My friend, who I met in my ENG 101 class, because he was the teacher!, Aaron, posted this comment about Easter on his Facebook page today:
Easter is a moveable feast. It's on a different date every year, which is determined (in the West) as being the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The English term, "Easter," which has been around for over 1100 years, seems to come from the old German "Eostre." Eostre seems to have been a pre-Christian goddess of thedawn. She gave her name to a month, which corresponds roughly to April. Easter is one of many celebrations of rebirth and fertility, coming, as it does, with the rebirth of the land in spring. As far back as the Sumerians, through the Egyptians and the mystical Mithraic cults, there were resurection stories centered on the end of darkness and death (winter). It's a pretty powerful story and we still see elements of it in Easter's celebration of eggs, bunnies, and spring flowers.
Happy Easter everybody! (and to my Hungarian friends, Happy Meat-taking!). Peace.
Happy Easter everybody! (and to my Hungarian friends, Happy Meat-taking!). Peace.
That's why there's Holi, Nowruz, Passover, Purim, Equinox, St Patrick's Day and Easter all around the same time. It's all about celebrating the rebirth of the earth, man; the resurrection of the crocuses.
Right now, I'm listening to "Speaking of Faith", which is my version of "church."