Question by Rick: In view of this, why are people celebrating easter?
The Encyclopædia Britannica comments: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians.”—(1910), Vol. VIII, p. 828.
The Catholic Encyclopedia tells us: “A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.”—(1913), Vol. V, p. 227.
In the book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, we read: “What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, . . . as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now.”—(New York, 1943), pp. 103, 107, 108; compare Jeremiah 7:18.
Best answer:
Answer by katie_orlandoarogorn
Chocolate!!! and work is closed on sunday so good times
Add your own answer in the comments!
because Richard – Catholics CHRISTIANS in general are not as perfect as you and we need to be reminded of the life and death of our Saviour. How HE went through hell and back to enrich our lives. Why would there be a mention of Easter in the NT – Jesus hadn’t died yet AND there were people STILL walking about knowing celebrating and being with His apostles and disciples.
i’m sorry you don’t know God or want to rejoice in all that HE has given us. you know we didn’t know when my grandpa was born so we picked a day that seemed right – due to the farm and what he remembered. BTW do you only copy and paste??? Chaldeans are CHristians (generally speaking) so i’m sure some of their traditions HAVE filtered down. I’m Polish and mine have?!?!?
Regardless of the pagan attachments, Easter is a holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ. The pagan facets of the holiday speak volumes about the history of Christianity. You’ll notice that Easter is not the only important Christian holiday with deep pagan ties. Christmas is celebrated around the winter solstice and shares common traits with the Sol Invictus celebrations of older pagan religions. The Christmas tree and the yule log, in particular, are Germanic pagan traditions. These connections show how Christianity evolved as a grass-roots religion, arriving in communities all around the known world at about the same time, where Christian holidays were often tailored to be more like traditional pagan celebrations. People were attached to their age-old practices and simply adapted the Christian holidays to fit them. The hybrid traditions associated with Easter and Christmas are representative of some very interesting religious trends in the early middle ages.
Because at the heart of it, it’s about celebrating the renewal of life, for pagans and Christians alike. It appeals to people on a level that goes even deeper than religion. It’s part of the human experience, and the justification of hope.