So today was the day that most of us celebrate the fact that one day the goddess Eostre decided it was time for some trolling IRL and turned a bird into a hare ... only it still laid eggs
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Eh, the whole Eostre thing is probably a myth. Yes, our favorite saint, the Venerable Bede wrote that that was the source of the name. But really, there's no other evidence besides his say-so. (The Wikipedia articale isn't particularly NPOV on this, but it's true.) That's not to say that there weren't any pre-Christian spring festivals in England or other places, which ended up helping out Easter's popularity. But Easter was already celebrated around that time in the wider Christian world since long before: that's what the whole Synod of Whitby thing was about. So it hardly makes sense to speak of it being just a Christianized version of a pagan holiday.
And y'know, the Orthodox may take umbrage at the idea that it was Catholics doing the converting. Funny how even non-Catholics in the West tend to take a sort of Catholic view of history.
Well, the broad sense of "catholic" actually encompasses all organized Christian churches, and this is affirmed by the Nicene, Athanasian & Apostles' Creeds; and in the narrower more commun usage, as referring to the patriarchate of the Roman Catholics, I think it would apply as it was representatives of this denomination which spread throughout the former Roman empire and set about the converting.
And as to Eostre, yeah I picked up on the unreliability of speculation on its origins, but my point was that the easter bunny cannot be reconciled as having anything to do with either Jesus being made into a scarecrow, or subsequently becoming undead.
And the very name of Easter is given no other explanation than that it is named after the Anglo-Saxon month if not a goddess by that name.
...and of course the for non-Catholics in the West, the Catholic view of history was their view of history until the reformation.
The bit about "catholic" is true, bearing in mind the following caveats: (1) That's lower-c "catholic," not "Catholic", (2) the Athanasian Creed (which isn't by Athanasius and isn't a creed, go figure) and Apostles' Creed are both Western, (3) the term "orthodox" also came into fashion following Chalcedon to exclude the Churches we now know as the Oriental Orthodox, and (4) "Catholic" in common usage refers not only to the Roman patriarchate, but also to the sui iuris Churches in communion with it, e.g. the Maronites, or the Syro-Malabar Church.
Easter, as we celebrate it today in the U.S., obviously has both Christian and non-Christian influences. Which ones predominate depends on how you celebrate it. But yah, I agree that it's a little silly to get worked up over eggs and bunnies.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore opines that the most likely possibility is that "Easter" derives from a term for the rising dawn in the east, which got applied to early spring, natch. It also suggests old Bæda simply assumed "Easter" had a
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Re: EostremonatemosnailApril 18 2006, 06:09:51 UTC
Anyway the whole catholic thing was kind of a tangent, because as I said in the narrow meaning, it was Roman Catholics overwhelmingly whom converted the anglo-saxons. And my point was primarily that contemporary Easter Bunny & Santa Clause customs are certainly more "pagan" than christian.
Incidently, the United States Supreme Court has promulgated what they call "the plastic reindeer rule" for determining if state sponsered Christmas decorations violate church & state seperation ... I don't know the further details of this rule offhand.
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do you think I should lj-cut that previously stuff? I can't decide if its long & obnoxious enough.
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Reminds me of Chris Herold and his sockpuppet Spencer Higgins. You should have been there when they were discussing buying portable restrooms.
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http://www.daviswiki.org/Budget_Hearing_Scandal?action=recall&date=1108075800
Its also amusingly on Encyclopedia Dramatica.
-The Anonymous Freshman
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And y'know, the Orthodox may take umbrage at the idea that it was Catholics doing the converting. Funny how even non-Catholics in the West tend to take a sort of Catholic view of history.
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And as to Eostre, yeah I picked up on the unreliability of speculation on its origins, but my point was that the easter bunny cannot be reconciled as having anything to do with either Jesus being made into a scarecrow, or subsequently becoming undead.
And the very name of Easter is given no other explanation than that it is named after the Anglo-Saxon month if not a goddess by that name.
...and of course the for non-Catholics in the West, the Catholic view of history was their view of history until the reformation.
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Easter, as we celebrate it today in the U.S., obviously has both Christian and non-Christian influences. Which ones predominate depends on how you celebrate it. But yah, I agree that it's a little silly to get worked up over eggs and bunnies.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore opines that the most likely possibility is that "Easter" derives from a term for the rising dawn in the east, which got applied to early spring, natch. It also suggests old Bæda simply assumed "Easter" had a ( ... )
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Incidently, the United States Supreme Court has promulgated what they call "the plastic reindeer rule" for determining if state sponsered Christmas decorations violate church & state seperation ... I don't know the further details of this rule offhand.
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