Everybody knows the history of Easter, right? It's the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, right? Well, yes and no. We've done some digging and found that Easter had it's crude beginnings before Jesus was born. We're going to tell you all about it. And we're also going to tell you how the Easter bunny came about. Surprisingly enough, they were actually connected - also before Jesus was born. Check this out.
Christian missionaries convert the Saxons The ancient Saxons loved their festivals. They loved towell, just party. They had all kinds of things they found occasion to celebrate and, to justify these raucous festivities, they designated them as religious observances.
During the second century, Christian missionaries were spreading out among the Teutonic tribes north of Rome. Everywhere they went, they encountered the Saxons, celebrating their numerous heathen religious festivals. Of course, they saw all this as blasphemy and sacrilege and their goal was to convert the Saxons. But they had to be very careful in their approach because if they were too obvious, they could be persecuted and end up dead. Jesus was a perfect example of that!
So the Christians had to be discreet in converting the Saxons. One way they did this was to try to find times when their own religious observances coincided with those of the Saxons. If they celebrated together, then they wouldn't stand out, and their chances of surviving were greatly increased.
One of the Saxons' celebrations was to commemorate the pagan goddess of spring and off-spring, Eastre, and thus coincided with the start of spring. In was merely a coincidence, although a very favorable one for the Christians, that the Eastre festival occurred at the same time as their own commemoration of the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus. So the Christians quietly infiltrated the Saxons' revelry, and converted them one by one.
As the Saxons and Christians celebrated together, the Christians adopted the name Eastre as their own, thus hiding their true motives of converting the Saxons. And, in the course of this, they saved many Christians' lives. Eventually, the spelling of Eastre was changed to Easter, though nobody really seems to know why.
For several decades, Easter was celebrated on a Friday, a Saturday, or a Sunday. But when to actually celebrate became confusing. So the emperor Constantine, along with his Council of Nicaea, issued what they called the Easter Rule: Easter should be celebrated on "the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox." If you know anything about astronomy, you can figure out that this means that Easter will always fall between March 22nd and April 25th. Constantine also decreed that the cross be adopted as the official symbol of the Christian religion. And so stands Easter as we know it today - a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, and symbolized by the cross.
The Easter bunny was also celebrated by the Saxons It's quite a coincidence that a rabbit, or actually a hare, was the earthly symbol for the goddess Eastre. So the Saxons' Eastre festival always had a connection with the Eastre hare, or the Easter bunny, as it came to be known.
This custom stayed with Easter celebrations in Europe throughout the years. It was the Germans who brought it to America when they immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries. From Pennsylvania, they gradually spread out to Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, New York and, eventually up into Canada. But wherever they went, they were met with opposition to their custom of involving a rabbit in their religion. The stricter denominations of those times, the Quakers, the Presbyterians and the Puritans, thought that including a white rabbit in the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus was somewhat frivolous.
But the Germans stuck with their Easter bunny custom. Then came the American Civil War, with its death a destruction and, with it, a movement towards a stronger religious influence. The war had led Americans to search for a source of inspiration and renewed hope. They found that source in Jesus. The Presbyterians led the way in a new interest in religion, and Easter became an American celebration.
Easter eggs and Easter Flowers are also an ancient tradition The actual exchange of eggs was a tradition centuries before Easter. The egg had always, from earliest times, been looked on as signifying birth and resurrection. The Egyptians used to bury eggs in their tombs. The Greeks put eggs on their graves. The Romans had a saying: omne vivum ex ovo, which means "All life comes from an egg."
With this view in mind, it was easy for the Christians in the 2nd century to adopt the egg as a popular and easily-recognizable symbol. Also, at that time, wealthy people would cover a gift egg with real gold leaves. The poor people just dyed theirs. They'd discovered there were natural ways to dye their eggs. They used spinach or anemone petals for green, gorse blossoms for yellow, woodchips for purple, and the body fluid of the cochineal insect for scarlet. Of course, today, we just paint them, but the effect is the same - we exchange colored eggs as gifts.
Another ancient Saxon tradition - hot cross buns Hot cross buns were first baked by the Saxons in honor of Eastre. The word "bun" itself derives from boun, Saxon for "sacred ox", which was sacrificed at the Eastre festival, and the image of its horns was carved into the cakes.
Early church fathers, to compete with the pagan custom of baking ox-marked cakes, baked their own version, using the same dough as they did for the consecrated host. But remember, they had to be discreet in their conversion methods. So they reinterpreted the ox-horn symbol as a crucifix, and gave the buns out to new converts attending mass. And again, they'd done a good job of disguising their motives. They'd successfully Christianized a pagan cake, they'd given people a treat they were used to, and they'd subtly marked the buns with an image that, though obviously Catholic, at a distance wouldn't label the bearer as a Christian.
In light of America's sweet tooth, today, instead of the scoring on the tops of hot cross buns, you'll usually find a cross made of glazed frosting. Yum!
So now you know how Easter began. Like many traditions, it had its beginnings long before what's become a custom today. But now, as we celebrate Easter, with it's bunnies, eggs and buns, we look past those traditions to the real reason for this joyous celebration - the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus, and how it affects our lives today. Enjoy!
Christian missionaries convert the Saxons The ancient Saxons loved their festivals. They loved towell, just party. They had all kinds of things they found occasion to celebrate and, to justify these raucous festivities, they designated them as religious observances.
During the second century, Christian missionaries were spreading out among the Teutonic tribes north of Rome. Everywhere they went, they encountered the Saxons, celebrating their numerous heathen religious festivals. Of course, they saw all this as blasphemy and sacrilege and their goal was to convert the Saxons. But they had to be very careful in their approach because if they were too obvious, they could be persecuted and end up dead. Jesus was a perfect example of that!
So the Christians had to be discreet in converting the Saxons. One way they did this was to try to find times when their own religious observances coincided with those of the Saxons. If they celebrated together, then they wouldn't stand out, and their chances of surviving were greatly increased.
One of the Saxons' celebrations was to commemorate the pagan goddess of spring and off-spring, Eastre, and thus coincided with the start of spring. In was merely a coincidence, although a very favorable one for the Christians, that the Eastre festival occurred at the same time as their own commemoration of the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus. So the Christians quietly infiltrated the Saxons' revelry, and converted them one by one.
As the Saxons and Christians celebrated together, the Christians adopted the name Eastre as their own, thus hiding their true motives of converting the Saxons. And, in the course of this, they saved many Christians' lives. Eventually, the spelling of Eastre was changed to Easter, though nobody really seems to know why.
For several decades, Easter was celebrated on a Friday, a Saturday, or a Sunday. But when to actually celebrate became confusing. So the emperor Constantine, along with his Council of Nicaea, issued what they called the Easter Rule: Easter should be celebrated on "the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox." If you know anything about astronomy, you can figure out that this means that Easter will always fall between March 22nd and April 25th. Constantine also decreed that the cross be adopted as the official symbol of the Christian religion. And so stands Easter as we know it today - a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, and symbolized by the cross.
The Easter bunny was also celebrated by the Saxons It's quite a coincidence that a rabbit, or actually a hare, was the earthly symbol for the goddess Eastre. So the Saxons' Eastre festival always had a connection with the Eastre hare, or the Easter bunny, as it came to be known.
This custom stayed with Easter celebrations in Europe throughout the years. It was the Germans who brought it to America when they immigrated to Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries. From Pennsylvania, they gradually spread out to Virginia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, New York and, eventually up into Canada. But wherever they went, they were met with opposition to their custom of involving a rabbit in their religion. The stricter denominations of those times, the Quakers, the Presbyterians and the Puritans, thought that including a white rabbit in the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus was somewhat frivolous.
But the Germans stuck with their Easter bunny custom. Then came the American Civil War, with its death a destruction and, with it, a movement towards a stronger religious influence. The war had led Americans to search for a source of inspiration and renewed hope. They found that source in Jesus. The Presbyterians led the way in a new interest in religion, and Easter became an American celebration.
Easter eggs and Easter Flowers are also an ancient tradition The actual exchange of eggs was a tradition centuries before Easter. The egg had always, from earliest times, been looked on as signifying birth and resurrection. The Egyptians used to bury eggs in their tombs. The Greeks put eggs on their graves. The Romans had a saying: omne vivum ex ovo, which means "All life comes from an egg."
With this view in mind, it was easy for the Christians in the 2nd century to adopt the egg as a popular and easily-recognizable symbol. Also, at that time, wealthy people would cover a gift egg with real gold leaves. The poor people just dyed theirs. They'd discovered there were natural ways to dye their eggs. They used spinach or anemone petals for green, gorse blossoms for yellow, woodchips for purple, and the body fluid of the cochineal insect for scarlet. Of course, today, we just paint them, but the effect is the same - we exchange colored eggs as gifts.
Another ancient Saxon tradition - hot cross buns Hot cross buns were first baked by the Saxons in honor of Eastre. The word "bun" itself derives from boun, Saxon for "sacred ox", which was sacrificed at the Eastre festival, and the image of its horns was carved into the cakes.
Early church fathers, to compete with the pagan custom of baking ox-marked cakes, baked their own version, using the same dough as they did for the consecrated host. But remember, they had to be discreet in their conversion methods. So they reinterpreted the ox-horn symbol as a crucifix, and gave the buns out to new converts attending mass. And again, they'd done a good job of disguising their motives. They'd successfully Christianized a pagan cake, they'd given people a treat they were used to, and they'd subtly marked the buns with an image that, though obviously Catholic, at a distance wouldn't label the bearer as a Christian.
In light of America's sweet tooth, today, instead of the scoring on the tops of hot cross buns, you'll usually find a cross made of glazed frosting. Yum!
So now you know how Easter began. Like many traditions, it had its beginnings long before what's become a custom today. But now, as we celebrate Easter, with it's bunnies, eggs and buns, we look past those traditions to the real reason for this joyous celebration - the miracle of the Resurrection of Jesus, and how it affects our lives today. Enjoy!
About the Author:
Easter Baskets . You will find all of these for Canadians as written by Finnigan Share follow http://www.bchighway.com/shop-canada/ for details.
0 comments:
Post a Comment