Comments (6)

Soja,
Since I and a few million others are Pagans and we celebrate Eoster, it is not a rare intellectual you are borrowing from...and it is not a dry philosophy but our religious holidays.Not dry at all...

I personally do not mind you all useing our holidays...but I really wish you would then not turn around and discriminate against we who you are "borrowing" from.

LOL...

Etymology of "Easter"
Easter gets its name from Eoster, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn. Her name comes from an Indo-European root "aus-," meaning "to shine," from which also come Eos and Aurora, the Greek and Roman names of the dawn goddess; also in Greek, Aurios was Aurora as the Goddess of the Morrow (Her name may derive from an earlier "Ausrion," meaning morning). Her holiday is celebrated near the Spring Equinox (Gk. he Ismemeria Earine), as Easter is celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon(how Pagan is that?) that follows or falls on the Spring Equinox; naturally She is especially honored by Dawn Rites (as is still part of the Easter tradition). The same root "aus-" gives us "East," the direction of the dawn, and on the Spring Equinox the Sun rises due East. (See De Aurora Liber for more on Eos.)
Since the Spring (Gk. Ear) is the dawn of the new vegetation year (and was often the start of the calendar year in ancient times), Eoster is also a goddess of spring. She is essentially identical to Freya, for She is the goddess of the fertile spring, the resurrection of life after winter. Friday, of course, is named for Freya and sacred to Her; so it is especially appropriate to honor Her on "Good Freya's Day."

for more info-

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/BA/JO-Eo.html#etymology

Easter comes from the Hebrew "Pascal Lamb". In the First Passover, the lamb was sacrificed and Jesus was the Lamb to be sacrificed at His last Passover. This is why many Christians have hosts for Communion since Jesus was celebrating Passover (unleavened).

Eggs represent NEW life and is assocated with Easter because Jesus' resurrection is NEW life (eternal life). That is how eggs have been associated with Easter.

Christmas celebrated shortly after the longest night, 21 December, symbolises the light that shines in the deepest darkness and brings hope to mankind.

Easter which is celebrated at Jewish Passover also happens to be in spring, which is the sign of new life after winter has lost its grip - also a symbol for Jesus breaking through the winter of life and bringing new life to mankind.

Why should any Christian have any problem adopting these symbols of life into their celebration?

It is well known that Christanity adopted European pagan customs and synchronised pagan holidays giving it a Christian meaning. There is nothing wrong with this at all, and in fact was a very wise thing to do. After all if one were to follow the customs Jesus followed, they would all be the customs of first century Jews. But Christianity is after all not about Jewish customs, but about the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, the Messiah - which is a cosmic event not a cultural one restricted to the Jews. Why should not the work of Jesus Christ for all of mankind be expressed in symbolic ways that makes more sense to the people who practise Christianity, more in tune with their cultural understanding?

People need images, symbols, music, celebrations and the sense of community such celebrations provide. It is an essential part of how the practice of any religion gives human beings the sense of belonging that every human being needs. Why should that be taken away in the name of rationality and "purity" of any religion? After all religion, which is really God reaching out to all His creation, should cater equally to the needs of children and the simple man, and not be restricted to a dry philosophy that appeals only to the rare intellectual.

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia

Marc,

Thank you for posting this information. It shows why many Christians feel that they can not conscientiously celebrate Easter (or Christmas, which has similar roots in paganism).