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Am I the only one who had wondered for years just who
the Easter Bunny is, where he came from and what his
significance is to Jesus' resurrection?
The answer lies in the ingenious way that the early
Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering
that the Pagans were reluctant to give up their holidays
and festivals, they (Roman Catholic Church) simply incorporated
Pagan practices into Christian festivals. Basically
they overlayed Christian meanings to preexisting occasions.
By doing this they altered Pagan practices to their
own agenda of religious conversion and by doing so,
made Christianity more palatable. The name "Easter"
originated with the name of the ancient Pagan fertility
Goddess Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother
Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Eostre
was the goddess of fertility and was also known as known
Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra,
Eastur, Austron and Ausos." As an earth based practice,
Paganism revered the animal world. They associated the
hare (rabbit) with fertility and the animal companion
of Eostre. Because rabbits reproduce so rapidly, the
early Pagans associated them with fertility. So the
connection between rabbits, eggs (the means of reproduction
for many species) and a goddess of Spring (a time of
new life and fertility) was established. They considered
the egg a sacred representation of fertility as did
many other ancient cultures. The ancient Babylonian
religions had rituals involving dyed eggs as did the
ancient Egyptians. Once again we find a situation with
origins in Africa.
There are other Easter traditions that are Pagan in
origin. The Easter sunrise service is straight jacked
from the ancient Pagan practice of welcoming the sun
on the morning of the spring equinox, marking the beginning
of spring. What we now call Easter lilies were considered
symbols of fertility and representative of the beef
javelin, better known as the penis.
There is actually heated debate over whether the entire
story of Jesus' resurrection was jacked from a story
that has been accepted as several hundred years older.
Pagan 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 fictional consort who was believed to have been
born via a virgin birth. His name was Attis, who was
believed to have died and been resurrected each year
between March 22nd to March 25th. About 200 B.C.E. 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. 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 his resurrection.
Madddd numbers of religious historians believe that
the Christian 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
to the Pagans who they were attempting to convert by
any means necessary. Wherever Christian worship of Jesus
and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical
area in ancient times, Christians used to celebrate
the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date
as the Pagans existing festival. As a result, the Pagans
and Christians used to have battle cyphers about which
of their gods was the true prototype and which one was
the wannabe.
Easter falls on the first Sunday on or following the
spring Equinox after the full moon. The date has been
calculated in this way since 325 A.C.E. Hmmmmm.....
***Pagan and Wicca religious practices are thousands
of years older than Christianity. In truth they are
earth based practices with no negativity associated
with them. As a society we think of words like Pagan,
Wicca, witches, etc. to be evil and bad. Keep in mind
that the media is controlled by WASPS and there's little
debate over what their agenda is in vilifying the very
practices that they stole and now try to pass off as
their own.
Give
us your feedback of the origins of Easter right here
Article by Funk Wizard Snow
Editor- PhillyHipHop.com
April, 2003
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