My thoughts on Easter
Some friends at work gathered together and wrote me a long email about Easter Eggs. They did this as a response to my admittidly long article and emails. I was touched by the email but I hate Easter. I thought that I'd take a moment to explain why.
Easter is supposed to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a Catholic holiday and is observed by Catholics and the many offshoots of the Catholic Church.
A thousand years or so ago the Catholic Church, while trying to convert as many people as possible, decided that it was easier to take pagan holidays and to incorporate them into the church rather than to try banishing them. Whenever authority figures banish something and say "That's no longer allowed!" it becomes instantly popular and uncontrollable. This is true throughout the passage of time and is something that American leaders should have known before trying Prohibition and the War on Drugs.
Anyways, the Catholic Church isn't stupid, so they took the pagan holidays and changed them while incorporating them into the church. Easter, for example, incorporates many of the elements of the Rite of Spring, the Mayfair Celebration, and the celebration of newborn life.
The Rite of Spring is a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning (or rebirth) of spring.
The Mayfaire celebration is a celebration of surviving winter, and is a time to meet and marry. It is a time of letting loose, and bing carefree and happy. It was celebrated with wild abandon and a lot of children were born to newlyweds approximately nine months later.
Spring is also the time that flowers start growing, trees sprout leaves, and animals come out and mate. Many cultures celebrate this in their own way.
The Easter Egg was originally a pagan tradition that originated with the Teutonic Slavs in what is now Germany.
The rabbit came from a region to the northwest of Italy.
Even the name, Easter, is stolen. It was derived from Eostre, a pagan fertility goddess.
The original celebration of Easter, before the incorporation of the more pagan elements, was stolen from the Jews. The Catholic Church started Easter at about 200 AD as a celebration of Christ's last supper. As Christ was a Jew, he was celebrating Passover, specifically the large dinner typcally held at the end of the week long observance. That dinner provided the Church with a date (although it is argued whether Christ's dinner was at the beginning or end of Passover).
Due to the similarity to Passover, the Church changed Easter's theme from the celebration of Christ's Last Supper to his Death and Resurrection.
Close to two thousand years later, Easter is almost exclusively a celebration of the pagan elements that the Catholic Church incorporated into the holiday. Eggs and bunnies, large meals and hunts, special clothing with is just an extension of wearing your best clothes to a party...
No wonder I don't celebrate Easter. It's pointless. Whatever meaning that it had has been lost through the passage of time and in trying to please everyone. I'd rather celebrate Passover, at least that holiday has meaning. (The marking of blood on the doors in Egypt, sparing the Jews of the death of their firstborn. This resulted in the Jews being freed from slavery and the beginning of their journey to found Jerusalem).
Even better, bring back the Mayfaire!
Easter is supposed to celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ. This is a Catholic holiday and is observed by Catholics and the many offshoots of the Catholic Church.
A thousand years or so ago the Catholic Church, while trying to convert as many people as possible, decided that it was easier to take pagan holidays and to incorporate them into the church rather than to try banishing them. Whenever authority figures banish something and say "That's no longer allowed!" it becomes instantly popular and uncontrollable. This is true throughout the passage of time and is something that American leaders should have known before trying Prohibition and the War on Drugs.
Anyways, the Catholic Church isn't stupid, so they took the pagan holidays and changed them while incorporating them into the church. Easter, for example, incorporates many of the elements of the Rite of Spring, the Mayfair Celebration, and the celebration of newborn life.
The Rite of Spring is a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning (or rebirth) of spring.
The Mayfaire celebration is a celebration of surviving winter, and is a time to meet and marry. It is a time of letting loose, and bing carefree and happy. It was celebrated with wild abandon and a lot of children were born to newlyweds approximately nine months later.
Spring is also the time that flowers start growing, trees sprout leaves, and animals come out and mate. Many cultures celebrate this in their own way.
The Easter Egg was originally a pagan tradition that originated with the Teutonic Slavs in what is now Germany.
The rabbit came from a region to the northwest of Italy.
Even the name, Easter, is stolen. It was derived from Eostre, a pagan fertility goddess.
The original celebration of Easter, before the incorporation of the more pagan elements, was stolen from the Jews. The Catholic Church started Easter at about 200 AD as a celebration of Christ's last supper. As Christ was a Jew, he was celebrating Passover, specifically the large dinner typcally held at the end of the week long observance. That dinner provided the Church with a date (although it is argued whether Christ's dinner was at the beginning or end of Passover).
Due to the similarity to Passover, the Church changed Easter's theme from the celebration of Christ's Last Supper to his Death and Resurrection.
Close to two thousand years later, Easter is almost exclusively a celebration of the pagan elements that the Catholic Church incorporated into the holiday. Eggs and bunnies, large meals and hunts, special clothing with is just an extension of wearing your best clothes to a party...
No wonder I don't celebrate Easter. It's pointless. Whatever meaning that it had has been lost through the passage of time and in trying to please everyone. I'd rather celebrate Passover, at least that holiday has meaning. (The marking of blood on the doors in Egypt, sparing the Jews of the death of their firstborn. This resulted in the Jews being freed from slavery and the beginning of their journey to found Jerusalem).
Even better, bring back the Mayfaire!
posted by Keko at 08:18
2 Comments:
Not only the Catholic church, but also Christian churches celebrate Easter as the resurrection of Christ.
As far as the egg, it is a sign of fertility an appropriate symble for Eostre, a pagan fertility goddess. The earth is fertile with new growth. People are fertile mentally with the extra dose of sunshine and warm weather.
All Christian Churches are offshoots of the Catholic Church except for Jehovah witnesses, who don't celebrate Easter or any other holiday, and Mormons, who celebrate all mainstream holidays.
While the egg is a wonderful symbol for Eostre, it doesn't have much to do with the rebirth of Christ, and that was the point of this article after all...
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