Patricia
Liverpool © April 29-2019
EASTER
In
North America, Easter is a holiday that often involves a church service at
sunrise, a feast which includes an "Easter Ham," decorated eggs and
stories about rabbits. The history of Easter as celebrated today seems to be a
mix of the Christian faith and some related practices of the early pagan
religions. Easter history and traditions that are practiced today in North
America evolved from pagan symbols, from the ancient goddesses to Easter eggs,
the Easter bunny and cross buns. Although Easter is supposed to be a Christian
holiday, the Easter bunny has no connection to Christianity. The history of
Easter as celebrated today seems to be a mix of the Christian faith and some
related practices of the early pagan religions.
The
word “Easter” is also pagan, supposedly from the pagan fertility goddess Ishtar
(Babylonian) or Eastre (Anglo-Saxon). There are actually several goddesses from
various nations who are credited with lending their names to the Easter
celebration as we know it in North America. In some countries, Easter is a time
for people to attend church and Good Friday is the holiest day of the year when
everything is closed. It is a time when Christians commemorate the period when
Jesus was crucified and arose from the dead and has nothing to do with decorated
eggs, chocolate eggs, rabbits and ham.
The
pagan goddesses Ishtar, Eastre, Eoestre, Oestre and Ostara are connected with
the modern day North American Easter celebrations/observances. Or they might be
the same goddess with different names. Ishtar was the goddess of romance,
procreation and war in ancient Babylon while a similar Saxon goddess was known
as Oestre or Eastre and in Germany there was Ostara. Signalling the end of
winter after the vernal equinox with the days growing longer and brighter,
Ostara’s presence was credited for the flowering of plants and the birth of
babies, both animal and human. Ostara was also a goddess of the dawn and the
spring and words for dawn, the shining light arising from the east are also
derivatives of her name. Since these were fertility goddesses naturally there
would be some eggs involved. Eoestre is also considered the origin of the word
estrogen, the female hormone. Her symbol is a rabbit which has a connection to
the modern-day Easter bunny. The pagans worshipped the goddess Eostre by
serving tiny cakes, often decorated with a cross at their annual spring
festival; maybe a forerunner of cross buns.
The
rabbit was supposedly the sacred animal of Ostara. Given their ability to
produce up to 42 offspring each spring, it is not surprising that rabbits are a
symbol of fertility. Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny featured in the spring
festivals of Ostara which were also held during the feasts of the goddess
Ishtar. In appreciation of Ostara's gift of rejuvenated life brightly coloured
eggs, chicks and bunnies were all used during the spring festivals. The history
of Easter Eggs as a symbol of new life should come as no surprise.
Easter,
the most important of the Christian holidays, celebrates Christ's resurrection
from the dead following his death on Good Friday and a rebirth that is commemorated
around the vernal equinox, historically a time of pagan celebration that
coincides with the arrival of spring and symbolizes the arrival of light and
the awakening of life around us.
In
ancient times in Northern Europe, eggs were a potent symbol of fertility and
often used in rituals to guarantee a woman's ability to bear children. Dyed
eggs are given as gifts in many cultures. Decorated eggs were used as a wish
for prosperity and abundance during the coming year. In anticipation that the
arrival of spring with its emerging plants and wildlife would provide them with
fresh food in abundance, it was customary for many pagans to begin fasting at
the time of the vernal equinox, clearing the "poisons" (and excess
weight) produced by the heavier winter meals that had been stored in their
bodies over the winter. This practice of fasting is probably a forerunner of
"giving up" foods during the Lenten season.
Patricia
Liverpool © April 29-2019
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