Political Discussion - "on-topic & unmoderated"Rated PG13, unmoderated but threads must stay on topic - that means you can flame each other all you want as long as it's legal
The fact of the matter is no one knows for sure, but our best bet comes from Bede ("The Venerable"), a late-seventh-century historian and scholar from Anglo-Saxon England. He says Easter's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, associated with spring and fertility, and celebrated around the vernal equinox. So there you go. As Christmas was moved to coincide with (and supplant) the pagan celebration of winter, Easter was likely moved to coincide and replace the pagan celebration of spring.
The Easter Bunny comes from these pagan rites of spring as well, but more from pagan Germany than pagan Britain. Eighteenth-century German settlers brought "Oschter Haws" to America, where Pennsylvania Dutch settlers prepared nests for him in the garden or barn. On Easter Eve, the rabbit laid his coloured eggs in the nests in payment. Fertility and rabbits do work together.
Some people have rejected tradition and refer to the Easter Bunny as Peter Cottontail... but that is just plain wrong.
So we now have Easter eggs (some candy and others coloured real eggs) and chocolate Easter Bunnies. Growing up I always favoured a white chocolate Easter Rabbit personally but there was there was a fierce debate on the proper way to eat it.
Some people believe that the Easter Bunny actually delivers the eggs but that seems confusing the Easter Bunny with Santa Claus who does deliver and long before Fed Ex or Canada Post.
Besides such activity would be exceedingly dangerous for the Easter Bunny.
Although Christians co-opted yet another pagan holiday, some Christian churches do try to keep the two traditions separate and educate the ignorant and uninformed.
In fact some Christian churches have decided to forgo Easter Sunday altogether and now refer to Resurrection Sunday.
Be that as it may the most important issue for Easter Sunday is how does one properly eat a chocolate Easter Bunny??? My personal recommendation... start with the ears and work your way down to the cotton tail.
Do you know if the pagans sacrificed the rabbit as part of their Eostre rites? Or did they not do that as the rabbit represented the earth mother? Also, you have to start with the head, as it kills the bunny quickly and is thus more humane.
My church considers it Resurrection Sunday. I consider it Easter. The actual word is of no importance to me.
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The fact of the matter is no one knows for sure, but our best bet comes from Bede ("The Venerable"), a late-seventh-century historian and scholar from Anglo-Saxon England. He says Easter's name comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, associated with spring and fertility, and celebrated around the vernal equinox. So there you go. As Christmas was moved to coincide with (and supplant) the pagan celebration of winter, Easter was likely moved to coincide and replace the pagan celebration of spring.
The Easter Bunny comes from these pagan rites of spring as well, but more from pagan Germany than pagan Britain. Eighteenth-century German settlers brought "Oschter Haws" to America, where Pennsylvania Dutch settlers prepared nests for him in the garden or barn. On Easter Eve, the rabbit laid his coloured eggs in the nests in payment. Fertility and rabbits do work together.
Some people have rejected tradition and refer to the Easter Bunny as Peter Cottontail... but that is just plain wrong.
So we now have Easter eggs (some candy and others coloured real eggs) and chocolate Easter Bunnies. Growing up I always favoured a white chocolate Easter Rabbit personally but there was there was a fierce debate on the proper way to eat it.
Some people believe that the Easter Bunny actually delivers the eggs but that seems confusing the Easter Bunny with Santa Claus who does deliver and long before Fed Ex or Canada Post.
Besides such activity would be exceedingly dangerous for the Easter Bunny.
Although Christians co-opted yet another pagan holiday, some Christian churches do try to keep the two traditions separate and educate the ignorant and uninformed.
In fact some Christian churches have decided to forgo Easter Sunday altogether and now refer to Resurrection Sunday.
Be that as it may the most important issue for Easter Sunday is how does one properly eat a chocolate Easter Bunny??? My personal recommendation... start with the ears and work your way down to the cotton tail.
Happy Easter.
Not sure I buy that one. Passover and Easter are tied together in the Easter story. Possible of course with the text being so old and of course a work of mythology.
Also, do those two churches have actual proof that the Easter Bunny didn't die on the cross and rise from the dead? Could have happened.
Not sure I buy that one. Passover and Easter are tied together in the Easter story. Possible of course with the text being so old and of course a work of mythology.
Also, do those two churches have actual proof that the Easter Bunny didn't die on the cross and rise from the dead? Could have happened.
Some people believe that the Easter Bunny actually delivers the eggs but that seems confusing the Easter Bunny with Santa Claus who does deliver and long before Fed Ex or Canada Post.
This man does not approve of that American copycat.
Not sure I buy that one. Passover and Easter are tied together in the Easter story. Possible of course with the text being so old and of course a work of mythology.
Also, do those two churches have actual proof that the Easter Bunny didn't die on the cross and rise from the dead? Could have happened.
Yeah, the dates are pretty well-defined.
Actually, the pastor at the church I grew up in used to hold Passover seders the Friday before Easter. But he recently stopped doing that after a rabbi convinced him that it was offensive.
Though it's seems pretty clear that Easter as we know it assimilated other rituals. The same way that Christmas swallowed Yule and Saturnalia whole.
Well here's some news I'm sure no Christian has ever heard of before. I mean, cultural borrowing and assimilation? Egad, man. Tee-hee at Christians who think they're celebrating the resurrection of a man they believe to be the Son of God.
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Actually, the pastor at the church I grew up in used to hold Passover seders the Friday before Easter. But he recently stopped doing that after a rabbi convinced him that it was offensive.
Though it's seems pretty clear that Easter as we know it assimilated other rituals. The same way that Christmas swallowed Yule and Saturnalia whole.
Why would that be offensive? I guess maybe by him not being a Rabbi? I'm a but confused, there.
Well here's some news I'm sure no Christian has ever heard of before. I mean, cultural borrowing and assimilation? Egad, man. Tee-hee at Christians who think they're celebrating the resurrection of a man they believe to be the Son of God.
Why would that be offensive? I guess maybe by him not being a Rabbi? I'm a but confused, there.
The idea behind my pastor doing it in the first place was that the Last Supper was a Passover seder. Except that it wasn't.
The Last Supper was a Passover meal, but the Passover seder as a tradition and a ritual didn't exist during Jesus' time, since it first started to form around the year 70 AD after the destruction of the Temple.
Even after that, the purpose of the two seders is very different. Jews do it as a reflection on their past present and future as a people, which obviously doesn't apply to most Christians. Also for Christians, the bread and wine represent the Eucharist, but the Jews of course see it very differently.
Basically, the rabbi felt that Christians having a Passover seder was revisionist history and co-opting Jewish tradition.