Hey guys. So tomorrow is Easter and I figured that, what with this being an Atheist blog, I'd write a little something on the subject.
So pretty much anytime that we find ourselves coming round to a Christian holiday of some importance, I find myself marveling at exactly how much of “Christian” tradition has been ripped off or co-opted from conquered religions. And that is essentially what these fallen faiths are; conquered. They are taken over and the bits that the conqueror finds useful are acquired while the rest is discarded. That seems to be simply the nature of cultural evolution. Like so much, some times it is a conquest and sometimes a collaboration. Either way there is always something discarded. But I digress.
Let's start with the obvious. The name of the holiday itself. Originally, and still to this day in much of the world, the holiday that we know as Easter, was called Pascha or some derivation there of. This in of itself is something of a borrowing as it stems from the Hebrew word for passover. Passover also happens to be the time when Jesus was crucified, so the relationship is obvious.
So then where does the English name for the holiest day on the Christian calendar come from you ask. The same place pretty much everything we associate with Christian holidays does: The Pagans! Easter is the modern evolution of the name Eoster or Ostara. Eoster was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of fertility and spring. Now it should be noted that this etymological evolution comes from a single source, a early Christian historian by the name Bede. The thing is without any other options, it would seem that Bede is the best authority on the matter for now.
Moving on. One of the animals associated with Eoster was the hare. Rabbits have long been tied to fertility, given their tribble-like (you're reading a blog, don't pretend that you don't get this reference) ability to reproduce, so it only makes sense that such an animal would be tied to a fertility goddess. So of course the hare becomes tied to Jesus at the time of his rebirth.
Lastly we run across Easter eggs. Once again we are borrowing from our Pagan ancestors. The Egg has long been a symbol tied to the cycle of life. The cycle that seems to be celebrated with the coming of spring in virtually every culture on the planet. Eggs represent the potential for new life, waiting to be fulfilled. I have read recently that the egg also represents the empty cross or empty grave. I think however this represents a bit of retroactive continuity on the part of the Christian church.
Then we come to things like sacrificing for lent and abstaining from meat. Historically speaking this has rather mundane roots. Christianity was founded in the middle of the desert. They had bodies of water which produced plenty of food, but little rain fall for what meager crops could be grown. Any farming was dependent on irrigation. This meant that land based meat producers; lamb, pigs etc. would be a drain on resources. The fish however weren't taking up any resources that were already in use. They simple used the water that was just sitting there anyway. So how do you take a religious people and turn them towards fish. You say God wanted it to happen. Bam! You now have one day a week where you HAVE to eat fish or not get your protein.
All of this is even predicated on a notion that in of itself might not be true. That Jesus actually existed (I think he probably did). The thing is whether he did or didn't, there are a remarkable number of Jewish and Non-Jewish legends that he seems to fit. The ties to Passover are straight from Jewish lore, while the resurrection and virgin birth are distinctly pagan ideas. Even the Bible has conflicting genealogical histories of his ties to King David (a prerequisite for messiahdom). So it seems reasonable that when a small off shoot sect of Judaism wanted to gain some ground after a couple hundred years of oppression, they started a marketing campaign to sell their boy as the one and only true anointed one.
I am not writing this today to place any judgments about Christianity. It's Easter and that would seem to me to be in bad taste. I just think that it's important to understand the context that surrounds those things we hold holy and dear. Understanding how the Church co-opted and corrupted the holidays and traditions of other cultures can help gain some perspective on whether or not we should place quite so much stock in the traditions that we seem to think are inviolate. Easter is at it's heart a spring holiday. It celebrates, as much as any other vernal shindig, the coming of new life and in ancient Rome the new year. Our traditions reflect that celebration without being shoe horned into some story of resurrection with out the brain eating.
