Johnfromokc
Active Member
Do you observe it? If so, how?
I kind of like the Pagan traditions, which is where Easter originated:
http://www.nobeliefs.com/easter.htm
I kind of like the Pagan traditions, which is where Easter originated:
http://www.nobeliefs.com/easter.htm
Oestre/Easter
The name Easter derived from the Saxon Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). The ancient Saxons in Northern Europe worshiped the Goddess Oestre at the time of the Spring Equinox. The Goddess Easter represents the sunrise, spring-time and fertility, the renewal of life.
Pagan Anglo-Saxons made offerings of colored eggs to her at the Vernal Equinox. They placed them at graves especially, probably as a charm of rebirth. (Egyptians and Greeks were also known to place eggs at gravesites).
Only later did the Christians pilfer the name for themselves and graft their religion onto a pagan celebration.
The pagans of Easter celebrations did just that: celebrate. They produced an atmosphere of giving and happiness, a renewal of life. A time of sex and love. They had fun!
Good Friday and the Christian Easter, on the other hand, represents a time of morbid suffering, their minds filled with the horror of a tortured man dying on lumber for the selfish purpose of getting you into heaven, as long as you flatter God with your own insignificance and suffering. If you don't accept their beliefs, well, sorry, you go to Hell, a place of eternal torment.
The pagan Easter celebrates happiness and life. The Christian Easter consecrates suffering and death.
The pagan Easter celebrates a birthday. The Christian Easter solemnizes a funeral.
The pagans gave. The Christians sacrificed.
Fortunately Freethinkers have a choice of what to celebrate, believers don't.
I choose to celebrate the first day of spring on the day of the actual equinox, thank you