day of the week (the Sabbath) to the first day of the week (the Lord's day), oddly enough justified by the alleged resurrection on Sunday) in order to ease conversion of sun worshipers. The general consensus Points to adoption by the church, but it is by no means an overwhelming consensus.

Personally, based on what I've read and what we know about the behavior of the early church, I have little doubt that most major Christian holidays have their roots at least partly in paganism, no matter how many ill informed preacher-men deny it.

Thanks for taking the time, bud -- much appreciated.

De nada.


Wish I could have been quicker on the trigger. Work trips can put a damper on quick replies. Medford Oregon, this week, for the fourth time in the last 16 months.

[Thumpalumpacus]

De nada.


Wish I could have been quicker on the trigger. Work trips can put a damper on quick replies. Medford Oregon, this week, for the fourth time in the last 16 months.

Don't let it happen again. The Internet is SrsBsns™.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Ēostre

Like all gods and goddesses, there are multiple depictions of Eostre in art. This one, I think, truly captures the essence of Spring, rebirth, and renewal.

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Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Or she's trying to crap on that stork.

[Ravenshire]

De nada.


Wish I could have been quicker on the trigger. Work trips can put a damper on quick replies. Medford Oregon, this week, for the fourth time in the last 16 months.

Don't let it happen again. The Internet is SrsBsns™.

[Belacqua]

Ēostre

This is a popular Internet myth. It's false. The Christian holiday of Easter has nothing to do with Eostre. 

The ONLY reference to Eostre is in De temporum ratione, a book by Bede written in 725 AD. He mentions a month called Eostremonath (our April) and tells us it was named after a goddess. There are no other historical records of such a goddess. 

In a recent scholarly work, Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult of Matrons, a British professor of history concludes that the name Eostre was mostly used as a place name, indicating that something is in the east. There may well have been a goddess of the same name, and Bede may have been correct to say that the month is named after her. (But note that just about everything else Bede claims in that book would be rejected by modern atheists.) Because Easter, already well established in Christianity, fell in that month, it became a kind of shorthand in that part of the world to call Easter after the month. Remember that in non-English-speaking parts of the world, the name of Easter sounds completely different -- Pâques in French, Pascua in Spanish, Pasqua in Italian.

Christians had been celebrating Easter for around 400 years before Christianity came to England. In all that time, the name had nothing to do with Eostre. 

The date of Easter is made to correspond with Passover. 

Rabbits are associated with Easter due to a German tradition -- rabbits reproduce in spring. Germans also have an Easter Fox, Easter Goose, and Easter Stork. Again, these were added to the Christian tradition long after the holiday had been established. 

Eggs are associated with Easter because when Lent ended people wanted to eat them -- they had extra because the hens had continued laying eggs throughout Lent. 

Once a myth like this gets established on the Internet it is very hard to counter. People want to believe it. 


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/071563...5d7f14b8b0

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...agan-roots

[Fake Messiah]

This is a popular Internet myth. It's false. The Christian holiday of Easter has nothing to do with Eostre. 

So Neil Gaiman fell for an internet myth.

Not just him, but for instance, some 15 years ago I watched a conversation on TV with a Catholic priest where a reporter asked him where did the rabbit and the eggs come from, and he said that they were pagan customs.

And also to claim that Christians invented customs of celebrating a resurrecting god would be ridiculous, as they existed way before Christianity - like, for example, the cult of Adonis.

[Ravenshire]

Ēostre

This is a popular Internet myth. It's false. The Christian holiday of Easter has nothing to do with Eostre. 

The ONLY reference to Eostre is in De temporum ratione, a book by Bede written in 725 AD. He mentions a month called Eostremonath (our April) and tells us it was named after a goddess. There are no other historical records of such a goddess. 

In a recent scholarly work, Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult of Matrons, a British professor of history concludes that the name Eostre was mostly used as a place name, indicating that something is in the east. There may well have been a goddess of the same name, and Bede may have been correct to say that the month is named after her. (But note that just about everything else Bede claims in that book would be rejected by modern atheists.) Because Easter, already well established in Christianity, fell in that month, it became a kind of shorthand in that part of the world to call Easter after the month. Remember that in non-English-speaking parts of the world, the name of Easter sounds completely different -- Pâques in French, Pascua in Spanish, Pasqua in Italian.

Christians had been celebrating Easter for around 400 years before Christianity came to England. In all that time, the name had nothing to do with Eostre. 

The date of Easter is made to correspond with Passover. 

Rabbits are associated with Easter due to a German tradition -- rabbits reproduce in spring. Germans also have an Easter Fox, Easter Goose, and Easter Stork. Again, these were added to the Christian tradition long after the holiday had been established. 

Eggs are associated with Easter because when Lent ended people wanted to eat them -- they had extra because the hens had continued laying eggs throughout Lent. 

Once a myth like this gets established on the Internet it is very hard to counter. People want to believe it. 


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/071563...5d7f14b8b0

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...agan-roots

You sound like the typical christer denier. Christeranity stole a bunch of formerly pagan holy days in order to covert the pagans. Just get the fuck over it.