Why I Love Easter
I love Easter. While my wife loves Easter for the chocolate, I love this holiday because I get to take advantage of Christian laziness. You see, while it is common knowledge that Christmas was stolen from the Pagan holiday of Yule or the Winter Solstice, at least the Church had the good sense to change the name. During this time of year all I really have to do is ask Christians about the meaning of the Easter. They of course start telling me about how it is the most important holiday to Christians and how Jesus died and was reborn for them. I usually have to stop them and restate the question.
“No, no,” I say, “what does the name ‘Easter’ mean?”
And the crowd goes silent and I have to explain to them that it actually comes from the Pagan Goddess Eostre. Of course many Christians don’t believe me so I have to ask them about the Easter Bunny. I don’t recall anything in the Bible talking about Jesus owning a hare. And what is the deal the Easter Eggs? Where does the Bible talk about that? Of course, the Bible doesn’t talk about Easter at all nor did Jesus have a pet Easter Bunny. In fact, the modern holiday of Easter is actually a combination of various Pagan beliefs.
For starters, the idea of death and resurrection was a common theme during this time of year. Winter is ending and Spring is the rebirth of the world. This was the idea of the half God Attis who like Jesus was born of a virgin, died on March 22nd and resurrected on March 25th. Count that one out for me. How many days was he dead for again? Three day? Just like Jesus. What a coincidence.
Then of course there is the story of the Goddess Eostre herself who the holiday is STILL named after. The story claims that the Goddess came upon a little girl who had found a dying bird. The girl asked Eostre for help because the bird was not use to the cold weather. Eostre then melted the snow and brought about the Spring. She then turned the bird into a hare that laid rainbow eggs and told the young girl to watch every year for the hare as a sign of the Spring Season. Traditionally, the Eostre Festival has always been a holiday focusing on change to mirror the changing of the seasons and fertility to mirror the new life of Spring from Winter.
While Christians have put their own story in place of the older stories their lack of imagination clearly shows that the Jesus story, like that of Attis and Eostre is fictional. Perhaps we should remember the old stories and what they symbolized. I think the idea of fertility and change are still very value to today’s society.
