Easter

In 325 CE, the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox.

From that point forward, the Easter date depended on the ecclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox.

Easter is a Pagan festival, it really is as simple as that.

While Pagans are celebrating the Spring Equinox, religious culture celebrates the resurrection. 

However, early Christianity accepted ancient pagan practises, most of which most people practice today at Easter. 

The death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. 

There were a lot of other resurrected saviours too.

The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. 

One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. 

Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. 

Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. 

Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.

It’s all about the resurrection.

Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering "sunrise services" at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration. 

The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – that’s pretty much Pagan.

And there are all the familiar things about Easter are certainly Pagan. 

Bunnies are from the pagan festival of Eostre, a great northern goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. 

Exchange of eggs is an ancient custom, celebrated by many cultures. 

Hot cross buns are very ancient too. In the Old Testament we see the Israelites baking sweet buns for an idol, and religious leaders trying to put a stop to it. 

The early church clergy also tried to put a stop to sacred cakes being baked at Easter. 

In the end, in the face of defiant cake-baking Pagan women, they gave up and blessed the cake instead.

Easter is essentially a pagan festival which is celebrated in churches for totally different reasons than they were originally were honored.

Easter - Almost Here

Okay, let's just say it.

Easter is a pagan festival, it isn't really about Jesus.

Today, we see a secular society celebrating the spring equinox, while religious folks celebrate the resurrection. 

However, early Christianity made a decision to accept the ancient pagan celebration known today as Easter, that's what we have today.

The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross, the Winter Solstice ) and the rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a story in the ancient world. 

What is interesting to note here is that in the old world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts. So, eventually Christianity came to accept the pagan Spring festival. 

Although we see no celebration of Easter mentioned in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering "sunrise services" at Easter which is an obvious pagan solar celebration. 

The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – how pagan is that?

All the fun things about Easter are pagan. Bunnies are a leftover from the pagan festival of Eostre, a great northern goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. 

Exchange of eggs is an ancient custom, celebrated by many cultures. 

Easter is essentially a pagan festival which is now celebrated with cards, gifts and novelty Easter products, because it's fun and the ancient symbolism is still popular.

What better way to celebrate, than to bite the head off the chocolate bunny goddess, or helping yourself to a piece of pagan simnel cake? 

Happy Easter everyone!

As Spring Approaches

As Spring grows near and Easter on the way soon, we want to share another member of our family.

As it turns out Easter actually began as a pagan festival celebrating spring in the Northern Hemisphere, long before the advent of Christianity. 

Since pre-historic times, people have celebrated the equinoxes and the solstices as sacred times.

The spring equinox is a day where the amount of dark and the amount of daylight is exactly identical, so you can tell that you're emerging from winter because the daylight and the dark have come back into balance.

People mapped their whole life according to the patterns of nature.

But how do bunnies fit in to all this?

The obvious one—a rabbit's foot is said to bring good luck to those who carry it, although one might argue that it's not so lucky for the rabbit.

So, no rabbits foot for us, we want them to keep all their feet.

How about this, to bring yourself boundless energy, carry a talisman engraved or painted with a rabbit's image?

If you have wild rabbits that live in your yard, leave them an offering of lettuce, shredded carrots, cabbage, or other fresh greens. In some magical traditions, the wild rabbit is associated with Gods of Spring.

Rabbits and hares are able to go to ground quickly if in danger. Add a few rabbit hairs to a Witches bottle for protection magic.

In some legends, rabbits and hares are the messengers of the 
underworld— after all, they come and go out of the earth as they please. If you're doing a meditation that involves an underworld journey, call upon the rabbit to be your guide.

A Lesson About Easter and Jesus

Jaddeus Dempsey, a pastor at a church in Ohio invited kids to physically abuse him  in order to teach them a lesson about Easter and Jesus. 

Dempsey told students that anyone who wanted to spit in his face, slap him or cut him with a steak knife that he had provided could do so without repercussions. Students took him up on the offer, with many of the youths recording their actions on their cellphones. The students were “excited” to spit on Dempsey and one cut him on the neck.

Video of the kids spitting on him, slapping him, and (yes) cutting his back with a steak knife soon made its way to social media. 

The church is trying to defend this horrific gospel lesson.

The church said Dempsey wanted to explain to them about this guy named Jesus, who thousands of years ago, he was put on trial for a crime he didn’t commit. And he was beaten. He was broken. He was whipped. He was crucified, and he died as an innocent man… He chose to allow it to happen…Dempsey’s illustration was meant to share that message of love.

We aren’t going to show the video here, but if you really want to see this, we have the link...

But we warn you, it’s disturbing.

WATCH HERE

Easter and Bunnies

Happy Easter

 

Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection, all of them in fact...