[006] The language machine appears to have its shortcomings.

[yousoundblue]

[audio // English]

...What's "Easter?" I had my helpmate review all the comm logs, and I understand that some people were very happy about it and it has something to do with small animals ugh but nobody actually explained what it was. My helpmate just says it's a "major Christian holiday," and what it has to say about Christianity makes no sense

Comments

[not_a_rock]

Someone told me that a giant rabbit leaves eggs for children to find, but they said it wasn't a holy animal and the eggs weren't about fertility.

Oh, and the rabbit isn't real, it's just a story for children.

It's very odd.

[yousoundblue]

[Pause.]

...Rabbits don't lay eggs. They have live birth.

[Poor Lika sounds so confused.]

[not_a_rock]

It's not supposed to lay them, it gets them... from a basket?

It makes no sense to me either.

[yousoundblue]

How would a rabbit carry a basket?

And what does it have to do with a demigod, anyway?

[wannaclap_cant]

I don't know either, but as I've heard it's religious I don't think it's going to make sense. Unless you're in direct contact with a religious group, I don't think most religious holidays make much sense!

[yousoundblue]

My helpmate says Christianity is about a man, except he was a god, and he came back from being dead--which is no big deal, honestly--and it was building on a different, older religion from the same area of the world? And my helpmate says to cross-reference "Mithraism," but it has even less information on that than it does on Christianity, and I still don't see what egg-laying rabbits have to do with anything at all.

[wannaclap_cant]

[WHOOSH.]

Perhaps you should...check in the library? I've only been up there once, but they're bound to have at least a couple books on the subject if so many people celebrated the holiday.

[yousoundblue]

Oh, yes, the place with all the physical media.

That's on Deck 09, isn't it? I can probably make it that far by now.

mimmi-muse isn't killing zeke-muse anymore!

[thenotmagician]

'S a Christian holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.

[Such a helper he is]

the major regularly arrests lika and holds her incommunicado.

[yousoundblue]

Yes. Right. What do the rabbits have to do with it?

i think our muses need to learn how to share

[thenotmagician]

It's part of the non-religious version of the holiday. To make it fun for the children, they're told a story that a giant 'Easter Bunny' comes around on Easter and hides eggs and candy if they're good. Sorta like Santa Clause.

this is the major we're talking about. it's probably not too late for mimmi, though.

[yousoundblue]

But. Why would you even think to have a giant rabbit...who lays eggs? What has that got to do with a demigod coming back from the dead?

And what's a Santa Claus?

Batou to the rescue.

[electronichound]

Easter is not an English word. It's an alternative spelling of Eostre, which was an ancient goddess of fertility. Her festival was held in the spring around the equinox, and rabbits and chickens are associated with fertility for obvious reasons, as they reproduce rapidly and are highly sexual creatures.

Christianity tacked the death and resurrection of the saviour demi-god Jesus onto the pagan festival to make their religion easier for the pagans to accept, ensuring more converts.

It is essentially a co-opted pagan fertility festival, a clever marketing ploy by early Christians to convert non-Christians to their religion.

Yay!

[yousoundblue]

Oh.

Thank you.

...Why didn't anybody say that?

Batou: B| *rides on white tachikoma*

[electronichound]

Most people don't know. Or they're Christian, so they aren't about to admit what the holiday actually is.

Lika: Your robot has a high albedo. :D

[yousoundblue]

Why is it a problem for Christians? Lots of cultures celebrate on the solstices, for instance.