Question by Bella C <3 v3.0: Pagans: what are the pagan origins of Easter?
I’ve heard that Easter is a pagan celebration, but I dont really know much about it. Would you share with me some history/modern pagan traditions associated with Easter? thanks in advance!
Best answer:
Answer by Metalrulescob
“Easter” was stolen from Astaroth. Originally known as “Ashtar.” This holiday coincides with the Vernal Equinox of spring when day and night are of equal length. Known as “Eastre” to the Anglo-Saxons. As the Goddess of fertility, she was associated with rabbits and eggs. Other names include: Easter Eastre Eos Eostre Ester Estrus (Estrus is when an animal goes into heat; mating season) Oestrus Oistros and Ostara. Again, the “Lamb of God” was stolen from the Zodiac
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
Easter falls around the same time as the spring solstice.
It is generally recognized as a time of fertility and rebirth.
This would probably explain the eggs and rabbits.
Pagan origins of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yeah. Right.
Pagan generally means non-Christian. Easter is a combination of Spring Festivals contributed by a number of traditions.
The Catholics, rather than yank all the traditions of the pagans, incorporated the practices to have a Christian emphasis. This served a couple purposes: It didn’t force radical change upon populations, so they were more likely to convert, and it created a hook for the Christian religion because the holiday is fun.
Today, the holiday is mostly secular. This means that the traditions remain but worship is nil or diminished.
The bunny and egg are emblems used by the pagan fertility goddess Estar.
Fused into the Christan belief by the catholic organization hierarchy. With the title of their celebration Easter named after her.
People of the Christan Congregations who are not a denomination of Christendom do not take part in their celebrated. They only take part in the Memorial of the death of Jesus on the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan – Our month April the day Jesus died on.
answer: All cultures have a spring celebration. Christianity incorporated many pagan beliefs and words from the surrounding pagans of the time and those of Northern Europe when Christianity spread. One thing Christianity did very well – destroy pagan sites and build churches on top and change pagan holidays into Christian ones and turning pagan deities into demons or “saints”
Ishtar and Eostre are very close to the Christian terminology – Easter
Celebration of life rising from the slumber of winter/death – symbolized by eggs in every culture and rabbits – you know what they’re known for.
Easter historically corresponds to the Spring Equinox. In a lot of countries that use solar astrological calendars (like Iran and classical Rome) it’s the new year, representing the resurrection of the sun god.
The 20th century Wiccan/Pagan festival of Ostara (or Ostarra) was introduced in the 1950s to give their community an extra holiday at the Vernal Equinox. Most groups see it as the reunion of the god & goddess, the return of the goddess to her maiden form, and/or the resurrection of the god (born at Yule, marries at Ostara).
But the ancients who designated the date for Easter couldn’t have known about Ostarra, since it’s a 20th century invention. The ancient-pagan origin of Easter is associated with mostly Greek-Asian-Mithraic festivals celebrating the resurrection of the sun, since that’s the tradition that many 1st and 2nd century Greek Christians came out of and the cult of Mithras was huge around then.