Time To Dye The Jesus Eggs, Again

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a piece with nearly the same title. This was a different website then, with a different name and look, but the sentiment of this article echos that of its predecessor.

What the f&ck do rabbits and eggs have to do with the resurrection of the most famous jew in history?

The simple answer is, i think, obvious. Nothing. But the actual answer is a bit more complicated and drives right to the heart of what makes me nuts about religions.

Most of the people that are reading this probably already know much of what I'm going to write here, but for those of the newly initiated, let me lay it out for you.

The name Easter is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word Eostre, which was the name of the goddess of renewal and her celebration timed in junction with the vernal (spring) equinox. There are many conflicting analyses of the exact date of the resurrection, but most put it somewhere around our April 28th CE 31; which is actually 28 days after "Easter" that year. Jesus also did not rise from the dead on a Sunday morning as your preacher would tell you during his Easter Morning Service since he is said to have risen "As the sun was about to set, ending a Saturday Sabbath, the women were at the city gate and prepared to exit as soon as the new week dawned, which is when the Sabbath travel restrictions ended" Matthew 28:2. (That will be the one and only time you'll see a bible quote on these pages)

Easter bunnies are obvious I think, especially when you consider that the entire holiday was lifted from pagan traditions. There are countless pagan traditions wherein the vernal equinox is celebrated as a time of fertility and renewal and what's more fertile than a rabbit?

Easter eggs, obvious connection to new life, fertility and renewal. Pagans dyes eggs and hung them from Maypoles during their spring rites and the Zoroastorians have painted eggs for their New Year for more than 2500 years. More Christian holiday highjacking. A few hundred years after the establishment of the Christian church, the orthodox Christians did began dying eggs red to symbolize the blood Jesus shed on the cross; really a fun bunch those Christians!

Chocolate bunnies, et al. good marketing by Hershey and Faberage.

What you should draw from all of this is that the Christians didn't have a celebration for their resurrection. They had to steal other religions ideas. Interesting and typically Christian.

One last though on Easter eggs and bunnies and chocolates, isn't there a prohibition in the bible against idolatry? Just asking.

With All Due Respect,
The Chief