I read "The earliest Christians did not celebrate ‘Easter’. They celebrated Passover. After all, Jesus died on the eve of the Passover and He rose from the dead on the Feast of the Unleavened Bread."
Your thoughts? Thank you!
Ishtar was name of a pre-christian pagan goddess
August 1st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Ishtar was name of a pre-christian pagan goddess
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August 1st, 2009 at 10:41 pm
you?
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August 1st, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Passover
Origins of the name "Easter":
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.
An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus’ resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter". 2
There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."
It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne). 5,6
bulletIt is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420) commented "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth." 7
References :
http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm
August 1st, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Passover is a Jewish holiday, Jesus was a Jew, his family celebrated Passover. Passover is mentioned in the Bible, Easter is not. Jesus’ followers during his lifetime were mostly Jews, and continued to observe Jewish practice.
Paul was a Jew who did not meet Jesus, and Peter was the ‘rock’ on which Jesus said he would build his church. However, the tax collector Saul claimed a meeting with Jesus and became the more powerful builder of the early Christian church. It was Paul who began proselytizing non-Jews. Jesus welcomed everyone, but spoke to Jewish people, his people.
Jesus was born in the spring – lambing season – but the Christian calender was designed to place Christian holidays in season to replace pagan/pre-
Christian holidays, so that new followers would not fall away during celebrations.
Easter is a form of Eostre, Esther, Star, Ishtar. The symbolism of eggs also precedes Christianity.
Because of Paul (born Saul), Christianity became a syncretic religion, with elements added under the authority of divine revelation.
My personal view is that Paul and Jesus were not teaching the same thing. I have never been a paulist.
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