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Why an Easter Bunny?
Posted by ChildPerson • 3/29/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: child abuse, child welfare, children, crucifixion, easter, religion, resurrection, societal child abuse
Easter is such an odd holiday...Religious???
And a bunny that delivers eggs, peanut-product-contaminated candy and lead-based plastic wrapped toys relates just how to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ?
User Comments
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You'd make a great new Andy Rooney!!
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wrong spot
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Easter is derived from two ancient traditions: Pagan and Judeo-Christian. Easter celebration is definitely traceable all the way back to ancient Babylonian trinitarian paganism, Circa 1500 B.C. And Pagans have celebrated death and rebirth themes following the Spring Equinox for millennia. Passover Pasch can be traced to a pre-Israelite pagan ritual practiced by wandering Semitic shepherds.
Eoster was the goddess of fertility to the ancient Babylonians; also known as Ishtar and Astoreth (the false goddess Solomon bowed down to in the Old Testatment). A month corresponding to April had been named “Eostremonat,” or Eostre’s month, leading to “Easter” becoming applied to the Christian holiday that usually took place within it.
Eggs have been viewed as symbols of new life and fertility through the ages. Eoster was the goddess of fertility to the ancient Babylonians and the egg and bunnies symbols of fertility surrounded her ceremonial practices in every spring equinox celebration since ancient Babylonian times. It is believed that for this reason many ancient cultures, also including the Ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Romans, used eggs during their spring festivals.
Christian Easter gradually absorbed the traditional symbols (eggs and rabbits) becoming a holy day of reflection, thoughtfulness and reverence on the occasion of the anniversary of the resurrection of Jesus.
The symbol of the Easter rabbit was brought to America by Germans. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.
Read the whole post here --> thistimethisspace.com/2009/03/25/easter-and-spring-equinox-greetings/#more-...-
Pretty much as TT says but from a Celtic point of view. (Lots of stone circles, vitrified forts, earth houses and standing stones in polybore's neck of the woods all dating thousands of years before Christianity). www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/special/index.asp
The Easter Bunny is a Christian creation devised to amalgamate and ridicule existing Pagan beliefs. The jolly old Pagan's fertility festival centred around the Hare which for them symbolised love, growth and fertility. Pagans thought that Hares hatched from eggs. Hares rear their young (leveret, leverets) in a small dent in the ground (called a form). Ground nesting birds like the Plover lay their eggs in a similar dent in the ground and the Pagan's thought these were Hare eggs.
Anyway the party pooping Christians arrived and cuckoo fashion supplanted the Pagan festival with one of their own ie Easter. The stupid Easter Bunny (rat in disguise) is a deliberate propagandist caricature of the Hare. To amalgamate the Pagan eggs the Christians converted them from symbolising fertility to symbolising the stone of Jesus's tomb which was moved (rolled like an egg).
When Christianity was a new religion it borrowed a lot from existing religion in order to give itself legitimacy with potential converts. Another example regarding the Pagans is Christmas which was originally the Pagan winter festival. The Pagans used to decorate trees with the bloody entrails of animals, thanks to Christianity this is now boring old tinsel. Boo! -
Well, they could hardly have people wandering around talking about fertility and how you...verify it, could they? "Easter" is not the Christian name for the holiday, anyway. They just "happened" to coincide, much like the "birth of Christ" coincided with the pagan winter celebrations. It's amazing what god can plan, isn't it?
Whoops! I forgot to shut off the sarcasm switch. Hold on...[click] Gosh, this has been a very informative thread. Thank you to both TT and PB! -
That is a very well written article
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There's the spring equinox, a new season for growing crops, lots of wild babies born and all that. Then there's the rise of Jesus after his crucifixtion. The church pretty much disapproved of any non-christian celebrations and merged the two together. Over the years is evolved into what it is today.
Why an Easter Bunny? I don't know. Maybe someone out there knows or can find out how a rabbit got involved. It could it could have ended up being an Easter Chick, I guess. Cheep! Cheep! -
It gives the slaves a break... and a chocolate bunny. -
who wants to eat a chocolate jesus? -
No, I will pass on that. I prefer hard core cannabalism Real flesh and real blood.
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Not so far fetched, people eat the Body of Christ every day. You could take up your suggestion with the Vatican ie replacing the bread (communion wafers) with chocolate. Would bring Mass into the 21st Century. As for the blood of Christ polybore will stick with the wine, can't see how that could be improved upon.
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if they did that I might embrace my Irish Catholic roots. mmm.
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Hopalong Cassidy where you going where you going gone aint coming back till gooseberry time... silly songs... candy... rabbits... a thing to keep children occupied... spring is sprung and fertile... -
Better than an April Fool's Day toad. -
Thank you easter bunny
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m3eJxZEai0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw_gEyg7Nt8&feature=related -
The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring season.
The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany during the early 1800s. These were made of pastry and sugar.
The Easter bunny was introduced to American folklore by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 1700s. The arrival of the "Oschter Haws" was considered "childhood's greatest pleasure" next to a visit from Christ-Kindel on Christmas Eve. The children believed that if they were good the "Oschter Haws" would lay a nest of colored eggs.
The children would build their nest in a secluded place in the home, the barn or the garden. Boys would use their caps and girls their bonnets to make the nests . The use of elaborate Easter baskets would come later as the tradition of the Easter bunny spread through out the country. -
Our rabbit died a few weeks ago - doesn't seem right to eat chocolate bunnies now -
Ahhh ... I'm sorry to hear that.
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It's a fertility symbol...same with the eggs...Easter, like Christmas, is a pagan holiday reconfigured by the Catholic church, just as the stories of Jesus' miraculous birth (at the winter solstice) and death and resurrection (at the vernal equinox) are reconfigurations of pagan myths.-
Yes indeed that's the history of yet another event that was hijacked by Christians.
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All I Need to Know About Life I Learned from the Easter Bunny
Don't put all of your eggs in one basket.
Walk softly and carry a big carrot.
Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.
There's no such thing as too much candy.
All work and no play can make you a basket case.
A cute little tail attracts a lot of attention.
Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.
Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.
Some body parts should be floppy.
Keep your paws off other people's jellybeans.
The grass is always greener in someone else's basket.
An Easter bonnet can tame even the wildest hare.
To show your true colors you have to come out of your shell.
The best things in life are still sweet and gooey!-
LOL...luv it... this thread has been fun and so informative...
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I like it too. Sharing history is fun. lol ...
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Because Stone Cold said so!
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