SupaStar
ILLIEN
ill o.g.
The answer lies in the ingenious way that the early Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that the Pagans were reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals, they (Roman Catholic Church) simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. Basically they overlayed Christian meanings to preexisting occasions. By doing this they altered Pagan practices to their own agenda of religious conversion and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable. The name "Easter" originated with the name of the ancient Pagan fertility Goddess Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Eostre was the goddess of fertility and was also known as known Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." As an earth based practice, Paganism revered the animal world. They associated the hare (rabbit) with fertility and the animal companion of Eostre. Because rabbits reproduce so rapidly, the early Pagans associated them with fertility. So the connection between rabbits, eggs (the means of reproduction for many species) and a goddess of Spring (a time of new life and fertility) was established. They considered the egg a sacred representation of fertility as did many other ancient cultures. The ancient Babylonian religions had rituals involving dyed eggs as did the ancient Egyptians. Once again we find a situation with origins in Africa.
There are other Easter traditions that are Pagan in origin. The Easter sunrise service is straight jacked from the ancient Pagan practice of welcoming the sun on the morning of the spring equinox, marking the beginning of spring. What we now call Easter lilies were considered symbols of fertility and representative of the beef javelin, better known as the penis.
There is actually heated debate over whether the entire story of Jesus' resurrection was jacked from a story that has been accepted as several hundred years older. Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. His name was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year between March 22nd to March 25th. About 200 B.C.E. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill. Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis. He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over his resurrection.
Madddd numbers of religious historians believe that the Christian death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to the Pagans who they were attempting to convert by any means necessary. Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date as the Pagans existing festival. As a result, the Pagans and Christians used to have battle cyphers about which of their gods was the true prototype and which one was the wannabe.
Easter falls on the first Sunday on or following the spring Equinox after the full moon. The date has been calculated in this way since 325 A.C.E. Hmmmmm.....
***Pagan and Wicca religious practices are thousands of years older than Christianity. In truth they are earth based practices with no negativity associated with them. As a society we think of words like Pagan, Wicca, witches, etc. to be evil and bad. Keep in mind that the media is controlled by WASPS and there's little debate over what their agenda is in vilifying the very practices that they stole and now try to pass off as their own.
Article by Funk Wizard Snow
Editor - PhillyHipHop.com
April, 2003
There are other Easter traditions that are Pagan in origin. The Easter sunrise service is straight jacked from the ancient Pagan practice of welcoming the sun on the morning of the spring equinox, marking the beginning of spring. What we now call Easter lilies were considered symbols of fertility and representative of the beef javelin, better known as the penis.
There is actually heated debate over whether the entire story of Jesus' resurrection was jacked from a story that has been accepted as several hundred years older. Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. His name was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year between March 22nd to March 25th. About 200 B.C.E. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill. Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis. He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over his resurrection.
Madddd numbers of religious historians believe that the Christian death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus' life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to the Pagans who they were attempting to convert by any means necessary. Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date as the Pagans existing festival. As a result, the Pagans and Christians used to have battle cyphers about which of their gods was the true prototype and which one was the wannabe.
Easter falls on the first Sunday on or following the spring Equinox after the full moon. The date has been calculated in this way since 325 A.C.E. Hmmmmm.....
***Pagan and Wicca religious practices are thousands of years older than Christianity. In truth they are earth based practices with no negativity associated with them. As a society we think of words like Pagan, Wicca, witches, etc. to be evil and bad. Keep in mind that the media is controlled by WASPS and there's little debate over what their agenda is in vilifying the very practices that they stole and now try to pass off as their own.
Article by Funk Wizard Snow
Editor - PhillyHipHop.com
April, 2003
