# The History of Easter



## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm

Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. "About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection." 3

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians "used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation."

Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus' life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. Ancient Christians had an alternative explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity. 4 Modern-day Christians generally regard the Attis legend as being a Pagan myth of little value. They regard Jesus' death and resurrection account as being true, and unrelated to the earlier tradition.

Wiccans and other modern-day Neopagans continue to celebrate the Spring Equinox as one of their 8 yearly Sabbats (holy days of celebration). Near the Mediterranean, this is a time of sprouting of the summer's crop; farther north, it is the time for seeding. Their rituals at the Spring Equinox are related primarily to the fertility of the crops and to the balance of the day and night times. Where Wiccans can safely celebrate the Sabbat out of doors without threat of religious persecution, they often incorporate a bonfire into their rituals, jumping over the dying embers is believed to assure fertility of people and crops. 

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in my understanding, "Eastar" was a pagan fertility goddess. the holiday of Beltaine was the pagan fertility holiday, celebrated on "May Eve." rituals were performed, such as dancing around a maypole, and jumping over a dying bonfire to ensure fertility, and to celebrate the renewal of life.

Christians, in their quest to convert the ignorant masses, simply "adjusted" the pagan holidays to fit their own beliefs, since the pagans liked their festivals and if the Christians took them away entierly, the pagans wouldn't have been too keen on converting.

because if you think about it, what do rabbits and eggs have to do with Jesus rising from the dead? absolutely nothing. they are leftovers from the fertility holiday, since rabbits multiply like....well......rabbits... and all things come from eggs, even if they are tiny microscopic eggs in mammals.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Rockabilly what is your avatar? Just curious.


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

one frame is "Bad Religion" which is a band. the cross with the circle and line through it is their little symbol. if you listen to their songs, they are not anti-religion, simply against people blindly following religion and not thinking for themselves. they are against corruption of religion.

the second one is NOFX, another punk band that i really like.

and the third is the Anarchy symbol, which is actually meant as a desire to change the current system, not live without any system at all.


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

RockabillyChick said:


> the cross with the circle and line through it is their little symbol. if you listen to their songs, they are not anti-religion, simply against people blindly following religion and not thinking for themselves. they are against corruption of religion.


The cross, in our society, is a christian symbol. A cross with a line through it seems to be anti-christian. Are you using the word religion when you mean christian?


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

what are you getting at? i am christian myself. they use the cross because the cross the a symbol of christianity, which is the majority religion in this country. it is the most recognized symbol of religion in the US. they are against religion controlling people, turning people into mindless sheep. their message is for people to think for themselves, ask questions, and make your own choices on what to believe in, not just blindly follow wherever religion leads you, because too many religious organizations are very corrupt today.


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## Cliffizme2 (Oct 15, 2005)

This doesn't really seem like the place to be talking about why a religion is wrong. If you were on here telling about your Easter experience that is one thing, but coming on here to say an entire religion stole something from another is a little unnecessary I think. I might be alone but that's my take on this post, that and I think you are a tool.


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

omg, do you know how to read? i'm not saying that at all.

its a historical FACT that Beltaine is a pagan fertility festival celebrated traditionally on the 30th of april. Christianity, in an attempt to convert the pagans, instead of saying "No, this festival is wrong, you can't have it anymore" just changed the meaning to one more compatible with the beliefs of christianity. they did the same thing with Christmas and Yule, Samhain and Haloween (All Hallows Eve) that's what christians DO. I AM CHRISTIAN. i merely feel that we should sepparate our holidays from the pagan ones so that they both can be celebrated properly, rather than being so muddled together that neither one is celebrated right.

i am christian, but i also am facinated by pagan holidays. i'm not bashing either of them, i'm merely trying to give all of you a little history lesson on the origins of the "Easter" we know and love today, with Jesus rising from the dead and giving everyone chocolate eggs and bunnies!


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Thanks for the info, there's a lot more to Easter than just Jesus.
As for Ron V, don't listen to him, he just likes to stir trouble, just like me really.:lol:


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

[holy borg voice]
"We are the Christians. You will be assimilated. Your theological & cultural distinctiveness will be added to our own. Negotiations are apparently relevant, but resistance is futile!
[/holy borg voice]

I spent my easter in a swamp full of fishies. It was great.

By the way, why do you want to celebrate pagan holidays if you're a Christian? What part of the First Commandment did you not understand?
Just kidding!


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Rock - Do you work for Hallmark and are you trying to get a kickback for setting up holidays every week of the year? My attitude is to lump them all together and get it overwith.










I say this all falls back into the same attitude (catagory) that I posted in the 9-11 thread awhile back. People need to get over the petty attitudes with holidays, racism, frivolous lawsuits, and religion. We have become a nation of babies that cry foul at anything and want to point fingers instead of accepting responsibility. People need to learn to agree to disagree.


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## MaryPa (Jan 25, 2006)

You can have Easter with the bunnies and eggs,i`ll celebrate Resurrection Day.;-) 
Resurrection Day is the day we Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. He died for our sins and arose from the tumb 3 days later ( resurrection day ). Now you have the right to beleive what you wish,God doesn`t want to control you. If you beleive Jesus died for your sins and defeated death on the 3 rd when he arose then and only then will you enter into Heaven. It`s you choice and noone can brow beat you into Heaven. BUT.......... just think if we Christians are wrong ( and we`re not ) we haven`t lost a thing but time. BUT.....If the pagans are wrong and we`re right then they`ll suffer in hell. 
Christians only have ONE God. He came to earth in manform ( Jesus ) to pay our sin debt.
*****************************************
End of sermon.:console:


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Amen to that!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Uh-oh... here we go....


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## goodie (Sep 2, 2005)

Religion and politics. The only thing that they are good for is arguing.


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## goodie (Sep 2, 2005)

TheOldSalt said:


> Uh-oh... here we go....


Yep........


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

I'll stay out...


merry christmas.


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## RockabillyChick (Nov 18, 2005)

i have always been facinated with pagan holidays. i love the festiveness, the symbolism, the traditions. doesn't mean i believe in their gods. i also love their closeness with nature, something i try to share.


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## CyberSpike (Mar 25, 2006)

goodie said:


> Religion and politics. The only thing that they are good for is arguing.


Ha, I got Rockabilly started on politics the other day. I'm gonna stay out of the religion discussion. lol.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

MaryPa said:


> Christians only have ONE God. He came to earth in manform ( Jesus ) to pay our sin debt.
> *****************************************
> End of sermon.:console:



If jesus is gods son...

and there is only one god...

he didnt... impregnate his own mother did he?


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## fishboy (Feb 26, 2005)

I asked my pagan friend about this, it's all true. And he's a hardcore pagan too so I trust him.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

No-one cares.:lol: The only thing I care about with Easter and Christmas are the Eggs and presents.lol Also that fat Turkey the Wife fixes up. mmm mmm.


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## meyerhaus (Feb 27, 2006)

There are only 365 days per year. Pick one and there is bound to be a Pagan holiday that people can claim is the root of a religious holiday. Pagan holidays are unique to each individual geographical region, so anyone can claims that Christianity is just capitalizing on an existing holiday.

You may also want to think about the fact that the name Eastre can roughly be translated into english as Spring, but can also be translated into a word meaning rebirth. Hmmm....I wonder where you could get rebirth from the Resurrection story.

Easter is a word. We, Christians, do not celebrate the word Easter; we celebrate the miraculous and mysterious resurrection of our saviour. When a religion choses a date to celebrate one of its core, founding moments, it chooses a date that will work well withing the church year as well as a date which may help it gain followers. Why do you think that Protestants did not change the Jesus-centric dates of the Roman calendar? They wanted to make it easier to convert Catholics.

With that being said, everyone can learn from the writings of the educated. What bothers me is when the educated turn the learners into the ill-informed.


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## meyerhaus (Feb 27, 2006)

Oh...and don't confuse pagans with Wicca or some of the other non-theocentric groups. Those who practice these beliefs have absorbed this term so that they seem like the group that has been around for centuries and mentioned in the bible. In fact, pagan means "one who is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion."

If we are going to get into entymology, the word pagan means county-dweller in late latin. Late latin was used from the 3rd to the 7th century. SO, how exactly did the word for a celebration with its roots in 35 A.D. (or C.E. for the "pagans" out there) come from the roots of a pagan celebration?

If you want to argue that the Christians of the 4th century used the word for spring as a way of denoting the day that Christ resurrected, that is all good. However, if you are wanting to argue that the Ressurection story was added to the Jesus story to make it easier for the country-dwellers to stomach, you are ill-informed.

I has spoken. I finally got to use that Masters in Theology.


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## shev (Jan 18, 2005)

meyerhaus said:


> There are only 365 days per year. Pick one and there is bound to be a Pagan holiday that people can claim is the root of a religious holiday. Pagan holidays are unique to each individual geographical region, so anyone can claims that Christianity is just capitalizing on an existing holiday.


Yeah, but those are pretty well european-ish exclusive. Specifically in this case I think Germany.



> You may also want to think about the fact that the name Eastre can roughly be translated into english as Spring, but can also be translated into a word meaning rebirth. Hmmm....I wonder where you could get rebirth from the Resurrection story.


In the pagan holiday different gods were also ressurected or "reborn". That contributes to why the christian ressurection got meshed in with it. I dont think the article was saying jesus's resurection was added in because of the pagan's gods were ressurected. although it is a big coincidence


The pagan aspects of christian holidays still exist because in major empires where everyone was dominantly pagan, like constantine,the emperor decided to force the entire place to become christian, and punished those that still tried to worship pagan holidays. Even the old pagan places of worship became christian churches. Traditions on the same days remained the same while the actual meaning of the holiday technically changed.




> If we are going to get into entymology, the word pagan means county-dweller in late latin. Late latin was used from the 3rd to the 7th century. SO, how exactly did the word for a celebration with its roots in 35 A.D. (or C.E. for the "pagans" out there) come from the roots of a pagan celebration?


ummm, not quite sure what youre getting at. are you saying the christian holiday came first? because well... it didnt.


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