Question by Jerk Water: Why did Christianity steal the Pagan rites of Easter?
Easter was originally (and still is) a celebration of the fertility of the earth, renewed each springtime. The egg, the chick, the rabbit, the flowers, are all fertility symbols (and much older than the Christian symbol of the resurrected god). Its celebration has often been marked by sexual exuberance, as is still prominent in the pre-Lenten Carneval and Mardi Gras festivals and the phallic symbolism of the May pole
Long before Jesus, many peoples associated this festival with the coming back to life of the god of fertility (Tammuz – see Ezek 8:14, Adonis, Osiris, Perseus, Orpheus), who had been dead in the underworld during the winter. Even the name by which Christians still celebrate the festival is a corruption of the name of the ancient fertility goddess Ishtar
Best answer:
Answer by geis8
What is easter?
What do you think? Answer below!
Everything is intertextual. Religions evolve, they don’t necessarily steal.
Same reason they stole the Pagan rites of Yule.
It was easier to convert people to celebrate a holiday they were already celebrating.
To make it easier for the local Pagans to convert, I’d assume. The Church let them keep their customs when the people would convert probably to keep them happy.
Equinox is still a few weeks away, but I hope you have a good one. 🙂
They didn’t steal it, they merged it. It was not Christianity that did it though, it was Catholicism under the leadership of Constantine.
does any of it matter? who cares?
i mean, who??
To convert the pagans to Christianity. Halloween, Christmas, and Easter were all converted pagan holidays.
Thank goodness you didn’t mention the spurious goddess Eostre, that abomination invented by the lacklustre authors of Llewellyn publishers.
Don’t disagree with you, but the dying and resurrecting god theme isn’t new, as you say, Jesus is just another example, which Paul misunderstood and built a whole new religion around.
You could, if you were feeling ecumenical, say that there are only so many universal themes, therefore commonality of thought isn’t that unusual, and there are only so many days in the year, so some overlap is inevitable..
Neo-pagans harp on too much about this, (and I’ve been a neo-pagan for 20 years +) and Christians woefully misunderstand the origins of their own faith….and its universal and historical themes.
Halcon
Christians want to hunt for eggs too.
Dont be a hater……pagans should know better!
Not just Easter but Christmas as well.
What isn’t a Pagan rite or celebration?
Seriously, you can’t even take a sh** without being accused of stealing a Pagan rite.
Anyway though, Christians don’t celebrate bunnies, or eggs, or flowers at Easter time. Some Christians may, but they understand they’re celebrating the commercial aspect of Easter, not the Christian aspect.
Pretty much for the same reason they hijacked Christmas (Yule) from the pagans: they couldn’t get the people to stop celebrating it, so they incorporated their own Christian symbolism into it.
I believe that was the work of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome was particularly well known in its conquering days for incorporating the existing religions of conquered territories into the favoured religion(s) of Rome. As I understand it, they believed that each land has its own spirits, and that they were manifestations of deities already believed in. Though Rome converted to Catholocism, and one God, it seems the basic nature of conquest worked the same. Incorporate existing festivals and beliefs, and there will be less resistance.
Honestly, I have no idea why the christians stole Easter from the pagans. if you ask me, they kinda stole alot of stuff. but wats important is you still celebrate the holiday of your god (or in this case goddesses =D Wicca rules).
You are completely correct and I think it was a huge mistake of the early church to attempt this ridiculousness. They should have just stuck with the date of the Jewish Passover and called it Annual Communion or something.
You are so correct with your insight, and you make a good point in your observation.
Thank you for being observant in your readings. A lot of people don’t even stop to ponder what is really being said in God’s messages.
God was showing Ezekiel that many people were no longer worshiping the true God of life and vegetation. We must also be careful not to spend so much time thinking about the benefits of creation that we lose sight of the Creator.
Satan – oh anti good one – wow who said I waste too much time on YA
I have learned something I would never have thought was true if it wasn’t for all the thumbs up
Thank you for making all this Christianity stuff so much clearer for me – your question has just opened up a new world of skepticism for me. It explains the Masons too and why the Church created fear around them too.
Sorry about stealing your holiday. I genuinely didn’t know that and I thank you.
Christian holidays are derived from and occur near pagan holidays. It’s the basic “If you can’t beat them join them” or “divide and conquer” strategy. The Christians when trying to convert the European population, made their holidays coincide with those of the pagans. Halloween (All Hallows Eve), Christmas and Easter all have pagan influences.
-Halloween is the Celtic festival of Sam’hain repackaged. Many Christians in the US don’t participate. More of a commercial holiday. In Mexico “Day of the Dead” is celebrated on Nov 1, a similar Aztec holiday corresponds.
-Chistmas (Yule) Scandinavian origin. Mistletoe, wreaths, evergreen trees, yule logs, and father winter (aka Santa Claus) have pagan beginnings.
-The rabbit, eggs, flowers. All symbols of fertility that are associated with springtime in the old pagan religions.
VERY interesting to look up the origins of the holidays we celebrate. It’s good to know a lot of our old culture still survives in them.
They’ve also convinced themselves that Jesus was the Paschal lamb and thus a sin offering.
Which rather thoroughly ignores the fact that the Pesach lamb never had anything to do with sin offerings.
But why let facts get in the way?
Anything for a buck…