The Easter Paradoxby
Joey LawrenceComment: Originally posted by GoldBerry: Easter has everything to do with the resurrection of Christ, bunnies however, do not :-) |
Umm no...Bunnies and colored eggs have everything to do with easter and the resurrection does not...I quote.
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
Astarté from ancient Greece
Demeter from Mycenae
Hathor from ancient Egypt
Ishtar from Assyria
Kali, from India
Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.
The Bunny and the eggs (colored because most wild birds like the robin produce colored eggs) both symbolize fertillity. This holiday was incorporated into Christianity to get the pagans to convert to the new religion more easily, the Easter holiday predates Christianty by a couple thousand years...it is a celebration of spring and life renewed, hence the resurrection.
Absolutely AWESOME shot!! Love it!!