Sorry, X-Ray - stole your quote, but thought it was a great subject for a thread that combines Pagan Worship, Christianity, and how the Catholic Church used its power in the early years.

Easter actually is/was a Pagan holiday. Few people know this - esp Christians. Somewhere around 300 or so, the Catholic Church started to change a few things so that it lined up with the Pagans in an effort to convert them over to Christianity. Easter was one of those holidays (as was Christmas - Jesus was probably born in the Spring - they figure this out because we know when John the Baptist was born - check out feast of the Son of Isis).

The word "Easter" is actually derived from "Eostre," a pagan Anglo-Saxon goddess. It was a festival celebrated for the coming spring - and was a very "feminine" type worship - but it was a celebration of Mother Earth "giving birth" to life. I'm badly summarizing it --- sorry.

If you do a search for "Easter Pagan festival" there's lots of information - all roughly the same type of info. 

In one of those sites, I came across their explanation for "Good Friday" which I personally had never heard before. "The Chaldeans offered cakes to Ishtar on the equivalent of the day we know as Good Friday. When the established church wanted to appease the paganistic people in order to "convert" them to Christianity, they moved the dates accordingly. " So even Good Friday, according to this site, was created to be in line with Pagan worship.

Even as a kid, I remember my dad telling me that there was a good chance that Jesus wasn't crucified on Friday. If He was there was no way that He could be in the grave 3 days and 3 nights. Yes, Jews viewed even 10 minutes of night time as a night so you could come up with 3 days and 3 nights that way. But one thing that Christians forget (or don't know) is that during Passover, Jews have two Sabbaths (can someone confirm this for me, please).  In fact the original word uses in the Greek in the NEw Testatment was plural - not singular which does confirm this double Sabbath.

As a result, there's a good chance Jessu was actually crucified on Wednesday before the Annual Sabbath. He was hurringly buried before Sunset on Wednesday because Sunset would begin the Sabbath - that year on our Thursday. Being the Sabbath, shops were closed, people celebrated the Sabbath, and as a result the women couldn't buy the spices needed for the body. The next day they could purchase the spices and prepare them, but they wouldn't have had enough time apply the spices to Jesus' body that day. As a result, Saturday hit, and the weekly Sabbath started up. Thus the next time the women would be able to apply the spices would be after the Sabbath (at the earliest Sunset on Saturday or sunrise Sunday Morning).

Now here's the fun part, because Passover changes weeks year to year (it's all based on the moon). I'm not sure if Jesus' Resurrection was celebrated before 325 but if it had been, it would've been an ever-changing date because they may have aligned it with Passover (esp Jewish Christians who celebrated the Passover). It wasn't until 325 that the Council of Nicaea decided that it would be on the Sunday after the vernal equinox to align it with the PAgan Festival.

So yes, Easter is/was a Pagan Festival that the Catholic Church converted into a Christian holiday - same with Christmas - in an effort to convert Pagans to Christianity. Thanks to Constatine the Great and Council of Nicaea - lots of changes happened as tehy started to convert from a polytheism approach to spirtuality to Christianity.  

Jordan .

I'm going to quote and paraphrase here a book from my collection:

Before the Reformation and the Witch Hunts, people refused to submit the supernatural power of the Earth to that of the Christian God. "Unable to convince people of the absence of God in nature, the early Chruch instead incorporated aspects of the nature worship it condemned (much in the same way it deveopled ecclesiastical magic when it could not eliminate pagan magic....)"

"The Church incorporated annual pagan festivals and holidays, claiming them as Christian. People used to mark the seasons with celebrations and rituals that integrated their activity with the earth's cycles. The Chruch placed Christian holidays to coincide with the older festivals in hopes of gaining acceptance and recognition for its new religion. While the traditional meanings had nothing to do with Orthodox Christianity, the Church usually tolerated the older rituals as it tried to teach a new biblical meaning." (The nature oriented symbolism was abolished during the Reformation)

The changes of the four seasons and the effect of these changes on the crops had been celebrated with solstices and a respective equinox for the height of the season. The Spring Equinox is the celebration of fertility, when the "sun is resurrected and gains prominence over the night," symbolized by eggs and rabbits. "

The birthday of Mithra, the Roman sun god, was celebrated on Dec 25. In pre- Christian Egypt and Syria, the winter solstice ritual was to retreat to sanctuaries and shrines until midnight, when they would emerge shouting, "The virgin has brought forth! The light is waxing!" The birth of Osiris was made the Christian Epiphany, etc etc

But Easter celebration remained similar. The theme of Jesus resurrection came from the resurrections of Apollo (Babylonian,) Adonis (Greek,) and Attis (Roman.) Vernal eqinox fires that had been banned by the Chruch were re-introduced to the "official liturgy" of Easter in the 9th century by Rome.

Interesting...

I know that the tradition of a Christmas tree was brought over to help with the transition also.  Something about the pagan tradition of having something green in the house in the winter months when there is no green outside.  Pine obviously being a tree that stays green all year.  I'm sure there are more. 

Oh, tons. I think this is a primary difficulty of discussing orthodox christianity without sounding critical. This is an example of one belief system adapting (if by coercion) to another, just as the Christian church has bended to accomodate science- and even what's considered scientific fact is changing all the time. Maybe in the future there will be a single theology that science supports- which will probably STILL be way off the mark.

I love knowledge. I love hearing well thought out and supported opinions, too. I hope this forum succeeds and we aren't afraid to rationally test their beliefs/disbeliefs here.

"I hope this forum succeeds and the faithful aren't afraid to rationally test their beliefs/disbeliefs here."

True, and on teh flip side: The same should also be said of those who are not religous. They need not be afraid to go beyond their own comfort zone of rationality and into a new and different thought that may not always fit inside a nice box of rationality adn science. The burden of confronting beliefs should not be placed solely on the faithful.

Both sides have a duty.

I see you changed your post slightly after I posted, but I'm not going to change my statement above because it's still important to say. This forum should not become a "face the rational facts, religious people" nor should it become "you're going to hell" type forum.  Both will kill this forum.

Jordan .

Not a problem, rainbow.

I find that skeptics' goals are usually to try and get religious people to prove there is a God, and try and make religious people confront "facts."

On the other hand, I find that religous individuals often try and force down people's throats their beliefs, and try and simply explain away things with "Cause the Bible says so" rather than dealing with "facts."

If all of us can avoid agendas, and approach the forum with wanting to learn more (which I have a feeling we can do quite well) then we all win.  

Jordan .

Kelly

How Do You Live Your Dash?

Check out the Kids' blogs:
The CaleBlog and the Zoe Blog

Moving from the realm of opinion to sound facts…….

 "There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution."--US District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in her ruling against the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program

"My French is poor, but my heart is rich.  I love France- the art-making, art-loving, and art-supporting people of France." -David Lynch

Remember though Gavin, the Gospels were likely written decades after the actual events that they describe.  Whether a group consisted of eleven or twelve men, and at what time, and whether a single angel or two angels were present at a time when the author himself was not there, has little relevance to the message that the Gospels bring forth.

 That being said--Jordan, does the Bible ever say that it was three days and three nights before Jesus arose?  I only remember the three day part.  I guess a lot depends on the translation too.

Gahhhhhh!!!!  I just spent aaages typing a detailed reply about the history of Oestara and hit reply and then it told me I must be logged in to post and I lost the lot!  I then tried to hit the back button and cut and paste and it wouldn't do it, but it's half 12 at night so I'm not typing it all again tonight but Thank you Jordan!  You summarized it up very well I think!

And smeds, if you would like to discuss wicca feel free to PM me. 

"watch out for my cousin.."

B, here's the Scripture that says "3 days and 3 nights":

"For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40).

Matthew doesn't just say 3 days, he actaully spells out 3 days and 3 nights which to me is meaningful. 

Jordan .

Thanks Jordan.

 Here's a link that seems to do a good job at reconciling Matthew with other biblical references.

http://www.carm.org/diff/Matt12_40.htm

B - yeaht that's a good page that describes it.

Jordan .