I often wondered where such Easter traditions like the Easter Bunny, Easter Eggs, and etc come from.  I found this on the Internet today.  I thought that this was rather interesting....

"OSTARA (pronounced O-STAR-ah) is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats, and is usually celebrated on the Vernal or Spring Equinox right around March 21 (although because of its origins, may instead be celebrated on the fixed date of March 25). Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Eostre's Day, Rite of Eostre, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and Lady Day. The Christian holiday of Easter is very near this same time, (notice the similarity in name?), and is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.

The name for this Sabbat actually comes from that of the Teutonic lunar Goddess, Eostre. Her chief symbols were the bunny (for fertility and because the Ancient Ones who worshipped her often saw the image of a rabbit in the full moon), and the egg (representing the cosmic egg of creation). This is where the customs of "Easter Eggs" and the "Easter Bunny" originated.

Ostara is a time to celebrate the arrival of Spring, the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming lushness of Summer. It is at this time when light and darkness are in balance, yet the light is growing stronger by the day. The forces of masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang, are also in balance at this time.

For Wiccans and Witches, Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the birth of Spring and the reawakening of life from the Earth. The energies of Nature subtly shift from the sluggishness of Winter to the exuberant expansion of Spring. Eostre, the Saxon Goddess of fertility, and Ostara, the German Goddess of fertility are the aspects invoked at this Sabbat. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood. The Goddess blankets the Earth with fertility, bursting forth from Her sleep, as the God stretches and grows to maturity. He walks the greening fields and delights in the abundance of nature."

Information gleaned from http://thunder.prohosting.com/~cbarstow/ostara.html.  

Jaclyn

-- Modified on 4/17/2003 12:13:35 PM

How was it incorporated to become one of the most important days in Christianity if the traditions predate Christ?

Most Christian holidays "predate" Christianity, just as probably most Buddhist holidays predate Buddhism, and so on.

When one culture replaces another, it seldom eradicates the old... new cultures adapt and absorb. Indeed, the Teutonic rites that give rise to Easter probably arise themselves from something even more ancient, and so on back into the Neolithic.

The "Passion" of Christ derives heavily from Dionysian myth... indeed, there are Dionysian traditions in which the god is crucified as a sacrifice to save his worshippers; it wouldn't surprise me if the Dionysian rite is itseld predated by Scythian myths.

Easter is not rendered "invalid" by being based on pagan precursors; indeed, part of its appeal historically has been its ability to subsume rather than demolish... Africa in particular is filled with examples of traditional gods being identified with Christian saints, Samedi for example. It can work in reverse, as well... some traditional modes of African worship have adopted elements of Christianity while remaining essentially "pagan", Voodoo and Santeria being classic examples.

O.

Why do most Christians put up Christmas trees? Those have a pagan origin also. The Celts or Druids, maybe?

Christianity has a long history of incorporating local pagan traditions into it, in order to make it more palatable to the people who they were trying to convert.

(Sorry so short, but I gotta run, now.)  

Laurel is quite correct. It is said that in the Book of Enoch, one of many texts taken from the Bible because of it's lack of Christian Vision, showed a strong unity between the very early Christian religion and Paganism, thus molding certain religious holidays and traditions together.

The Pagan religions of the world exsisted for thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Just by this you must assume that some aspect of their religions found their way into the teachings of Christianity.

But I shall go no further than this. I do not wish to take what is obviously an informative post and lay the ground work for taunts and flames over religion and the Bible.

Blessed Be

My previous post was strictly rhetorical. I'm well versed in the historical origins of non Christian traditions incorporated into modern Christian high days. My curiosity lies primarily in how practicing Christians justify participating in blatently pagan practices. Donning asbestos suit now.

The Egyptians treasured and worshipped evergreens. When the winter solstice arrived, they brought green date palm leaves into their homes to symbolize life's triumph over death.

The Romans celebrated the winter solstice with a fest called Saturnalia in honor of Saturnus, the god of agriculture. They decorated their houses with greens and lights and exchanged gifts.

Sometime during the Middle Ages (I'm no historian so I'll say late in the Middle Ages), Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or outside the doors as a sign of their hope for the forthcoming spring. Our modern Christmas tree evolved from these early traditions

Martin Luther is credited with beginning the "Traditional" Christmas tree decorations. Story goes that he was walking home through the forest and saw the moon and stars shining and glimmering off the snow on the branches of a small stand of pine trees.  He set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children, and decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth.

On and on to present day. Europeans have smaller trees, we Americans tend to have taller trees.

Woo hoo, only 251 shopping days left till Christmas.  Hmmm, what do I want under the tree?  Eliza Dushku, Daisy McCrackin, Alyson Hannigan, come on Santa I've been a good boy =B-]

HPG

easter has been cancelled, they found the body.

As you can see, most Christians don't know that almost all of their beloved holidays are based on ancient pagan ones..... Few Christians can condone the study of any other religion, much less the practicing of one because of the teachings of the faith.... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me, Thou shalt not bow down to any graven image... so on an so forth.  Ostara was not the only one stolen... Yule was turned into Christmas, Samhain turned into All Saints Day which later became All Hallows' Eve and later became Halloween, Beltane became May Day, and etc.....  

Okay.. I may need a fire extinguisher here.... *waiting for the flames, but with a witchy smile*

Jaclyn

-- Modified on 4/18/2003 2:20:11 AM

I agree with Ozymandias.  Celebrating Christian holidays with rituals of pagan origin that have been adopted by Christianity does not mean one is honoring the pagan gods.  I think that as long as Christians keep in mind the Christian meaning of the event they are celebrating, then it's fine.  Easter is about re-birth, whether of the Son of God or of Mother Nature.  

I dunno... I was raised stauchly Catholic, but was greatly moved by Joseph Campbell's "Power of Myth," which (as you probably know) points out the universality of human experience, which is expressed through the myths of cultures throughout the ages.

To quote Slim Pickens, "you use your tongue better than a five dollar whore".  (Blazing Saddles).

common with Jung's ideas about archetypes.  I especially love his ideas about the Hero's Journey, which explain themes as disparate as Jesus, Arthurian legends, and Star Wars.

Campbell spoke wisely when he suggested that people should "follow your bliss".

Oh am I excited about this one....I did an extensive study on it for Sociology in my college years (before my major was switched from Psychology to Business).  

The short version:  Yes, it was originally a pagan holiday as was Christmas or Winters Festival at the time.  The Catholic church tried to erradicate it, but was unsuccessful (the people refused to give up on those parties), so they deemed it a Christian holiday and cleaned it up (it was a very wild time indeed, orgies and drunkeness prevalent).  The church marked the Winters Festival as Christ's Birth (Christ's birth, although the exact date is unknown is believed to be in the spring) and integrated a lot of pagan traditions to it (for example the yule log and tree was an original pagan tradition-won't go into details).  The same holds true of Easter or Spring Festival (another post detailed some of the pagan rituals and symbols that were integrated).  It evolved to what we have today.  Christians today are unawares that many of the traditions and rituals they practice have pagan roots for the Church put their own Christian stamps on them.  

Lauren

I may be mistaken but I believe the timing of Christmas as currently celebrated was established by Constantine the Roman Emperor who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.  His decision to make Christianity the official religion of the empire had little to do with his personal faith.  He saw Christianity as a method of uniting the fragmented empire.  He scheduled Christmas at approximately the same time as an existing Roman celebration.

-- Modified on 4/18/2003 12:48:55 PM

Are you telling, L.L., that electric trains were not part of the orginal Christmas?

But was influenced by the Church, who basically made the decision for him.

Lauren

If you go to volcanoes you will often find small stacks of stones honoring the Godess Pele, who lives inside.  Hawaiians no longer really believe in her, but still they make stone piles.  And so did I when I was there.  It is part of their culture and tradition, and it is fun.  Are you going to tell then to eradicate a part of their culture?  

Eastern Europeans have elevated egg decorating to a high art.  Should we destroy the Russian Fabrege Eggs because we think they are pagan symbols now?

I decorated eggs this year, like I do every year, and some of them are masterpieces.