As an atheist I’m always a bit nervous about celebrating festivals such as Christmas and Easter, and especially about explaining them to my children. To me, Easter is about springtime, baby animals and new green leaves on the trees (and of course consuming large amounts of chocolate). But there are always people who tell us to remember the real meaning of Easter, which to them is all about having nails hammered through your hands and then coming back to life. But I was wondering what the meaning of Easter really is so I did a bit of research and I’ve found out that the word Easter comes from the Pagan fertility Goddess Eostre, who also gives her name to the hormone Oestrogen! So it’s a festival of female hormones! Now as a lactating female that’s a festival I can definitely relate to.
But I don’t mind a bit of religion if it encourages people to be kind to each other. If more people lived their lives the way Jesus did, with humility and respect for others, then the world would be a better place. And I think it’s a good thing that T goes to a school where they say prayers and celebrate religious festivals without worrying that they might offend someone. We live in a multicultural area and T’s school reflects that. They celebrate Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Eid and Chinese New Year, and all the children participate in all these festivals. This morning was T’s Easter assembly, and the songs they sang represented all the faces of Easter. There were songs about the Easter bunny, songs about spring flowers, and songs about Jesus rising from the dead. Now I don’t happen to believe that Jesus rose from the dead or that the Easter bunny hides chocolate eggs in the garden, but if it makes T happy to believe both these things then that’s OK by me. And he doesn’t seem too upset by the nails in the hands and the dying bit, in fact it seems to appeal to his four-and-a-half-year-old imagination.
So I would like to wish everyone a happy Easter, whatever that means to you. I will be saying a prayer to the goddess Eostre and eating lots of chocolate.
7 years ago
4 comments:
Arh...pagany goodness!
Rabbits; they are actually hares, the animal of the Goddess who gazes at the moon. Easter is a moon festival. Eggs; because the hens come back into lay at this time of year.
Whether you follow any religion or not it cannot be denied that Easter is actually the festival of the Spring Equinox and from now on there is more light than darkness up until the next Equinox. Horray.
Next Pagen/Earth and season based festival is Beltane on the 1st of May - May Day! That's the festival of sex and fertility.
I told Osiris about the pagan bit first and then the Christan bit second and he got really upset about a man being killed.
Judy,
There is a slight problem with your theology. Choosing only the bits you like from several religions and rejecting the bits you find difficult or inconvenient tends to put you at the centre of the universe; whereas the point of most religions is to put God at the centre and give you the task of discerning His will. For example, if you take the attitude that Christianity teaches people to be nice to each other, is that because you think it’s right; or just because you want people to be nice to you for your sake? Many religions teach some very similar lessons, and there’s reason to believe that they all lead to the same place. But to get there, you need to choose one religion and follow it; not choose your favourite bits out of all of them.
Interesting lesson about Easter eggs here: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t020.html
Dave you are a prick.
The whole of Christian Theology is based on people (mostly men) picking the bits they like and discarding the rest.
It's people like you who act as if they are the portal to God and stop people like me and Judy from making our own spiritual journey and meeting a Deity that perhaps isn't your Patriarchal penis swinging God; in fact it could be a Goddess, or anything we like it to be, even our own selves.
"...because you want people to be nice to you for your sake?"
And what is wrong with wanting to do something good for your own sake, to look yourself in the mirror and know you did the right thing?
The illusion of 'god' telling people to do something has led to the most horrendous wars and genocides so please let someone explore their own spiritual path.
Dick.
Oh yeah and these are quotes from that "lesson" you gave us
"“Easter” is simply one of the names of a woman who mightily deceived the world and whose religion has caused untold suffering and misery. She was clearly an enemy of Christianity,...If you are Christian, it is not difficult to discern the bizarre deception and confusion that Satan has successfully orchestrated"
So it is clear you are not only a raging god botherer but a misogynist as well.
All hail good things fertile and womanly!
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