Easter?

[MyLifeAsAnAspie]

I don't understand "Easter". It's supposed to be this very religious Christian holiday and but the name comes right from the name of the pagan holiday it replaces. At least with Christmas they came up with a new name for a holiday which is a pile of pagan holidays with Christ thrown on top. I think the more religious the Christian holiday, the less the need to stamp out the pagan origins. Halloween, for example, is ludicrously pagan, so there was a definite need to replace the pagan name with something holy sounding. I wonder how long it took "All Hollows Eve" to morph into the more playful Halloween. Why can't we just celebrate these fun holidays without the woo-woo ancient myths (loosely paraphrasing Richard Dawkins)?

 

[Greatshield17]

I don't understand "Easter". It's supposed to be this very religious Christian holiday and but the name comes right from the name of the pagan holiday it replaces.

Easter is an exclusively English name for that Holy Day, in the vast majority of other languages and cultures it is referred to as Pascal or Pasca, from the Hebrew Passover as it occurred right on that Feast day. Easter simply means “dawn” in Old English and it’s only link to Paganism comes from the writings of Saint Bede the Venerable, who referred to the Anglo-Saxons at one point adoring a goddess referred to as “Easter,” (which again, simply means “dawn”) most scholars doubt that this goddess ever existed and that St. Bede was mistaken about what he was witnessing, most likely, “Easter” was simply just a title for Frigg or Freya. Regardless, there is no more pagan connection with the English word “Easter,” than there is with the English words “East” and “star,” which also have roots in the word “Easter.”

At least with Christmas they came up with a new name for a holiday which is a pile of pagan holidays with Christ thrown on top.

The only pagan feast day that shares the same date with Christmas is the feast of Sol Invictus, and all the accounts that record the feast of Sol Invictus being December 25th post-date Christianity. I mentioned in another post on this site that there is actually internal evidence in the Gospel of St. Luke showing, that Christ was born on December 25th.

Halloween, for example, is ludicrously pagan, so there was a definite need to replace the pagan name with something holy sounding. I wonder how long it took "All Hollows Eve" to morph into the more playful Halloween.

The only thing pagan about All Hallows’ Eve is that it takes place in the Autumn; before that and back when there was only the Feast of All Saints’ Day, it was celebrated in May and in fact still is in both the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Why can't we just celebrate these fun holidays without the woo-woo ancient myths (loosely paraphrasing Richard Dawkins)?

With all due respect, if all you get out them is “fun,” why do you need them at all? Why just throw your own parties whenever you like?

 

[Streetwise]

I don't understand "Easter". It's supposed to be this very religious Christian holiday and but the name comes right from the name of the pagan holiday it replaces. At least with Christmas they came up with a new name for a holiday which is a pile of pagan holidays with Christ thrown on top. I think the more religious the Christian holiday, the less the need to stamp out the pagan origins. Halloween, for example, is ludicrously pagan, so there was a definite need to replace the pagan name with something holy sounding. I wonder how long it took "All Hollows Eve" to morph into the more playful Halloween. Why can't we just celebrate these fun holidays without the woo-woo ancient myths (loosely paraphrasing Richard Dawkins)?

According to messianic jews, Yeshua (transliterated Hebrew for the anglicised version Jesus )would have been born on the feast of trumpets /Sukkot, which is September \October by the description of the area in Judea ,the eve of all HALLOWS is to warn believers ,that they should avoid evil, a lot like passover ,because pagans worshipped evil and all HALLOWS day! would be a celebration of Yeshuas triumph over evil,many Zionist Christians(as they don't hold a mass for Christ -Christmas )celebrate Hannukah in early December or St Nicholas Day on the 5th of December.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I don't understand "Easter". It's supposed to be this very religious Christian holiday and but the name comes right from the name of the pagan holiday it replaces. At least with Christmas they came up with a new name for a holiday which is a pile of pagan holidays with Christ thrown on top. I think the more religious the Christian holiday, the less the need to stamp out the pagan origins. Halloween, for example, is ludicrously pagan, so there was a definite need to replace the pagan name with something holy sounding. I wonder how long it took "All Hollows Eve" to morph into the more playful Halloween. Why can't we just celebrate these fun holidays without the woo-woo ancient myths (loosely paraphrasing Richard Dawkins)?

I'm pretty sure it was originally a pagan holiday for a deity of sex and fertility. And the eggs you paint and get candy from? The bunny? Yeah, those are both symbols for exactly that. Not very Christian if you ask me.

Although I'd prefer to be worshipping a deity that appreciates sex positivity rather than Jesus, but that is due to deep stuff that I'd rather unpack in a different thread.

 

[Greatshield17]

And the eggs you paint and get candy from? The bunny? Yeah, those are both symbols for exactly that. Not very Christian if you ask me.

Eggs became associated with Easter, because during Lent all the people fasted from all meat products, (as well as all dairy products, and I think they were also forbidden from putting oil in their foods) for peasants, the most common meat product they consumed were eggs thus, eggs became associated with Easter because it was the most common food people ate during Easter to celebrate the end of the Lenten fast. The Easter bunny was originally the Easter Hare, hares were associated with Easter because they were simply commonly seen on the landscape around that time of year; albeit, I imagine they were also seen around during Lent as well, as Lent took place in the same season as Easter, in fact “Lent” literally means “spring.”

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Easter is an exclusively English name for that Holy Day, in the vast majority of other languages and cultures it is referred to as Pascal or Pasca, from the Hebrew Passover as it occurred right on that Feast day. Easter simply means “dawn” in Old English and it’s only link to Paganism comes from the writings of Saint Bede the Venerable, who referred to the Anglo-Saxons at one point adoring a goddess referred to as “Easter,” (which again, simply means “dawn”) most scholars doubt that this goddess ever existed and that St. Bede was mistaken about what he was witnessing, most likely, “Easter” was simply just a title for Frigg or Freya. Regardless, there is no more pagan connection with the English word “Easter,” than there is with the English words “East” and “star,” which also have roots in the word “Easter.”



The only pagan feast day that shares the same date with Christmas is the feast of Sol Invictus, and all the accounts that record the feast of Sol Invictus being December 25th post-date Christianity. I mentioned in another post on this site that there is actually internal evidence in the Gospel of St. Luke showing, that Christ was born on December 25th.



The only thing pagan about All Hallows’ Eve is that it takes place in the Autumn; before that and back when there was only the Feast of All Saints’ Day, it was celebrated in May and in fact still is in both the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.



With all due respect, if all you get out them is “fun,” why do you need them at all? Why just throw your own parties whenever you like?

You are mistaken

 

[Skittlebisquit]

You are mistaken

This one is not a safe topic to discuss between faiths. Eostre is not Frigg nor Freya. There are many aspects of the Fem Dios, that have been venerated by various people throughout the ages, modern perspective tends too lump things together. One is likely pre-greek, another of the Norse folk, and seperated by many years between them.

Matre, Matron, Maiden

 

[Skittlebisquit]

According to messianic jews, Yeshua (transliterated Hebrew for the anglicised version Jesus )would have been born on the feast of trumpets /Sukkot, which is September \October by the description of the area in Judea ,the eve of all HALLOWS is to warn believers ,that they should avoid evil, a lot like passover ,because pagans worshipped evil and all HALLOWS day! would be a celebration of Yeshuas triumph over evil,many Zionist Christians(as they don't hold a mass for Christ -Christmas )celebrate Hannukah in early December or St Nicholas Day on the 5th of December.

Pagans do not worship evil
My mother is not evil

 

[Skittlebisquit]

I don't understand "Easter". It's supposed to be this very religious Christian holiday and but the name comes right from the name of the pagan holiday it replaces. At least with Christmas they came up with a new name for a holiday which is a pile of pagan holidays with Christ thrown on top. I think the more religious the Christian holiday, the less the need to stamp out the pagan origins. Halloween, for example, is ludicrously pagan, so there was a definite need to replace the pagan name with something holy sounding. I wonder how long it took "All Hollows Eve" to morph into the more playful Halloween. Why can't we just celebrate these fun holidays without the woo-woo ancient myths (loosely paraphrasing Richard Dawkins)?

Dang. Easter, halloween, paganism, christmas and Dawkins? Are you trying to pick a fight?

 

[Skittlebisquit]

My mother does not worship your imaginary devil. Nor did her mother before her.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

My mother does not worship your imaginary devil. Nor did her mother before her.

Shh they were brainwashed into thinking otherwise.

I wish my family was pagan...

I had to work hard to unlearn how I was trained to think that pagan = evil. Pagans have been historically oppressed by Christians. Entire vibrant pagan religions abd cultures are now lost to time due to erasure by Crusaders.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I don't worship evil. I'm thinking of worshipping Hecate, the Greek goddess of Witchcraft along with various other pagan deities. Hecate is neutral if anything.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

@Greatshield17

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I'm planning on converting to paganism not only as a rejection of Christianity due to poor experiences with it, but also as a way to try and revive the cultures of my ancient ancestors.

 

[Greatshield17]

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@Greatshield17

It’s true that both Frigg and Freya are the Germanic equivalents of Ishtar, but that’s pretty much it; again, there is no more relation between the Easter and Ishtar, then there are between Easter and the English words “East” and “Star,” they all stem from an ancient word meaning “morning star.”

The Romans called Easter “Paschae,” which derives from the Hebrew word for Passover; again, the name Easter is purely English in language and culture, the vast majority of other cultures refer to Easter as Passover. Also, while Constantine did convert to Christianity and legalize the Faith liberating it from centuries of persecution; he did not make it the state religion of the empire, it was Theodosius who made the Church the state religion with the Edict of Thessalonica on February 27th 380 AD.

 

[Greatshield17]

Entire vibrant pagan religions abd cultures are now lost to time due to erasure by Crusaders.

The Crusades were defensive wars meant to rescue minority Christian communities being persecuted by non-Christian states; the vast majority of these Crusades were waged against Muslims, not pagans. In fact if you consider the Reconquista to be a Crusade, which some scholars do, then the Crusaders actually rescued what was then a somewhat pagan culture, namely my ancestors, the Basque people; their homeland and traditional culture was threatened by the encroaching Moors, and would have been wiped-out had the Spanish Reconquistadores not intervened.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

The Crusades were defensive wars meant to rescue minority Christian communities being persecuted by non-Christian states; the vast majority of these Crusades were waged against Muslims, not pagans. In fact if you consider the Reconquista to be a Crusade, which some scholars do, then the Crusaders actually rescued what was then a somewhat pagan culture, namely my ancestors, the Basque people; their homeland and traditional culture was threatened by the encroaching Moors, and would have been wiped-out had the Spanish Reconquistadores not intervened.

No they weren't. They were to wipe out people Christians deemed evil. Pagans only attacked Christian settlements because CHRISTIANS were the invaders. Actually listen to Pagans before saying stuff like this. I know for a certain fact that the pagans were just just defending their turf. Before the rise of Christianity, there was not many well documented cases of religious persecution.

This spread of misinformation is why I left Christianity to hopefully convert to a pagan religion. Using big fancy words does not make you correct. That is why I am talking bluntly and in simple terms.

Actually do some research before saying stuff like this.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

It’s true that both Frigg and Freya are the Germanic equivalents of Ishtar, but that’s pretty much it; again, there is no more relation between the Easter and Ishtar, then there are between Easter and the English words “East” and “Star,” they all stem from an ancient word meaning “morning star.”

The Romans called Easter “Paschae,” which derives from the Hebrew word for Passover; again, the name Easter is purely English in language and culture, the vast majority of other cultures refer to Easter as Passover. Also, while Constantine did convert to Christianity and legalize the Faith liberating it from centuries of persecution; he did not make it the state religion of the empire, it was Theodosius who made the Church the state religion with the Edict of Thessalonica on February 27th 380 AD.

The fact that "Ishtar" is pronounced "Easter" does mean that there is a connection, lol.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

Stop stealing pagan holidays and create your own. How about Ressurection Day?

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I'm surprised you of all people don't know your religion's history very well.