How the Christians stole Easter

[Panich52]

Care2 Causes

In much the same way that Christmas and Hanukkah co-opted Paganism, so Christianity also grafted itself onto the Pagan celebration of spring and called it Easter.

The Hebrews were of course Pagan before they converted to one god, and much of the Old Testament was taken from the days before they converted. They just changed the name of the particular deity in each story to God.

Christianity continued this tradition: as Christians came into contact with Pagan cultures, they Christianized them, and made them their own. The idea was that non-Christians would be more likely to embrace Christianity if they were allowed to retain their Pagan practices, especially if some Christian correspondence with their traditions could be established.

Ostera, Anglo-Saxon Goddess Of Spring

Thus, the name Easter comes from Ostera or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, for a spring festival celebrating fertility and the renewal of life, which was held annually for thousands of years before the birth of Christ. It is from this Pagan festival that many of our Easter customs have come.

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[hrmjustin]

1. The early Christians did celebrate Easter.

They just had different ideas when to celebrate it.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Why "stole"? Why not...

adapted?

There's only so many things we do, so we've been borrowing ways of doing them from each other since we became sentient.

[hrmjustin]

3. And christians did not steal the holiday.

[okasha]

4. I'm pagan, but there's so much wrong with this that it's embarassing.

More later. Gotta run.

[TexasProgresive]

5. I just would like to know why English speaking people call it Easter

To my knowledge most other people call it a variation of Paschal as in Passover. Did the English church call it Easter to appease the Pagans?
Spanish - Pascua
French - Pâques
Portuguese - a pascoa
German - Ostern Aha must be the English got it from their Saxon forebears.
Irish - Cásca
Dutch - Pasen
Italian - la pasqua
Danish - påske
Swedish - påsk
Welsh - Pasg

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. The word is derived from the Old German "Eostre"

A Germanic deity who in Old English was called "Eastre".

The month celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ just happened to coincide with the month the old pagans had dedicated to Eostre. Thus, a Christian holiday wound up with a pagan name.

[TexasProgresive]

9. But only in England and Germany

It seems that most other countries use a name connected with the Jewish feast of Passover.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. I don't know that they made that connection.

Their words for Easter are derived from Latin. While the Roman Christians may have made that association, it is not entirely clear that non-Romans did so as well.

[TexasProgresive]

11. This WIKI is really good.

This snip is about the name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter
The modern English term Easter, cognate with modern German Ostern, developed from an Old English word that usually appears in the form Ēastrun, -on, or -an; but also as Ēastru, -o; and Ēastre or Ēostre.[nb 3] The most widely accepted theory of the origin of the term is that it is derived from the name of a goddess mentioned by the 7th to 8th-century English monk Bede, who wrote that Ēosturmōnaþ (Old English 'Month of Ēostre', translated in Bede's time as "Paschal month&quot was an English month, corresponding to April, which he says "was once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month".[25]

In Greek and Latin, the Christian celebration was and is called ?ά???, Pascha, a word derived from Aramaic פסחא, cognate to Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pesach). The word originally denoted the Jewish festival, known in English as Passover, commemorating the story of the Exodus.[26][27] Already in the 50s of the 1st century, Paul, writing from Ephesus to the Christians in Corinth,[28] applied the term to Christ, and it is unlikely that the Ephesian and Corinthian Christians were the first to hear Exodus 12 interpreted as speaking about the death of Jesus, not just about the Jewish Passover ritual.[29] In most of the non-English speaking world, the feast is known by names derived from Greek and Latin Pascha.[3][30]

So it sounds like it really had nothing to do with Ēostre like Ash Wednesday is not stealing from Woden, etc..
Sunday -- Sun's day
Monday -- Moon's day
Tuesday -- Tiu's day
Wednesday -- Woden's day
Thursday -- Thor's day
Friday -- Freya's day
Saturday -- Saturn's day

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. Right.

It didn't have anything to do with the deity. The holiday just happened to fall during a time that had been traditionally allotted to that deity in generations past. The practice changed, but the name stayed the same.

[Leontius]

6. As some say "Ignorance is bliss."

[hrmjustin]

7. Well said.

[okasha]

13. First: Yes, Christianity did indeed borrow/incorporate

elements from the religions it replaced. It had to. Since it couldn't wipe out all vestiges of indigenous religions, it adopted them. Springs, woods, ancient trees that had once belonged to pagan deities acquired Christian saints as patrons. Their veneration continued for centuries. That's a given. The process is still clearly visible in Latin America, especially in areas with large Native populations.

Now, Easter. As Texas Progressive has pointed out, the only languages that make the connection between the Christian celebration of Jesus' resurrection and a Germanic goddess are the two with roots in West Saxon. Anglo Saxon remained a very close cognate to its Continental source. If you can read Beowulf, you can read Der Heiland, and vice versa.

Eostre's name, and the names of similar goddesses that can be documented at least to Roman times, all derive ultimately from a Proto-Indo- European root meaning "to shine" and most likely to a Proto-IE goddess of the dawn. One of the stops on the way back to the dawn goddess is East/Ost, which are still in use in modern English and German.

Dawn and the east, of course, are associated with beginnings. The ancient Western European year began on March 25, as close to tbe Spring Equinox as makes no difference. This date was later marked as the Christian feast of the Annunciation, because that day was also considered to be the day of Jesus' conception. A second reason that date was chosen is that it created a symmetrical, closed cycle by assigning Jesus' conception and resurrection to the same date, both symbolizing the new era of salvation through Christ. In Saxon-speaking lands, this date corresponded closely with the beginning of Eostarumonadh/Ostermonadh, and the name of the month became attached to the day of the resurrection.

[okasha]

14. Second: Here are some trivia to free-associate with.

Bunnies/hares first Christian association was with Mary because they were believed to be partheonogenetic. Some people apparently still believe this ("born pregnant&quot .

Rabbits/hares appear in medieval art, eg., the Unicorn Hunt tapestries, as symbols of gentleness, vulnerability and the beauty of spring and summer. They're incorporated into church windows, prayer books, pillar capitals and "misericordiae,". which are narrow shelves in choir stalls that allowed monks and nuns to half-sit during the long hours of the Daily Office.

The first appearance of the Easter Hare was among Protestants in 17th. century Germany. Their descendants brought the Easter Bunny to America.

And, shades of Dan Brown: Icons of Mary Magdalen frequently show her holding a red egg.