The pagan roots of Easter

[*اسلامي عزي*]

In the name of Allah our creator , god of Abraham , Moses , Jacob , Jesus and all prophets .





Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of 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 plenty of parallel, rival 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.
In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today's Vatican Hill. Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshippers and pagans who quarrelled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. What is interesting to note here is that in the ancient world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts. So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival. 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 – 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. 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 with cards, gifts and novelty Easter products, because it's fun and the ancient symbolism still works. It's always struck me that the power of nature and the longer days are often most felt in modern towns and cities, where we set off to work without putting on our car headlights and when our alarm clock goes off in the mornings, the streetlights outside are not still on because of the darkness.
What better way to celebrate, than to bite the head off the bunny goddess, go to a "sunrise service", get yourself a sticky-footed fluffy chick and stick it on your TV, whilst helping yourself to a hefty slice of pagan simnel cake? Happy Easter everyone!


the guardian.com

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Resurrected

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How to celebrate Easter in Germany ???











Christians all over the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. In Germany, Easter is known as "Ostern" and the commemoration begins a week before, on Palm Sunday, marking Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The week leading up to Easter is know as Holy Week, or "Karwoche" in German.






Pagan parallels



The pagan festival Ostara, named for the ancient Germanic goddess of fertility, was celebrated during the vernal equinox to mark the beginning of spring. Since the ritual roughly coincides with Easter - which also celebrates new life -, some of the symbolism was shared. That's how the egg and the hare, which both stand for fertility, made their way into our modern-day Easter celebrations.







While the egg as a symbol for life dates back to ancient Rome, the symbolism of the lamb is much older. The Jews of the Old Testament sacrificed unblemished lambs in religious rituals. Christians later adopted the image of the sacrificial lamb in reference to Christ's crucifixion. In Germany, lamb isn't just a main course: Sweet Easter lambs formed from cake and powdered sugar are common.







According to an early Saxon tradition, fires are lit in Germany and elsewhere in northern Europe on Easter Saturday or Sunday. In the pre-Christian spring ritual, the fire was likely meant to expel winter. In rural northern Germany, Easter bonfires are lit by official brigades or on private premises and can turn into small festivals. The fire generally burns throughout the night.

Author: Kate Müser




Main source :

dw.com /english section

[*اسلامي عزي*]

Resurrected

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2Timothy 4


3-For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears
4-And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.








Jeremiah 7 : 18


The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.