Easter Stories Food Recipes Cooking International Guide
Easter Stories And Pagan Myths
By Katerina Octanova
In North American culture, Easter is considered a Christian celebration,
with the Easter stories circling around the figure of Jesus and
the Last Supper with His disciples, His trial and crucifixion,
and His resurrection.
But it’s not always acknowledged that just like Christmas, the
origin of Easter lies in a murkier realm. The Christian veneer
was actually placed over much earlier pagan celebrations. Many
cultures in the world have engaged in spring equinox fertility
festivals to welcome the stirrings of growth, and the church took
advantage of that fact.
The Spring Equinox
Long before Easter became one of the Christian holidays, the
spring equinox was when many cultures acknowledged the return
of vegetative growth. This was generally associated with the revival
of a god of vegetation, or occasionally a goddess, who had died
somewhere between mid-summer and the autumn equinox.
Sometimes, as in the Christian account of Easter, the god was
resurrected on his own, while in other tales, he was reborn through
the mating of a god and goddess. Other ancient peoples, such as
the Phrygians, "woke up" their sleeping god with music
and dancing in the spring.
The Dying And Resurrecting God
The myth of the dying and resurrecting god was familiar in Israel
and its environs long before such stories funneled into the Easter
stories of the church. The goddess Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess
prevalent in Canaan, with correspondences to others like the Babylonian
Ishtar, the Phrygian Cybele, or the most popular goddess of all,
Isis of Egypt.
These goddesses all had divine lovers who died and resurrected,
connected with the fertility of spring. These myths may have been
the real origin of Easter, with the figure of Jesus substituting
for the dying god, and the former goddess turned instead into
His mother, who now played a lesser role.
Jewish Passover Is Also In The Spring
It was easy for the early church to dovetail its Easter stories
with the myths and festivals existing in its early days. The death
and resurrection story of Jesus Christ was intimately linked to
the Jewish Passover feast, which also takes place in the spring.
The church hasn’t managed to eliminate all pagan elements from
the celebration, though. Easter eggs, for example, clearly remain
connected to ancient ideas of fertility, and the name "Easter"
itself may originate with Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess.
But for the most part, the church has taken the ancient fertility
ritual and reshaped it into a primarily Christian story.
About the Author:
Katerina Octanova has written a number of articles on food and
cooking including Christmas
Gift Baskets, The
Christmas, Christmas,
Santa
Claus, Christmas
Hamper, Christmas
Party, Christmas
Gift For The Office, Christmas
Gift Idea For Family.
Keep a lookout for more of her articles on this website.
Did You Know?
Why do people celebrate Christian Easter?
You may not know it but Christian Easter
is the oldest Christian holiday celebrated. People celebrate this
day to honor their faith and their belief in Jesus Christ. The
Christian Bible teaches its followers that Jesus was the savior
of mankind.
It also marked the end of following the
Old Testaments rules and practices and ushered in a new era of
teachings. These teachings set forth by Jesus dictated how Christians
were to treat each other and themselves.
Jesus also taught that only through his
self-sacrifice of dying on the cross could mankind be saved and
enters Heaven. That is why on Easter Sunday people celebrate the
fact that Christ defeated death and rose to show his followers
that he truly was the Son of God.
RECOMMENDED READING
|
