The Pagan origins of the Easter Bunny
Have you ever wondered where the celebration of the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ acquired its unusual name and odd symbols of colored eggs and rabbits?

The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices.

In second century Europe, the predominate spring festival was a raucous Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Saxon Goddess Eastre (Ostara), whose sacred animal was a hare.

The colored eggs associated with the bunny are of another, even more ancient origin. The eggs associated with this and other Vernal festivals have been symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long the precise roots of the tradition are unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods.

Pagan fertility festivals at the time of the Spring equinox were common- it was believed that at this time, when day and night were of equal length, male and female energies were also in balance. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively.

Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children who discover them Easter morning. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.

Many modern practitioners of Neo-pagan and earth-based religions have embraced these symbols as part of their religious practice, identifying with the life-affirming aspects of the spring holiday. (The Neopagan holiday of Ostara is descended from the Saxon festival.) Ironically, some Christian groups have used the presence of these symbols to denounce the celebration of the Easter holiday, and many churches have recently abandoned the Pagan moniker with more Christian oriented titles like 'Resurrection Sunday.' (Cont'd)

Now where was this post when it was Ostara.. *cackles*

Probably waiting for it's opportunity to educate the christians just before Easter?

Yes, no maybe!?

Not like it'll matter to them. =(

Ah yes, but it doesn't need to matter to them, to have always been what had come to be, before them.

good post... very informative... i would have done it myself... had i thought of it...

with that said... the CATHOLIC church adopted those practices... and they carried on down the line...

some Christians... such as myself... do not celebrate Easter or Christmas as far as bunnies, eggs, trees, wreaths, etc...

nor do i celebrate halloween...

and i agree with some of the above posts... that most Christians won't care where these practices came from... just like most people don't know about halloween and why their kids dress up...

in my personal OPINION... if you partake in those things... you are still celebrating what it was originally meant for...

if you hide easter eggs... etc... you are still performing the rituals and partaking in the tradition that GW posted...
if you dress your kids up for halloween and go trick or treating... you are still following a druid practice of scaring off demons and searching for virgins or babies to sacrifice...

but as i said before... this is a great post... perfect timing... glad God moved you to inform some of His people about a pagan holiday... thanks... you saved me some time and effort...

I always wondered why eggs and bunnies at Easter. The Christian groups I knew (you know, the debauched ones I'm so fond of) used to give eggs and cuddly bunnies, so I asked them once why bunnies and eggs had anything to do with Easter and the Christian faith. At first they looked puzzled by my question, then one of them stepped forth and said the eggs represented the birth of Christ. I did ask if they meant he had been laid in an egg, but it didn't go down well. I never understood why they were so flumoxed by the question in the first place.

Oh don't I just see a future chocolate exhibit, in that visual!? Move over chocolate Yeshua, christ on the half shell, comin up! Priceless.

I know what you mean though. I think it lends the impression,to very little kids, that rabbits and chickens have something in common! And yet it's interesting, as in your case, if a child asked how those images relate to the christ myth they'd not be told the whole history. And people wonder at how histories are re-written, when they can be edited to fit one criteria for dispensing one predominant idea of uniqueness. Jesus , Easter. But yet, there was something before that.

I know that old saying about those that don't learn from their history are condemned to repeat it. But I wonder what it says for those that ignore their history!?

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&...sa=N&tab=wi

Eostre, the Saxon Sex Goddess.

Happy Easter !

Thank you for adding that link.

I found this also: Eostre

She's also known as a Germanic Deity. Eostre Goddess of growth.

Is there a holiday that isnt pagan?

I do believe that this practice is far older than the Druids.



Someone's been reading too many false tales written by those who wished to get rid of the old pagan practices.

Virgins would not be sacrificed,since they were able to become pregnant (thereby continuing not only the family lines,but also help the survival of the village).

Babies were not sacrificed either.There may have been a few cases done because of a "prophecy" (the same was supposedly done in the Bible as well),but overall...it was not something that would have happened.

Sure and thank the RC for this one too. Eostre, Ostera, Astarte, and Ishatar are all forms of this notion that was blended into christianity at the hand of the RC. The KJV has one verse that mentions easter Acts 12:4. However the word is mistranslated it is "Pascha" and means "passover". The christian faith should denounce it's pagan ties to these practices because they were never intended to be christian doctrine.

Not really...when I dressed up as Spider-man when I was little I wasn't trying to form a ritual...I'll was trying to get candy.

Don't forget the myths pf ancient Greece and Zeus(as a swan) and Leda who coupled and out of the came Helen of Troy

Kt

Does it REALLY matter? It's fun and who doesn't like fun, hmm.

True. Very true.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Nope.

All...and I can use that with a good deal of certainity, christian holidays are *pagan*. Or atleast, extremely pagan influenced. Example- The "Roman Christmas"...was a week long. It was a..typical roman party, of gluttony, sex, and such. You know, the general things that human beings enjoy to no end. Christianity took it, reduced it to a day, and took out all the fun stuff except the gift-giving that would occur during the process of gluttony...

That's right christians! The holiday that suposedly celebrates the birth of the only one who was ever sin-free, was easily one of the most sinful holidays in existance! Romans loved orgies, with *animals*, and as many people they could find! Lots of wine, every type of meat imaginable...

*whipes a tear from his eye*

I miss Rome so much...

Well if you enjoy beastality I'm sure you do.

Hey, I don't really care. I don't *have* to touch the animals.

That, and I happen to find the Reptillian Form to be..very nice. Namely, snakes.

That is sick. And I dont think most of romans were into animals like that.

Taking things out of context. I am not turned-on by reptiles(well, a woman using a snake as an...ahem, toy, is a bit of a turn on, but that's another story). I find their form pleasing to the eye, like people consider fine works of art pleasing to the eye.

Oh I didnt know you were joking.

possibly... i don't doubt it for a second...



to the contrary... there is lots of historical evidence of lots of cultures that sacrificed babies and virgins because they were considered pure...

I believe the only evidence of sacrificial deaths by Druids is the "peat bodies" if my memory serves me right they're all middle aged men who appear to be from the ruling classes who offered themselves willingly for the greater good of the community.

That's called "hollywoodism".

Those sacrificed were either captured men, those choosing to be sacrificed freely, slaves, and criminals.

A lot of that "evidence" is most likely false.There are a few cases in certain cultures where it may have happened,but as far as the Druids are concerned...it would not have been done since the normal life expectancy for the average person was very low...due to weather,wars and disease.

Truthfully...do you really expect that a virgin would be sacrificed to a "dragon" or some other thing? It wouldn't make any sense to sacrifice those that are still able to provide a useful service to a village or family.

Also,one must remember that once a girl had her first period,she was seen as breeding stock.If a girl was still a virgin by her 16th-17th-18th year,she would be considered an old maid.But...they still wouldn't sacrifice her since she could still give birth.

Women as 'breeding stock' I think you are missing the point about ancient spiritual beliefs in which women had equality with men and the goddess was a very powerful deity. Going back to Easter eggs it is the vernal equinox that is important because of equal hours of day and night hence balance and harmony in life, yin and yang. The world has been out of balance for a long time and many Romans, as usual, did not get the point but adopted ancient practices without understanding what it was all about as they do in Rome today. Read Harry Verness he seems to have found the way forward big style

venusram

all that matters is that we are alive and we can all worship God as we want to or don't want to as the case may be....i believe in God, Jesus, and all that they stand for...as far as easter, if i can sit at my table, color eggs with my granddaughter and my family, talk about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus i do not believe that i am doing anything wrong....i am not held accountable for the sins of my earthly fathers....this is not the only times i witness but if i can use this time or similar times to further witness then i will and i do not feel i do anything wrong...i thank God for my family and i praise His name for all the blessings He has given to us....in Jesus name...amen.

randomhit10

To my understanding the Druids and the Celts, for that matter, were by and large a community with an oral tradition. So if there was human sacrifice, for one it wouldn't be contrary to any other religion before or after, that practiced such things. Animism, is part of the reason why these sympathetic magic rituals are performed, I think. So if a new crop were to be blessed, especially if the village had rotated the grounds for a fresh start after , say, a bad planting season the year before, they may sacrifice a young goat, or a baby. Who knows really what they didn't do? Pagan cultures , like wolves, knew if they didn't have food to eat they'd suffer a slow death. And like unto wolves, I think I can't discount the possibility they would kill the youngest rather than have them starve to a slow death. (Wolves kill their young if they are low on the hunting stock.) Meanwhile disease, because hygiene was not at a premium in the day, would threaten young and old alike, but particularly the old, that were frail already.

Knowing all that could befall if real life crops failed, pestilence killed domestic stock, etc.... could very well illicit the slaughter of people, so as to save the village from what ailed them. What difference would it make really? If one dies of starvation, or gives themselves over to save their family in ritual?

What written accounts we do have of these tribes, I would wager, are mostly accounts by their conquerers. Such as Rome. So would one trust the history, given the predisposition to sanitation that would take hold in edits generations later, or the exaggerations levied so as to make readers believe the world was saved from such horrors, by the hand of those authorities that now publish the history of those conquered people?! Propaganda isn't just a 20th century creature.

Besides, I figure if people today can commit their life to a faith, how is it difficult to imagine people of yesterday took that quite literally!? Eat of this bread it is my flesh, drink of this wine it is as my blood. Of all the rites one could think to create in a communion ritual, what ever inspired a reference to consuming flesh and blood? What knowledge did jesus impart in that line, about covenants made consuming fellow human beings? The blood is the life? The body houses the soul? The kingdom of heaven is within? Even jesus blood was spilled in sacrifice, and that is considered sacred. He was murdered on a cross, to save life. Giving his flesh and blood in that covenant.

So I think if people can accept that, metaphor or no in many respects, it then imparts flesh and blood is imbued with the essence worthy of being sacrificed to god(s)/esses. Let us make man in our image and in our likeness.

The egg can be associated with the resurrection, it symbolizes new life; new beginnings; when the chick is born it breaks out of its shell, fresh and anew.(so why do we boil them? I have no idea. ) The bunny, well its so damn cute and fuzzy, who doesn't love it?! And, they procreate like mad fools...

well stated..

Well, first off, and most important...why would you sacrifice a perfectly good virgin? Second, that didn't happen. There's no evidence.

Would you like to cite this evidence. You are always making claims like this but you never show your sourse. Well if you have evidence lets see it.

may not be my place,but here are a few links info
link
link
just happened to come across the last one thought id throw it in there too.

Those are biased sources. Biased to the *extreme*.

Religious fundy-websites aren't proof, they're lies.

My response which you quoted was aimed at someone who went on a different tangent from the original subject.It was purely about the Druidic culture of the Celts.

As far as my "breeding stock" comment goes though,it in no way goes against the spiritual beliefs...since it was a necessary practice.It can easily be shown how throughout western Europe,through certain periods of time,that girls would be married off as soon as possible once they were of breeding age.

In fact,some of the Fertility Rites performed by different cultures were done in order for young women to be matched with a future husband.

...

GW,we also have the oral tales which were written down at a later point in time.One can discover a lot through a culture's myths,tales and legends.

Excellent. Would you know of any credible unbiased (re:prior comment about such things) sources that you might share, relative to the OP? I'd love to read that and I think it would enhance the spirit of the OT for everyone, as well.

Hmm...it might take a little while to track some down.I don't have that many of them in book form anymore,but I think I may have a few in e-book form.I'll also check on the web,checking the sources as I go to see if they're credible.

But for now...I'm headed out for work.