Easter: Christian or Pagan? by Acharya S/D.M. Murdock In the gospel tale, there are two dates for the crucifixion: the 14th and the 15th of the month of Nisan, and within Christianity the date for Easter was debated for centuries. There continue to be two dates for Easter: the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox, thus demonstrating that this holiday is not the historical date of the actual crucifixion of a particular man. The dates are, in fact, astronomical, astrological and astrotheological.
In explaining this roving date, one "distinguished churchman," as Catholic Church historian Eusebius called him, Anatolius, revealed the meaning of Easter and of Christ, as well as the fact that astrology was a known and respected science used in Christianity. Said Anatolius:
"On this day [March 22] the sun is found not only to have reached the first sign of the Zodiac, but to be already passing through the fourth day within it. This sign is generally known as the first of the twelve, the equinoctial sign, the beginning of months, head of the cycle, and start of the planetary course.... Aristobolus adds that it is necessary at the Passover Festival that not only the sun but the moon as well should be passing through an equinoctial sign. There are two of these signs, one in spring, one in autumn, diametrically opposed to each other...."
In establishing the "Paschal festival," Church father Anatolius thus based his calculations on the positions of the sun and moon during the vernal equinox.
Ēostre From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old English Ēostre (also Ēastre) and Old High German Ôstarâ are the names of a putative Germanic goddess whose Anglo-Saxon month, Ēostur-monath, has given its name to the festival of Easter.
The Real Easter
http://zine.dal.net/previousissues/issue14/editorial-life-easter.php
The festival of Eastre was celebrated by the Pagans on the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. The Goddess was said to take the form of a Hare, so effigies of these animals were made to worship her. This, of course, is the origin of the good old Easter Bunny.
So what about those eggs? Well, the egg has been the symbol of rebirth since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks would bury eggs in the tombs of the dead as a sign of resurrection, and the egg was especially important in the Pagan Eastre festival as a symbol of nature being reborn over again. Therefore, real eggs would be decorated and given as gifts on this day.
The Easter Rabbit: Pagan Origin, Pest Control Easter Origins: Easter Rabbit, Easter Eggs By David Beaulieu,
Eastre (earlier, Eostre, derived from the Saxons' Germanic heritage) was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Our word, "east" is related to this deity's name. Her male consort was the Sun god, and the sun does rise, after all, at dawn and in the east. Rites of spring were celebrated in her honor at the vernal equinox (first day of spring). The first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was also sacred to her, and this pagan holiday was given her name -- Eastre. The full moon represented the "pregnant" phase of Eastre -- she was passing into the fertile season and giving birth to the Sun's offspring.
Eastre's symbols were the hare and the egg. Both represent fertility and, consequently, rebirth. Since rabbits are more common in most lands than hares, over time the rabbit has been substituted -- not without merit, since rabbits are notorious for their fertility. Thus was born the "Easter Rabbit" tradition.
Dyed eggs were already being used as part of pagan rituals at the dawn of history in the Near Eastern civilizations. These were the first "Easter eggs." As the traditions of the Easter Rabbit and Easter eggs evolved, they were lumped together -- somewhat incongruously. Thus in our modern Easter lore, although the Easter Rabbit is sometimes thought of as laying the Easter eggs so eagerly sought by children, the Easter Rabbit is nonetheless often regarded as male. Since rabbits don't lay eggs anyhow, I suppose quibbling over gender wouldn't make much sense.
Easter Bunny From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rabbits and hares The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility"[7] Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
The Traditions of Easter http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.
The Lenten Season
Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season.
The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.
The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.
The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.
From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Origins of the name "Easter": The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:
Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus Ashtoreth from ancient Israel Astarte from ancient Greece Demeter from Mycenae Hathor from ancient Egypt Ishtar from Assyria Kali, from India Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility. An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter". 2
There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."
It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne). 5,6 It is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420) commented "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth." Larry Boemler "Asherah and Easter," Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 18, Number 3, 1992-May/June reprinted
Is Easter PAGAN? WHERE DID WE GET LENT?
http://www.albatrus.org/english/festivals/easter/is_easter_pagan.htm
"It ought to be known," wrote Cassianus in the fifth century, "that the observance of the forty days (Lent) had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate."
Jesus observed no Lent. The apostles and the early true Church of God observed no Lenten season. Then how did this observance originate?
"The forty days' abstinence of the Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, 'in the spring of the year,' is still observed by the Yezidis or pagan Devil worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent was held by the pagan Mexicans, in honor of the sun.... Such Lent was observed in Egypt (Wilkinson's Egyptians). This Egyptian Lent of forty days was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god." (the Two Babylons, by Hislop, pages 104 and 105, and Sabean Researches, by Landseer, p. 112).
Do you realize what has happened? God Almighty commanded His people to observe the PASSOVER FOREVER! (Exo 12:24). This command was given while the Israelites were still in Egypt, prior to the Old Covenant, or the Law or Moses! It pictured, before the Crucifixion, Christ's death for the remission of our sins. At His last Passover, Jesus changed the emblems used, from the blood of a lamb and eating it's roasted body, to the bread and wine.
Jesus did not abolish Passover ....He merely CHANGED the emblems, or symbols used. All of the apostles of Christ, and the true Christians of the first century true Church, observed it. On the 14th day, of the first month, of the sacred calendar. It is now a MEMORIAL of Christ's death. Reaffirming, year by year, on it's anniversary, the true Christian's FAITH in the blood of Christ for the remission of sin, and the broken body of Christ for physical healing.
But what has happened? DO YOU REALIZE IT? All western nations have been deceived into dropping the festival God ordained forever to commemorate the death of the true Saviour for our sins, and substituting in its place the PAGAN festival, commemorating the counterfeit "saviour" and mediator of Baal, the SUN GOD, named after the mythical Ishtar, his wife ..actually, none other than the ancient Semirimus, who palmed herself off as the wife of the sun-god, the idolatrous "QUEEN OF HEAVEN."
THIS is NOT Christian! IT IS PAGAN TO THE CORE!
Yet scores of millions of Americans are deceived into observing this form of heathen idolatry, under the delusion they are honoring Jesus Christ the Son of the Heavenly Father!
Easter does not honor Christ! And yet, have you not been, like a blind sheep, following the other millions in this customs? "The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth to come to repentance." (Acts 17:30)
Hot Cross Buns and Dyed Eggs
But, did you know the hot cross buns, and dyed Easter eggs also figured in the idolatrous Chaldean rites, just as they do in Easter observance today?
Yes, these are pagan, too. The "buns," known by that identical name, were used in the worship of the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, 1500 years before Christ. (The Two Babylons pgs 107-108).
"One species of sacred bread, which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun," says Bryant, Mythology, Vol. 1, p. 373.
It will astonish you, but it's true! One of the reasons God drove the Jews into Babylonian captivity was this very idolatry; their whole families joined in this idolatrous worship, in making and offering HOT CROSS BUNS!
Read the entire 7th chapter of Jeremiah. Here you will find God's stern sentence upon Judah, thru Jeremiah the prophet, "If you really amend your life and doings," God warns them, "I will allow you to remain in this place (Palestine) for a time." But they would not listen. Then " I will cast you out of my sight," says God to Judah. And to Jeremiah He says, " Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah...?
"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, TO MAKE CAKES TO THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN... that they may provoke me to anger.... Therefore thus saith the Eternal God: Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, upon beast... and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched." (Verse 18-20)
The Hebrew word for "cakes" as Jeremiah originally wrote it is "kavvan," and really means "BUNS." The word "bun," says Hislop, seems to have been derived from this word. It is used nowhere else in the Bible, except Jeremiah 44:19, where again, the same idolatrous worship to the queen of the heaven is mentioned. Every other place in the Bible where the English word "cakes' is used, a different Hebrew word was used in the original.
Jeremiah was referring to HOT CROSS BUNS--- exactly the same kind hundreds of you who read this have been buying and eating at "Easter season!"
The origin of the Easter egg is just as clear. It is recorded in Davies' Druids, p. 208, that the ancient Druids bore an egg as the sacred emblem of their idolatrous order. On p. 207, same history, it is recorded that in the mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, part of the idolatrous ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. Hindu fables celebrate their mundane egg as of a golden color. It has been ancient customs in Japan to make their sacred egg a hard brazen color. In China, dyed or painted eggs are used on "sacred" heathen festivals. In the idolatry of ancient Egypt and Greece, eggs were used in their religious rites.
Christ, Constantine, Sol Invictus: the Unconquerable Sun
By Ralph Monday
Christian Overlays of Easter
Many ancient cultures celebrated the resurrection of the god at the vernal equinox. The ancients, not having any recourse to modern science, saw the rebirth of life in the spring after the death of winter as a spiritual and holy phenomenon, and invariably connected the rebirth of life with the resurrection of a deity, the archetypal symbolism once again readily apparent. The name Easter is derived from a pagan fertility goddess (either Eastre, or Eostre) that the Saxons of Northern Europe held a festival to her at the vernal equinox in order to celebrate the "resurrection" of life in the spring. Second century Christian missionaries found political expedience in making Saxons easier to convert to Christianity by renaming the celebration of Christ's resurrection Easter which always falls after the vernal equinox (Origins of Easter). Other scholars accept the derivation put forth by the English scholar St. Bede where the name Easter is believed to originate in the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre." Both of these names of mythological goddesses archetypally symbolize spring and fertility and their festival, too, was observed on the day of the vernal equinox (Story of Easter). In addition, reaching even further back in time to the Sumerian civilization, Ishtar, another fertility goddess whose name can be pronounced "Easter," was honored on a day commemorating the resurrection of a dying and reborn god named Tammuz; he was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon goddess and the sun god (Pagan Origin of Easter). The underlying scientific explanation, of course, is that at the vernal equinox the sun is directly over the equator apparently moving northward from an earth based vantage point, and will soon be "born again" into the northern hemisphere as the light increasingly floods the earth with longer days, more warmth, and the return of vegetation from its dormant or "dead" state, a clear connection of journeys to, and return from, the underworld. Again, the dominant idea is the link to the sun as the giver and protector of life, the "savior" of the world.
In order to reinforce the above information in regard to the incorporation of Easter into Catholicism, one final point must be made, that of the establishment of the Easter observance date, for this "moveable feast" was a problem and sometime embarrassment to the church as the festival was often celebrated on different dates in the ancient world. Churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday, after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox, so once again we must look to the heavens to determine the proper festival dates of the god(s).
Before 325 C.E. Easter could be celebrated on different days of the week; these included Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Again, the lack of solidarity among the churches of the ancient world created a schism in the power of the church. Constantine called the Council of Nicea in 325, the first great ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, where not only the Arian controversy concerning the nature of Christ was resolved, but the date of Easter was finally firmly established. This was called the "Easter rule," and the festival is always celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 (Tian et. al. 8). This, of course, contributed to a much more unified empire in the far flung borders of Constantine's reign.
Constantine did not want Easter to be celebrated on the Jewish Passover for he believed and stated that it was a Christian "duty to have nothing in common with the murderers of our Lord," (Nicea Ruling…) most certainly an anti-Semitic view. Now, with the date of Easter firmly established, the church after the fall of the Roman Empire grew enormously in power and prestige over the majority of Western Europe, which leads to the final absorption of the ancient sun archetype into the church in the symbol of artistic halos.
In explaining this roving date, one "distinguished churchman," as Catholic Church historian Eusebius called him, Anatolius, revealed the meaning of Easter and of Christ, as well as the fact that astrology was a known and respected science used in Christianity. Said Anatolius:
"On this day [March 22] the sun is found not only to have reached the first sign of the Zodiac, but to be already passing through the fourth day within it. This sign is generally known as the first of the twelve, the equinoctial sign, the beginning of months, head of the cycle, and start of the planetary course.... Aristobolus adds that it is necessary at the Passover Festival that not only the sun but the moon as well should be passing through an equinoctial sign. There are two of these signs, one in spring, one in autumn, diametrically opposed to each other...."
In establishing the "Paschal festival," Church father Anatolius thus based his calculations on the positions of the sun and moon during the vernal equinox.
Ēostre From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Old English Ēostre (also Ēastre) and Old High German Ôstarâ are the names of a putative Germanic goddess whose Anglo-Saxon month, Ēostur-monath, has given its name to the festival of Easter.
The Real Easter
http://zine.dal.net/previousissues/issue14/editorial-life-easter.php
The festival of Eastre was celebrated by the Pagans on the vernal equinox, the first day of spring. The Goddess was said to take the form of a Hare, so effigies of these animals were made to worship her. This, of course, is the origin of the good old Easter Bunny.
So what about those eggs? Well, the egg has been the symbol of rebirth since ancient times. The Egyptians and Greeks would bury eggs in the tombs of the dead as a sign of resurrection, and the egg was especially important in the Pagan Eastre festival as a symbol of nature being reborn over again. Therefore, real eggs would be decorated and given as gifts on this day.
The Easter Rabbit: Pagan Origin, Pest Control Easter Origins: Easter Rabbit, Easter Eggs By David Beaulieu,
Eastre (earlier, Eostre, derived from the Saxons' Germanic heritage) was the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of dawn, spring and fertility. Our word, "east" is related to this deity's name. Her male consort was the Sun god, and the sun does rise, after all, at dawn and in the east. Rites of spring were celebrated in her honor at the vernal equinox (first day of spring). The first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox was also sacred to her, and this pagan holiday was given her name -- Eastre. The full moon represented the "pregnant" phase of Eastre -- she was passing into the fertile season and giving birth to the Sun's offspring.
Eastre's symbols were the hare and the egg. Both represent fertility and, consequently, rebirth. Since rabbits are more common in most lands than hares, over time the rabbit has been substituted -- not without merit, since rabbits are notorious for their fertility. Thus was born the "Easter Rabbit" tradition.
Dyed eggs were already being used as part of pagan rituals at the dawn of history in the Near Eastern civilizations. These were the first "Easter eggs." As the traditions of the Easter Rabbit and Easter eggs evolved, they were lumped together -- somewhat incongruously. Thus in our modern Easter lore, although the Easter Rabbit is sometimes thought of as laying the Easter eggs so eagerly sought by children, the Easter Rabbit is nonetheless often regarded as male. Since rabbits don't lay eggs anyhow, I suppose quibbling over gender wouldn't make much sense.
Easter Bunny From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rabbits and hares The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility"[7] Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity. Since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring, these became symbols of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox.
The Traditions of Easter http://wilstar.com/holidays/easter.htm
Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.
The Lenten Season
Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season.
The Easter Bunny
The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.
The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.
The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.
From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of birth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Origins of the name "Easter": The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:
Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus Ashtoreth from ancient Israel Astarte from ancient Greece Demeter from Mycenae Hathor from ancient Egypt Ishtar from Assyria Kali, from India Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility. An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter". 2
There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."
It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne). 5,6 It is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420) commented "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth." Larry Boemler "Asherah and Easter," Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 18, Number 3, 1992-May/June reprinted
Is Easter PAGAN? WHERE DID WE GET LENT?
http://www.albatrus.org/english/festivals/easter/is_easter_pagan.htm
"It ought to be known," wrote Cassianus in the fifth century, "that the observance of the forty days (Lent) had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate."
Jesus observed no Lent. The apostles and the early true Church of God observed no Lenten season. Then how did this observance originate?
"The forty days' abstinence of the Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess. Such a Lent of forty days, 'in the spring of the year,' is still observed by the Yezidis or pagan Devil worshippers of Koordistan, who have inherited it from their early masters, the Babylonians. Such a Lent was held by the pagan Mexicans, in honor of the sun.... Such Lent was observed in Egypt (Wilkinson's Egyptians). This Egyptian Lent of forty days was held expressly in commemoration of Adonis or Osiris, the great mediatorial god." (the Two Babylons, by Hislop, pages 104 and 105, and Sabean Researches, by Landseer, p. 112).
Do you realize what has happened? God Almighty commanded His people to observe the PASSOVER FOREVER! (Exo 12:24). This command was given while the Israelites were still in Egypt, prior to the Old Covenant, or the Law or Moses! It pictured, before the Crucifixion, Christ's death for the remission of our sins. At His last Passover, Jesus changed the emblems used, from the blood of a lamb and eating it's roasted body, to the bread and wine.
Jesus did not abolish Passover ....He merely CHANGED the emblems, or symbols used. All of the apostles of Christ, and the true Christians of the first century true Church, observed it. On the 14th day, of the first month, of the sacred calendar. It is now a MEMORIAL of Christ's death. Reaffirming, year by year, on it's anniversary, the true Christian's FAITH in the blood of Christ for the remission of sin, and the broken body of Christ for physical healing.
But what has happened? DO YOU REALIZE IT? All western nations have been deceived into dropping the festival God ordained forever to commemorate the death of the true Saviour for our sins, and substituting in its place the PAGAN festival, commemorating the counterfeit "saviour" and mediator of Baal, the SUN GOD, named after the mythical Ishtar, his wife ..actually, none other than the ancient Semirimus, who palmed herself off as the wife of the sun-god, the idolatrous "QUEEN OF HEAVEN."
THIS is NOT Christian! IT IS PAGAN TO THE CORE!
Yet scores of millions of Americans are deceived into observing this form of heathen idolatry, under the delusion they are honoring Jesus Christ the Son of the Heavenly Father!
Easter does not honor Christ! And yet, have you not been, like a blind sheep, following the other millions in this customs? "The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth to come to repentance." (Acts 17:30)
Hot Cross Buns and Dyed Eggs
But, did you know the hot cross buns, and dyed Easter eggs also figured in the idolatrous Chaldean rites, just as they do in Easter observance today?
Yes, these are pagan, too. The "buns," known by that identical name, were used in the worship of the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens, 1500 years before Christ. (The Two Babylons pgs 107-108).
"One species of sacred bread, which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun," says Bryant, Mythology, Vol. 1, p. 373.
It will astonish you, but it's true! One of the reasons God drove the Jews into Babylonian captivity was this very idolatry; their whole families joined in this idolatrous worship, in making and offering HOT CROSS BUNS!
Read the entire 7th chapter of Jeremiah. Here you will find God's stern sentence upon Judah, thru Jeremiah the prophet, "If you really amend your life and doings," God warns them, "I will allow you to remain in this place (Palestine) for a time." But they would not listen. Then " I will cast you out of my sight," says God to Judah. And to Jeremiah He says, " Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah...?
"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, TO MAKE CAKES TO THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN... that they may provoke me to anger.... Therefore thus saith the Eternal God: Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, upon beast... and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched." (Verse 18-20)
The Hebrew word for "cakes" as Jeremiah originally wrote it is "kavvan," and really means "BUNS." The word "bun," says Hislop, seems to have been derived from this word. It is used nowhere else in the Bible, except Jeremiah 44:19, where again, the same idolatrous worship to the queen of the heaven is mentioned. Every other place in the Bible where the English word "cakes' is used, a different Hebrew word was used in the original.
Jeremiah was referring to HOT CROSS BUNS--- exactly the same kind hundreds of you who read this have been buying and eating at "Easter season!"
The origin of the Easter egg is just as clear. It is recorded in Davies' Druids, p. 208, that the ancient Druids bore an egg as the sacred emblem of their idolatrous order. On p. 207, same history, it is recorded that in the mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, part of the idolatrous ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. Hindu fables celebrate their mundane egg as of a golden color. It has been ancient customs in Japan to make their sacred egg a hard brazen color. In China, dyed or painted eggs are used on "sacred" heathen festivals. In the idolatry of ancient Egypt and Greece, eggs were used in their religious rites.
Christ, Constantine, Sol Invictus: the Unconquerable Sun
By Ralph Monday
Christian Overlays of Easter
Many ancient cultures celebrated the resurrection of the god at the vernal equinox. The ancients, not having any recourse to modern science, saw the rebirth of life in the spring after the death of winter as a spiritual and holy phenomenon, and invariably connected the rebirth of life with the resurrection of a deity, the archetypal symbolism once again readily apparent. The name Easter is derived from a pagan fertility goddess (either Eastre, or Eostre) that the Saxons of Northern Europe held a festival to her at the vernal equinox in order to celebrate the "resurrection" of life in the spring. Second century Christian missionaries found political expedience in making Saxons easier to convert to Christianity by renaming the celebration of Christ's resurrection Easter which always falls after the vernal equinox (Origins of Easter). Other scholars accept the derivation put forth by the English scholar St. Bede where the name Easter is believed to originate in the Scandinavian "Ostra" and the Teutonic "Ostern" or "Eastre." Both of these names of mythological goddesses archetypally symbolize spring and fertility and their festival, too, was observed on the day of the vernal equinox (Story of Easter). In addition, reaching even further back in time to the Sumerian civilization, Ishtar, another fertility goddess whose name can be pronounced "Easter," was honored on a day commemorating the resurrection of a dying and reborn god named Tammuz; he was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon goddess and the sun god (Pagan Origin of Easter). The underlying scientific explanation, of course, is that at the vernal equinox the sun is directly over the equator apparently moving northward from an earth based vantage point, and will soon be "born again" into the northern hemisphere as the light increasingly floods the earth with longer days, more warmth, and the return of vegetation from its dormant or "dead" state, a clear connection of journeys to, and return from, the underworld. Again, the dominant idea is the link to the sun as the giver and protector of life, the "savior" of the world.
In order to reinforce the above information in regard to the incorporation of Easter into Catholicism, one final point must be made, that of the establishment of the Easter observance date, for this "moveable feast" was a problem and sometime embarrassment to the church as the festival was often celebrated on different dates in the ancient world. Churches in the West celebrate Easter on the first Sunday, after the first full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox, so once again we must look to the heavens to determine the proper festival dates of the god(s).
Before 325 C.E. Easter could be celebrated on different days of the week; these included Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Again, the lack of solidarity among the churches of the ancient world created a schism in the power of the church. Constantine called the Council of Nicea in 325, the first great ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, where not only the Arian controversy concerning the nature of Christ was resolved, but the date of Easter was finally firmly established. This was called the "Easter rule," and the festival is always celebrated on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 (Tian et. al. 8). This, of course, contributed to a much more unified empire in the far flung borders of Constantine's reign.
Constantine did not want Easter to be celebrated on the Jewish Passover for he believed and stated that it was a Christian "duty to have nothing in common with the murderers of our Lord," (Nicea Ruling…) most certainly an anti-Semitic view. Now, with the date of Easter firmly established, the church after the fall of the Roman Empire grew enormously in power and prestige over the majority of Western Europe, which leads to the final absorption of the ancient sun archetype into the church in the symbol of artistic halos.
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