The History of Easter

[Tony]

I heard that the holiday of Easter as we know it (the myth of jesus rising from the grave) was just transplanted over an old pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans and the word "Easter" is a derivative of a name of a pagan god. Do most christians know this?

[Upchurch]

Originally posted by Tony
Do most christians know this? I was raised Christian and I knew it. Shows on stuff like this are invariably run on Discovery channel or the like around major holidays.

[KS_SKEPTIC]

Most of Christianity's religious holidays are Pagan in origin!!!
As Christianity spread throughout the world they absorb a large part of Pagan traditions, holy sites and religious practices, claiming them as their own.
If you travel throughout the world you'll find a lot of Christian cathedrals and churches were built purposely on Pagan holy sites.
Easter is but one example of this!!!




Easter Lore (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/easter/easter.htm)

[shemp]

I thought Easter was named after which way the wind was blowing when Jesus got nailed.

[KS_SKEPTIC]

Originally posted by shemp
I thought Easter was named after which way the wind was blowing when Jesus got nailed.


lol :D ;)

[epepke]

Originally posted by Tony
I heard that the holiday of Easter as we know it (the myth of jesus rising from the grave) was just transplanted over an old pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans and the word "Easter" is a derivative of a name of a pagan god.

The goddess Ester or Esther, a Celtic Spring fertility goddess who was associated with eggs and rabbits, for fairly obvious reasons.

I'm not quite sure where the association with shredded green plastic comes from. Maybe there was a polytheistic belief system where all the gods were named Urethane.

Do most christians know this?

Most Christians I've met don't even know the Bible.

[c4ts]

I'm not the least bit surprised. The Christians assimilated an assload of pagan gods during their rise to power.

[pgwenthold]

These hip-cats certainly know about the pagan origins of Easter, and they aren't happy about it:

http://www.bright.net/~1wayonly/easter.html

I actually was looking into this yesterday because some recent Easter fliers have been showing up on campus. One has a pile of Easter eggs and says, "What they weren't looking for on the first Easter."

I wanted to stick a flier right under it that describes the origins of Easter. I love the link I listed above because it is from a couple of Christians (albeit even whackier than usual) and their opening paragraph says that Easter was celebrated hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. So much for the "first Easter" nonsense.

[ehobbs]

Originally posted by epepke


Most Christians I've met don't even know the Bible.

Truer words were never spoken.

Ed

[c4ts]

Originally posted by shemp
I thought Easter was named after which way the wind was blowing when Jesus got nailed.

You must be thinking of the holiday Northwester.

[rachaella]

Originally posted by c4ts


You must be thinking of the holiday Northwester.

Oooh when is that?

[KS_SKEPTIC]

Originally posted by Tony
I heard that the holiday of Easter as we know it (the myth of jesus rising from the grave) was just transplanted over an old pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans and the word "Easter" is a derivative of a name of a pagan god. Do most christians know this?

How much did Christianity inherit from the Pagans? (http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index_FLASH.html)

Let me know if this helps!

[Jundar]

Originally posted by KS_SKEPTIC
Most of Christianity's religious holidays are Pagan in origin!!!


Well, it´s natural to many religions to incorporate or modify traditions to take root in local culture. You´ll find this in every religion everywhere - it´s not specifially christian to do this

The main point is not the assimilation of the "pagan" festival but the translation into - in this case - a christian traditional system (like the resurrection).

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Jundar


The main point is not the assimilation of the "pagan" festival but the translation into - in this case - a christian traditional system (like the resurrection).

I agree. This reminds me of a couple of years ago at Christmas when I went to church with my folks. The priest did a great job of describing the history of Christmas, and how the traditions arose from pagan rituals, and how the Christians usurped the holiday to gain support. Fine. But then he said something that boggled me: "Without Christ, there wouldn't be Christmas."

Huh? He had just explained how people long before Jesus were celebrating the day. OK, maybe they didn't call it "Christmas" but other than that, it bore plenty of resemblence to the modern conception.

So, without Christ, there was still a celebration near December 25 with family get togethers, food, parties, decorated trees, carols, and exchanging of gifts. Sounds like Christmas to me. Christmas by any other name would still be celebrated.

[Chanileslie]

Originally posted by Tony
I heard that the holiday of Easter as we know it (the myth of jesus rising from the grave) was just transplanted over an old pagan holiday celebrated by the Romans and the word "Easter" is a derivative of a name of a pagan god. Do most christians know this?

They may know it, but they don't care. Heck, Easter is still named after the fertility goddess, Oestra, and yet many christians claim it is special day to remember Jesus.

Actually, most cultures have some type of spring ritual to celebrate the change in seasons. The christians just prefer to remember it by a dead guy nailed to a stick --- Is it me or is that just wrong???????

[pgwenthold]

Originally posted by Chanileslie


They may know it, but they don't care. Heck, Easter is still named after the fertility goddess, Oestra, and yet many christians claim it is special day to remember Jesus.


Heck, some have the audacity to claim that Jesus's resurrection was "the first Easter"! See my post above.

[ceo_esq]

It seems logical to me that one religion might adapt certain associations, etc., from the holidays of a different religion in order to promote them as a replacement. It hardly seems that the content of the older holiday was merely "transposed" into a Christian context.

At any rate, the relevance of the etymology of the term Easter appears diminished when one considers that except in English and some (though not all) other languages with Teutonic links, Easter (or a cognate thereof) has never been the name for this holiday. Worldwide, it's a minority usage, and must have come into use relatively late in the day for Christians:The English term, according to the Ven. Bede (De temporum ratione, I, v), relates to Estre, a Teutonic goddess of the rising light of day and spring, which deity, however, is otherwise unknown, even in the Edda (Simrock, Mythol., 362); Anglo-Saxon, eâster, eâstron; Old High German, ôstra, ôstrara, ôstrarûn; German, Ostern. April was called easter-monadh. The plural eâstron is used, because the feast lasts seven days. Like the French plural Pâques, it is a translation from the Latin Festa Paschalia, the entire octave of Easter. The Greek term for Easter, pascha, has nothing in common with the verb paschein, "to suffer," although by the later symbolic writers it was connected with it; it is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word pesach (transitus, passover). The Greeks called Easter the pascha anastasimon; Good Friday the pascha staurosimon. The respective terms used by the Latins are Pascha resurrectionis and Pascha crucifixionis. In the Roman and Monastic Breviaries the feast bears the title Dominica Resurrectionis; in the Mozarbic Breviary, In Lætatione Diei Pasch Resurrectionis; in the Ambrosian Breviary, In Die Sancto Paschæ. The Romance languages have adopted the Hebrew-Greek term: Latin, Pascha; Italian, Pasqua; Spanish, Pascua; French, Pâques. Also some Celtic and Teutonic nations use it: Scottish, Pask; Dutch, Paschen; Danish, Paaske; Swedish, Pask; even in the German provinces of the Lower Rhine the people call the feast Paisken not Ostern.
(source (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05224d.htm))

[Fizzer]

This is why Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate these so-called "Christian" holidays.

[triadboy]

Originally posted by Chanileslie
The christians just prefer to remember it by a dead guy nailed to a stick --- Is it me or is that just wrong???????

I believe he was alive when they nailed him to the stick. Remember, above his head were the letters INRI, which stands for "I'm Nailed Right In"

[Hexxenhammer]

Originally posted by triadboy


I believe he was alive when they nailed him to the stick. Remember, above his head were the letters INRI, which stands for "I'm Nailed Right In" I thought it meant "Initiate Nail Removal Immediatly".

[Tony]

Originally posted by KS_SKEPTIC


How much did Christianity inherit from the Pagans? (http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/index_FLASH.html)

Let me know if this helps!

It does, thank you. :)

[triadboy]

Originally posted by KS_SKEPTIC
If you travel throughout the world you'll find a lot of Christian cathedrals and churches were built purposely on Pagan holy sites.

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As an example - The flippin' Vatican is built on the exact site used for the worship of Mithra.