Socialists are committed to a materialist world-view, materialist not in the sense of seeking acquisitions but understanding cause and effect by concrete (material) conditions and circumstances. Ancient civilizations' culture and livelihood centered around weather and the seasons. Autumn and winter marked harsh times and the death or hibernation of crops and food sources, while Spring was a time of rebirth. As a result, the changing of the seasons were marked with a wide variety of rituals.
When criticising religion socialists never need to make up ridiculous far-fetched stories – that task is already done for us by the churches.
Easter is the commemoration of the supposed resurrection of Jesus who became the Christ. The truth is that Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with the resurrection of Jesus .
Good Christian mums and dads have the awkward position of having to explain how it is that the torture, execution, and supposed resurrection of Jesus is celebrated with brightly decorated eggs and happy bunnies and chocolate and fancy Easter bonnets. Ever able to find a good cover story it is said painted eggs symbolize the rebirth of humankind after the resurrection of Jesus and the joy that humanity feels at the revelation that we were saved through the blood of Jesus, sacrificed for us on the cross. Of course, this is from the same theologians who also believe in people rising from the dead, walking on water, and floating off into the sky, so you have to be a bit dubious on its veracity.
Easter Sunday falls on March 31, 2013. The date for Easter was established in Christendom at the first council at Nicaea in 325 A.D. The council agreed that the Easter festival would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Ever diligent to avoid confusion with the Judaic holidays, this council further declared that if the full moon occurred on a Sunday and coincided with the Judaic Passover festival, Easter would then be moved to the following Sunday, thus preventing Christians from being mistaken for the evil, Passover-celebrating Jews–whom Christians blamed for killing Jesus to begin with. It is odd that the early church leaders didn't set a specific date like March 30 or April 15. But fixed dates do not always occur on Sundays. That would ruin the whole biblical concept and an accompanying four-day holiday.
This date thing had absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. Rome was still Hellenistic at the time. Emperor Constantine (who convened the council) was a worshiper of Apollo, not Jesus. All the gods and goddesses of the Roman pantheon were still going strong at this time, as were their festivals. Many of these festivals, including the celebration of Eos and Tithonius in early April, were “fertility rites.” The story goes that Eos, the Goddess of Dawn fell in love with, a Trojan named “Tithonius.” The problem was that Eos was a god and Tithonius was not. As he started to get old, the two of them decided to beg Zeus to make him immortal so that they could live happily ever after. Zeus, having conquered his fair share of human women, sympathized with the whole mixed-marriage thing and agreed to make Tithonius immortal. Unfortunately Zeus didn’t give him eternal youth, just immortality. The love affair turns tragic as Tithonius continues to age, getting uglier and uglier. Eos decides to turn Tithonius into a grasshopper–which for some unknown reason solved the whole problem. Anyway, she let her grasshopper go in April, and the festival, in the first week of that month, celebrated the return of Tithonius, and the fertility and love of Eos.
That is one explanation. Another is that the very name Easter originates from a pagan goddess Eostre. She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility was also known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre.
The rabbit is a symbol of fertility and the Easter Bunny was adapted to the Easter celebrations when Christianity came to Germany where there was a celebration of the “Moon Hare.” The Germans believed in the moon hare t was a sacred animal to various goddesses . According to Germanic myth, Hathor-Astarte laid a Golden Egg that became the sun. To celebrate the sun, they exchanged colored eggs each year in a spring festival. When Christianity came along, the practice (and the story of egg-laying rabbits) was adopted into the Easter tale.
Or it could be derived from the worship of "Ishtar", which is pronounced "Easter". To the Egyptians, Semiramis was Isis. To the Babylonians, she was Beltis, consort to the god, Bel. To the Cannaanites she was Astarte. The Assyrians called her Ishtar. It was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called "Tammuz", who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god.
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 consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period late March. 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. Gerald L. Berry, author of "Religions of the World," wrote: "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."
Another theory on the word 'easter' is that it derived from the Latin, estres, meaning the period of reproduction in animals. Oestrus is the peak of sexual cycle in animals, culminating in ovulation, heat or rut, especially in female mammals -- a strong impulse, craving or stimulus. During oestrus the female is ripe for insemination. Women come into oestrus once a month. During the height of oestrus, the female body blooms and the female desires to breed. Spring brings renewed life, new growth, new excitement. Many animals bring forth their young.
Hot Cross buns, or “bouns” as they were called in Rome, were made round as a symbol of the sun in the Eos celebration (Eos being the daughter of the sun and goddess of the dawn). The “cross” inscribed on it was not the cross of Jesus but a “solar cross.” The buns were taken home after the fertility rituals and hung in the house for good luck. Such practice is forbidden by the bible in Jer 7.18: “The women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
UPDATE
Archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Jesus and his body and the Easter holiday abolished.
Naw, not really, SOYMB just made that bit up.
When criticising religion socialists never need to make up ridiculous far-fetched stories – that task is already done for us by the churches.
Easter is the commemoration of the supposed resurrection of Jesus who became the Christ. The truth is that Easter has nothing whatsoever to do with the resurrection of Jesus .
Good Christian mums and dads have the awkward position of having to explain how it is that the torture, execution, and supposed resurrection of Jesus is celebrated with brightly decorated eggs and happy bunnies and chocolate and fancy Easter bonnets. Ever able to find a good cover story it is said painted eggs symbolize the rebirth of humankind after the resurrection of Jesus and the joy that humanity feels at the revelation that we were saved through the blood of Jesus, sacrificed for us on the cross. Of course, this is from the same theologians who also believe in people rising from the dead, walking on water, and floating off into the sky, so you have to be a bit dubious on its veracity.
Easter Sunday falls on March 31, 2013. The date for Easter was established in Christendom at the first council at Nicaea in 325 A.D. The council agreed that the Easter festival would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox. Ever diligent to avoid confusion with the Judaic holidays, this council further declared that if the full moon occurred on a Sunday and coincided with the Judaic Passover festival, Easter would then be moved to the following Sunday, thus preventing Christians from being mistaken for the evil, Passover-celebrating Jews–whom Christians blamed for killing Jesus to begin with. It is odd that the early church leaders didn't set a specific date like March 30 or April 15. But fixed dates do not always occur on Sundays. That would ruin the whole biblical concept and an accompanying four-day holiday.
This date thing had absolutely nothing to do with Christianity. Rome was still Hellenistic at the time. Emperor Constantine (who convened the council) was a worshiper of Apollo, not Jesus. All the gods and goddesses of the Roman pantheon were still going strong at this time, as were their festivals. Many of these festivals, including the celebration of Eos and Tithonius in early April, were “fertility rites.” The story goes that Eos, the Goddess of Dawn fell in love with, a Trojan named “Tithonius.” The problem was that Eos was a god and Tithonius was not. As he started to get old, the two of them decided to beg Zeus to make him immortal so that they could live happily ever after. Zeus, having conquered his fair share of human women, sympathized with the whole mixed-marriage thing and agreed to make Tithonius immortal. Unfortunately Zeus didn’t give him eternal youth, just immortality. The love affair turns tragic as Tithonius continues to age, getting uglier and uglier. Eos decides to turn Tithonius into a grasshopper–which for some unknown reason solved the whole problem. Anyway, she let her grasshopper go in April, and the festival, in the first week of that month, celebrated the return of Tithonius, and the fertility and love of Eos.
That is one explanation. Another is that the very name Easter originates from a pagan goddess Eostre. She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility was also known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre.
The rabbit is a symbol of fertility and the Easter Bunny was adapted to the Easter celebrations when Christianity came to Germany where there was a celebration of the “Moon Hare.” The Germans believed in the moon hare t was a sacred animal to various goddesses . According to Germanic myth, Hathor-Astarte laid a Golden Egg that became the sun. To celebrate the sun, they exchanged colored eggs each year in a spring festival. When Christianity came along, the practice (and the story of egg-laying rabbits) was adopted into the Easter tale.
Or it could be derived from the worship of "Ishtar", which is pronounced "Easter". To the Egyptians, Semiramis was Isis. To the Babylonians, she was Beltis, consort to the god, Bel. To the Cannaanites she was Astarte. The Assyrians called her Ishtar. It was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called "Tammuz", who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god.
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 consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period late March. 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. Gerald L. Berry, author of "Religions of the World," wrote: "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."
Another theory on the word 'easter' is that it derived from the Latin, estres, meaning the period of reproduction in animals. Oestrus is the peak of sexual cycle in animals, culminating in ovulation, heat or rut, especially in female mammals -- a strong impulse, craving or stimulus. During oestrus the female is ripe for insemination. Women come into oestrus once a month. During the height of oestrus, the female body blooms and the female desires to breed. Spring brings renewed life, new growth, new excitement. Many animals bring forth their young.
Hot Cross buns, or “bouns” as they were called in Rome, were made round as a symbol of the sun in the Eos celebration (Eos being the daughter of the sun and goddess of the dawn). The “cross” inscribed on it was not the cross of Jesus but a “solar cross.” The buns were taken home after the fertility rituals and hung in the house for good luck. Such practice is forbidden by the bible in Jer 7.18: “The women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.”
UPDATE
Archaeologists have discovered the tomb of Jesus and his body and the Easter holiday abolished.
Naw, not really, SOYMB just made that bit up.
1 comment:
This is my favourite 'origin' myth and most pertinent for those of us living in Northern Europe: Easter originates from a pagan goddess Eostre. She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility was also known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre.
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