Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday

[guillaumeb]

Jumping right to the heart of the article:

The naming of the celebration as “Easter” seems to go back to the name of a pre-Christian goddess in England, Eostre, who was celebrated at beginning of spring. The only reference to this goddess comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede, a British monk who lived in the late seventh and early eighth century.

Christian leadership, similar to the Romans before them, often appropriated local non-Christian religious holidays as a way of encouraging acceptance of Christianity.

For more:

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/13/why-easter-is-called-easter-and-other-little-known-facts-about-the-holiday/

[TexasProgresive]

1. Actually it is called some form of Passover in every

Language other than English,as it took place during the feast of Passover. Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover supper on Thursday, he died on Friday and rose on Sunday. That's what Christians believe.

[guillaumeb]

2. When growing up, we called it

la fête de Pâques, and Pâques comes from the Greek.

[TexasProgresive]

3. And Paques, is the French word for Passover.

Last edited Fri Apr 14, 2017, 09:47 PM - Edit history (2)

[okasha]

6. Las Pascuas in Spanish.

[Igel]

4. Today's Friday.

So if you use that name it's because you appropriated Freya worship and continue it in some other guise.

I don't keep Easter. I keep Passover.

But that doesn't mean I can't see that a lot of the criteek of the day isn't actually a critique but a cheap imitation.

Religions often allow a certain amount of syncretism. That's often superficial. Find the goddess in the Easter narrative. Is Jesus the bunny or the goddess? Maybe the cross is the Easter egg?

Yeah. It's a name. And most of the syncretism is folk custom that carried along with the official, very much non-rabbity/non-eggy/non-chickeny Easter narrative. The closest you come is the widespread belief that when Jesus was resurrected he hatched from a large egg, and the best the writers of the NT could manage is to describe it as a tomb and a large stone that was rolled away from its opening.

Oh, wait. That's not a thing.

It's a lot more clear that Judaism has the Torah procession from the habit of people dressing up their carved gods and carrying them around. "Hey, look what they do with their piece of wood. Let's take a chunk of sheepskin and put a crown on it, a breastplate, even a little yad-scepter and parade it around!" Yeah, syncretism sucks. But that procession is more crucial to Judaism than rabbits and chicks are to the Xian Easter. And let's not even mention Islam's "I'm left out" pastiche of Judaism and Christianity with some local additions to make the stew palatable and themselves, driven to see themselves as always more honorable, the best and greatest.

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Said Pagans would be (and I know some who are) appalled that it came to be a date celebrated

for the murder of children in Egypt by an angry god, even though it clearly never actually happened at all.

Worse still that said god MADE the Pharaoh refuse to relent, as the myth goes.

[okasha]

7. Having attended a few Passover seders with Jewish friends,

a couple of points:


1. I have never seen any "celebration of the murder of Egyptian children.". You're about a micron away here from the medieval claim that Jews killed Christian children. Not a good place to be.

2. While there is no evidence that the people who were to become the Jews were ever enslaved in Egypt in large numbers, or that they escaped as a body, Jews have suffered as bad or worse through documented history. Deliverace from oppression is worth celebrating.

3. Exodus is a foundation epic, probably deliberately composed as such. Other celebrations fit the same model, include the Fourth of July, Bastille Day, el diez y seis de septiembre.

[guillaumeb]

8. 3 excellent points. eom

[AtheistCrusader]

15. Of course you would agree.

[guillaumeb]

36. And you?

Will you disagree? Or, will you surprise?

[AtheistCrusader]

38. I believe I answered this question last week.

[rug]

9. Happy Easter, okasha!

[okasha]

10. And to you and your family, rug!

[trotsky]

11. LMFAO

"You're about a micron away here from the medieval claim that Jews killed Christian children. Not a good place to be."

Hyperbole much?

[beam me up scottie]

12. Right? Is he being accused of blasphemy?

Ricky Gervais defines blasphemy as "a law to protect an ALL-POWERFUL, supernatural deity from getting its FEELINGS hurt".

[trotsky]

13. Par for the course when dealing with the religiously privileged. n/t

[rug]

28. That's rich considering the demographics of U.S. atheists are the trifecta of privilege.

Wealthier, whiter, and maler.

[snooper2]

30. You forgot education levels

If people could have read 2000 years ago instead of being "preached" to about these magical stories religion wouldn't be around now.

[rug]

31. That's a function of wealthier.

Not, as far as I can see, more intelligence.

The family of Epicurus was wealthy enough to allow him to study philosophy starting at age 14.

No information as to how many slaves in Samos prayed between their labors.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. A micron? Seriously?

Between actual human beings, and a mythological deity? Please.

NONE of the Exodus happened. None of it. Not the plagues, not the wandering in the desert (Takes about 10 days to get from Cairo to Jerusalem on foot, if you're not in a hurry).

It's a story about a angry petulant god that really shouldn't be worth worshipping by any critical-thinking person. From the flood, to Exodus, promised lands, etc, it's a genocide-first-ask-questions-later jealous tyrant.


The Hebrews alleged to have been slaves in Egypt (no evidence) weren't alleged to have carried out the plagues, and no where did I suggest they did so, so you can kindly withdraw that bullshit.


Item 2; Mostly agree, except in the case alleged in the bible, the oppressor was MADE to be an oppressor, and PREVENTED from relenting. That's a moral outrage in itself, on top of the slavery.

[okasha]

16. Nope. Between Egyptian children---

whom we agree are characters in a fictional narrative and Christian children--also fictional--for whose fictional deaths actual Jews were murdered. When you claim those fictional deaths are "celebrated" by actual Jews in the present, you are in effect propagating a variation on that medieval slander.

Keeping the story in its fictional contest, "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" is obviously the only way the author of the story can think of to make him keep refusing to let the slaves go while his land suffers disaster after disaster. It's irrational behavior that has to be explained somehow, no matter how lamely.

Nowhere did I suggest the Jews caused the plagues, so you can put that bullshit right back where you got it.

[AtheistCrusader]

17. That makes no sense, since passover is also a christian holiday.

Quite literally so, to the Seventh-day Adventist and others.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_(Christian_holiday)
"This article is about how a Jewish holiday is celebrated by Christians."

I'm just re-phrasing it. And I did NOT specify that it was celebrated only by jews. You read that into my statement. Please keep your broad brush away from me.

I refer you BACK to post five in which I did not single out jews, and try and keep in mind that Passover is also celebrated by Christians.

They're just not honest about it, by saying it like I did. You might say a miracle by god delivering the Hebrews from bondage, I might say the murder of Egyptian kids to punish a ruler who was FORCED by god to do what he was doing anyway. (Hardened heart)


I didn't smear any humans at all, only the mythological character of the Abrahamic god, and furthermore, I also pointed out at the same time that it was CLEARLY just a myth and never actually happened at all.

[okasha]

18. Passover, as your article makes clear,

is celebrated only in small, atypical Christian denominations. If you'd read a little further, you would have discovered as much.

Holy/Maundy Thursday observances bear no resemblance to Passover.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. Small, atypical, but christian nevertheless.

And as the Old Testament is part and parcel with the new, or the foundation thereof, it explains the AMC/Turner Classic channel's popularity with the whole Moses story with Charleston Heston as beardy religious guy in the desert and all.

I've seen all sorts of mental backflips from Christians defending the Abrahamic god for doing 'what he had to' in Exodus.

[okasha]

20. So perhaps your statement should have been less general.

"Some/a few Christian denominations celebrate Passover" instead of "Christians celebrate Passover," since the latter encompasses everything from Latin Rite holdout Catholics to the Amish. That gives a whole different coloration to the statement, especially when you offer up a canard that holds that Passover (hence Jews) "celebrate/s" the deaths of Egyptian children.

No one does mental backflips better than you, dear AC.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. I didn't choose the word 'celebrate'.

It was right there in places like the wiki page about specific Christian denominations that actively observe it.

The coloration doesn't change downgrading it from 'celebrate' to 'observe'. I'm not aware of any Christians that outright reject/ignore the Passover. Maybe more than I realize. Open to correction on that point.

No canards here. I also note you're the only person that bothered to object, even with all the additional traffic the R forum is having these last few weeks.

[okasha]

22. "Wikipedia made me do it."

Good grief.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. No, wikipedia and other sources used the same language.

We can do this if you want, but I guarantee it's ridiculous. The word is not inappropriate in this context.

[okasha]

24. Find me one Christian or Jewish reference that says that Passover

"is a date celebrated for the murder of children in Egypt." Those are your own words, AC, and they're disingenuous, to say the least. Own them.

[AtheistCrusader]

25. I said I rephrased it in a less flattering light.

It's the ultimate logical conclusion, AND I included the injustice of 'hardening the heart' of the Pharaoh so he couldn't relent, and thereby dooming those children. Please don't dilute my original message by leaving that out. It's sorta critical to it.

It was a characterization of a mythological act of genocide by a mythological god.

I do similarly unpleasant things to the populist narrative of Columbus as an 'explorer' and a 'great man'.

[okasha]

32. No, it's neither logical nor true.

It's simply a distortion and a slander. Easy test: Ask the next Jew or Christian you personally encounter whether s/he "celebrates the murder of Egyptian children at Passover."

Columbus is an historical figure, and, like Andrew Jackson or others of the ilk, is answerable for his historically attested crimes.

[AtheistCrusader]

33. Of course they won't. That's why they call it 'passover'.

[okasha]

34. Of course they won't

because they don't.

And they'll probably look at you funny.

[AtheistCrusader]

35. It's been the source of productive conversations.

Nobody's mind is changed in a day, but you can sometimes light a spark that ends up throwing a LOT of light.

[okasha]

37. True that this conversation has shed some light.

Unfortunately, it hasn't shown me anything I haven't seen before.

[AtheistCrusader]

39. Me either.

Very artful use of the broad brush smear in post 7.

[hrmjustin]

27. We don't celebrate Passover in my church!

[AtheistCrusader]

29. Ok.

[hrmjustin]

26. Well said Okasha!