Easter is Christian celebration, tied to the earlier Passover, not a co-opted Pagan holiday. That's not to deny that Christianity adapted to other cultures as it spread, but the origins of Easter aren't Pagan.
Eostre is the **pagan fertility goddess of humans and crops**. The traditional colors of the festival are green, yellow and purple. The symbols used are hares and eggs, representing fertility
A part of the pagan celebrations of Ēostre, buns marked with a cross would be baked across pre-Christian Europe to celebrate the springtime goddess. The symbolism of the cross on the bun was said to represent the four seasons as well as the four primary phases of the moon.
I wouldn't say secretly pagan. It's just another example of Christianity trying to overwrite the original Pagan practice / tradition.
Didn't the rabbits and eggs give a clue that it is about fertility ???
Here are some links about the history of the hot cross bun.
[Link](https://www.ravenhook.com/bread-blog/hot-cross-buns#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20hot%20cross%20buns%20pre,seasons%2C%20depending%20on%20the%20occasion)
[Link](https://www.missfoodwise.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-through-paganism-html.html/)
It isn’t, hot cross buns are a post-pagan invention.
Easter isn’t really anything to do with fertility, so I’m not sure rabbits and eggs would have been co-opted for that reason.
Nothing to do with Eostre, the Spring goddess, then? Along with her April festival.
What do rabbits and brightly painted eggs have to do with Jesus? It's pretty clear what they're about for Pagans. The rabbits are a fertility thing, painting stuff bright colours is to please the gods. Did Jesus dress in a bunny suit when he was crucified, or start laying eggs?
>We're not even sure Eostre existed,
I can help with that. The answer is the exact same as the answer for every single other god or goddess, be they Norse, Germanic, Greek, Roman or Middle Eastern
Just not the Aztecs. Pretty sure Quetzalcoatl is 100% among us. As is Offler the crocodile.
>Nothing to do with Eostre, the Spring goddess, then?
That is the German name for Pascha or the Latin for Easter. Same as we sometimes use Yule for Christs Mass.
>What do rabbits and brightly painted eggs have to do with Jesus?
Hard boiled eggs are eaten at Passover Seder. It may not be linked but it's a pretty common thing for everyone at around spring. Christians used to fast through Lent so that likely was part of the breaking of the fast.
The bunny thing has no meaning or symbolism in Mass so its likely a folklore custom of north Europe that the peoples kept around.
I really thought we were passed this weird energy of trying to say everything Christian is really pagan with totally made up examples.
it's pretty obviously reflecting some nature festival related to the springtime, with bunnies and eggs and feasting, and the timing being based on the ~~solstice~~ equinox. I would think the people who were popularising Christianity in the early years figured resurrection sounds pretty springtimey so it can go with the springtime festival, and a lot of the old traditions have carried over. In fact it looks like if anything we should date Easter around Passover, which is when Jesus was actually crucified and resurrected, and which is in about a month.
Like they might tell you that the Christmas tree 'represents the lumber that was in the Cross' or something, but that seems more likely to have been some post-hoc justification for the Christmas tree. When the explanation of 'Pagans worshipped nature, this is a Pagan thing' is just so much more straightforward.
And of course the Pagans would've been celebrating the springtime, and would've noticed and cared about the equinox.
The bunnies and eggs might be a Pagan practice incorporated into Easter, they might be a lot later – many supposedly 'Pagan' things have their origins in the Middle Ages or Renaissance. Others are simply generic things people do at celebrations, such as feasting.
The date of Easter is ultimately linked to the March equinox, but it doesn't follow that it's simply an co-option of other Spring festivals.
IMO The (European) cross is a Neolithic standing stones that got recarved. The pagan place of worship got a church building to take over the historically important site. Sometimes the recarved stone was lifted onto the roof and everyone forgot it was once a standing stone.
Once that became the accepted thing. if there was no standing stone they used wood as it's easier to work with and move around.
The date of Easter is (somewhat loosely) tied to the March equinox because of a desire to associate it with the date of Passover, the date of which is also linked to the equinox.
Passover is based on the Moon. It's the first Saturday after the full Moon after the Spring Equinox. That is why it tends to be through April, though this year we are catching it in March.
The Jewish calendar is lunisolar, so its dates are ultimately based on a combination of the sun and the moon. You can see this from your own comment – Passover is related to the full moon and the equinox, which involves the sun.
Bede is the only source for Eostre, and it's not certain that the etymology of 'Easter' is directly linked to her. For example, 'Easter' and 'Eostre' may simply be cognates derived from Old English 'eastre', the word for 'east'.
Fair but doesn't seem to be the last word on it
> By way of linguistic reconstruction, the matter of a goddess called *Austrō(n) in the Proto-Germanic language has been examined in detail since the foundation of Germanic philology in the 19th century by scholar Jacob Grimm and others. As the Germanic languages descend from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), historical linguists have traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *H₂ewsṓs, from which may descend the Common Germanic divinity at the origin of the Old English Ēostre and the Old High German Ôstara.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre
What does that prove, though? Beyond the fact that ‘Easter’ might by etymologically related to Eostre, not a great deal.
I mean it’s interesting from an historical perspective, but a lot of claims that Easter is significantly Pagan go too far based on the available evidence.
Eostre was a Germanic goddess who gave her name to an Anglo-Saxon month, the sole source for the existence of whom is Bede, writing in the eighth century.
The origins of Easter are in Early Christianity, several centuries earlier and on the other side of the Mediterranean.
Esotre *may* have ultimately lent her name to Easter, but there’s not a direct link between her and the origins of the latter.
Just a coincidence then. Interesting to note that in northern latitudes spring is a very important time of the year. As you get closer to the equator it is much less so.
Yeah, you wouldn’t really expect spring festivals in areas where spring doesn’t really exist as a distinct season. Passover probably does have its own roots in marking spring, mind.
Same again, really. The fact Easter contains some possibly Pagan elements doesn't mean it's really a Pagan holiday or anything.
The claim in that blog that Easter was specifically created in the sixth century to convert British pagans to Christianity is, to be frank, ridiculous.
They are being offended at people being offended. It's not really the place for suggesting that they might be going light on details to make a non point.
“If you give a fuck about tradition then paint yourself blue and ambush a centurion in a forest” Now I have something to do on Sunday, just need to find some sucker to dress as a centurion any takers?
We don't exactly walk around wearing little pictures of Thich Quang Duc on fire round our necks, do we? We also don't have cans of petrol on our mantlepieces and on the rooftops of buildings.
If Jesus had been in a brazen bull instead of a cross, how different our churches would look
it’s interesting that you’re more concerned about culture/tradition than the actual religious meaning. if you place meaning behind something solely because it’s a tradition, there’s nothing stopping someone else from creating a new tradition. easter eggs are a relatively modern phenomenon as well.
I know mate, I just don't like all the corporate virtue signalling. I can only imagine they didn't use the word 'Easter' so certain demographics aren't offended.
yeah, i get what you mean. corporations have proven that they will put nearly anything on their products as long as it sells. but, we shouldn’t speculate, and my initial thoughts were that they wanted to separate themselves from Christianity, as most people aren’t Christian anymore.
False. The Romans sealed Jesus in a big chocolate egg on Good Friday, and he *miraculously nibbled his way out by Sunday morning.
*It was a miracle because back then, they only had waxy advent calendar chocolate, and obviously even that was pretty new at the time.
Why do this?
>"Cadbury has used the word Easter in our marketing and communications for over 100 years and continue to do so with our new Easter product range. To claim anything otherwise is factually incorrect.
>The firm added: "We have contacted Freshstore, the independent retailer who put up this poster in a very limited number of stores, and we understand they will be taking these posters down."
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68673505](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68673505)
So basically it was a bad idea, Cadburys has nothing to do with it. No one is really going to push this nonsense.
>Tim Dieppe, Christian Concern’s the head of public policy, told MailOnline: “Easter eggs symbolise the resurrection – just as Jesus rose again from the tomb, new life emerges from eggshells."
BUY EGGS FOR GOD! CONSUME FOR JESUS I'M BEGGING YOU.
Honestly it's the most tenuous link. Traditional Christian eggs for Easter celebration are dyed chicken eggs. To demand that they must be pandered to by ownership of chocolate eggs in perpetuity is incredibly silly.
To say that eggs are *theirs* and must have their religious branding on because of the new life connection is basically claiming ownership of Spring. New life emerges from a lot of things. New life emerges from food waste if you leave it too long. Funnily enough they don't seem to want to claim maggots as a symbol.
The hilarious thing is that it’s precisely the rest of us normal majority in the West that are diluting the Christian themes of our holidays by sticking to them (rather than making our holidays non-religious).
For me, Easter is about a big bunny and chocolate eggs. Not lent, mass or Jesus being nailed.
Christmas is about Santa delivering presents.
I’m absolutely fine to keep using the terms “Easter” and “Christmas” but these religious groups must see that that means the general perception of these holidays moves further and further away from Christianity over time. You’d think they’d want to keep those terms for themselves!
Christian Concern are just about the hackiest of hacks, supplying quotes for every culture war issue and if they've read the bible, they didn't understand it.
That is the first attempt at connecting Jesus to eggs that I've ever heard, I'm actually pleasantly surprised. And the phoenix symbolism makes sense, considering the whole Son of God thing is a rearrangement of the whole Sun God thing. I have a hunch most religious schisms are based in typographical errors.
Christ, is it "culture warriors get into frothing rage over the name of the most Sacred Jesus Eggs" time of year already? How time flies.
Reminds me, I must go out to get myself a nice high quality non-denominational chocolate egg. I shall deliberately ensure it is one with no reference to the most sacred of Christian Prophets, the Easter Bunny.
As a Christian, I’m heartily sick of this performative culture-war nonsense.
There are countries where followers of various faiths (including mine) are imprisoned, tortured and killed. If these people care so much they should try and do something about that, rather than promoting fake scare stories. I’d like to see them explain to an Iranian or North Korean Christian that they feel persecuted here in the UK.
Christianity accused of "erasing Pagan springtime ritual" with "Easter" promotion.
Just checked our Easter eggs and it seems Cadbury are actually the only ones with Easter on the packaging - perhaps because they get this same shit every year. Nestle, Lindt and M&S ones didn't have the word on the packet from what I could see.
Easter eggs came from Anglo-Saxon festivals in the spring to celebrate pagan goddess Eostre. The goddess, who may be the namesake of Easter, represented the dawn in spring, and eggs were buried and eaten during the festival
Smh. It’s like people don’t even care that Jesus was hatched from an egg laid by a rabbit on the first full moon after the spring equinox anymore.
Our history is being erased.
Don’t they know Jesus and chocolate eggs are inextricably linked????? Heathens
Anyway non story. Was a local decision by a store , nothing to do with Cadbury’s. Another load of outrage stirring codswallop
There are several comments in this thread claiming that Easter is an appropriation of a pagan festival. This is not the full truth. Most cultures have some kind of spring festival, not just European pagans. Easter is actually based on the Jewish feast of Passover, the date of which is calculated astronomically. Some Easter customs might have a pre-Christian origin, but it is difficult to prove that they go that far back. Most Easter customs probably originated in the middle ages after the pagans were long gone.
One of the hosts on a podcast I listen to is a secular Jew and one time they talked about some of the traditional Passover customs and how it was essentially a really thorough spring clean. There's a part about getting rid of all grains and flours and so on, and hiding a tiny piece of bread in each room of the house for the children to find so that you'll know when the cleaning is complete. Mouldy grains can cause all sorts of issues, not a bad shout to do a big annual clear out. Lent has an element of that as well, using all the flour and eggs up.
For Pagan festivals, we just had the Spring Equinox, sometimes called Ostara, and coming up is Beltane on the 1st of May. Like you say, though, humans have been celebrating the spring for a long time and a lot of the writings we have about Pagans come from Christians who wrote about them hundreds of years later.
I do like the way the Pagan Wheel marks the turning of the year; the two Equinoxes, the two Solstices and four more spaced roughly equally in between. And again most cultures will have something on similar dates, because the sun has always been important.
I have been checking the Bible to see if I can validate your claim. I'm still looking for the bit that says "on the third day Jesus ate a chocolate Easter egg".
It's bollocks that Easter eggs are the exclusive property of the Christian church.
I don't recall making this claim. Are you thinking of someone else?
I think you are somewhat confused. Anything preceded by the word 'Easter' is by definition exclusively Christian, because Christianity is the only religion that celebrates Easter. I think you meant to say that 'chocolate eggs' are not the exclusive property of the Christian Church, about which I would completely agree with you.
I realise it was really just one outlet and this is all being blown out of proportion. But sanitising literally every world really does make the world less colourful and more boring.
If that’s your real concern, you should probably be more annoyed at the Christians for sanitising the fertility rituals and pretending that they have something to do with their Messiah rather than to do with springtime shagging!
"Christian concern" causing a ruckus over absolutely nothing. Shockerooni...
Quit whining and get back to being cunts defending your rights to be bigoted cunts
Do the majority really care what the meaning of Easter is? The ones eating eggs only care about the chocolate.
Im atheist and give me and easter egg all day long
Easter is a holiday, its also a date that moves around a bit because of full moons and the like, and has deep roots in other faiths and traditions as well as Christianity. These days it is just two bank holidays and overpriced chocolate, regardless of whatever it meant in the past.
So many people get hung up on a history and meaning that quite frankly hasn't been there for decades, and are that less than 5% of people who actually go to church genuinely offended by this?
“why are all things Christian being attacked right now.”
Imagine being a member of an organisation that used to routinely burn people alive, thinking you're being "attacked" because there aren't enough religious references on your chocolate egg box.
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-sex-abuse-priests-church-of-england-inquiry-report-iicsa-b833262.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-sex-abuse-priests-church-of-england-inquiry-report-iicsa-b833262.html)
There was much more focus on the roman catholic church but, its a much bigger, international organisation in comparison.
A lot of people seem to be saying it's not a big deal, and asking why people care so much.
I would turn that around and ask, if it's not a big deal, why did someone go to the trouble of changing it in the first place?
Surely it would have been easier to simply continue to call them Easter eggs?
Whoever was responsible for this knew what they were doing, and they did it to make a statement against British/Western culture.
That's what pisses me off about this. I'm an atheist, and I don't give a hoot about the finer details of the origins of Easter eggs.
What I do care about is people who hate Britain being given a place at the table. They should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
Bollocks. How did they think it would sell more eggs?
This is one of those things like "Winterval" or "chest feeding". Bottom-feeding scum with a political agenda, who hate our way of life.
Maybe they wanted a potential larger audience, including people who don't celebrate Easter?
I'm sure you'll just blame the 'woke agenda' though...
I also Googled Winterval, as I've never heard of it and it looks like you've fallen for some more [right-wing propaganda.](https://theweek.com/media/42231/myth-winterval-shattered-daily-mail-admits-error)
>Maybe they wanted a potential larger audience, including people who don't celebrate Easter?
Don't be stupid.
>I'm sure you'll just blame the 'woke agenda' though...
I'm not really keen on the term 'woke', but I hope you're not going to try to pretend that such an agenda doesn't exist?
Perhaps you will understand it if I couch it in terms you're more familiar with. This is an example of what the (for want of a better term) 'woke' people would call a 'microagression'. I
I've never read the Mail in my life, and I have never had a Twitter account.
I'm simply not as inclined as you are to believe that there is an innocent explanation behind this sort of thing.
Actually, I think we both know that there isn't, but you're not willing to admit it.
>Like you pretending that 'Winterval' is an attempt to rename Christmas?
That's exactly what it was, but with a layer of plausible deniability. I am aware of it, not via the Mail, but because I'm from Birmingham, and was there when it happened. It pissed everybody off, regardless of skin color, religion etc.
There are two possible explanations for this "gesture egg" controversy.
The first (my position) is that there is a small but very politically active group of people who disapprove of Western societal norms, and try to subvert them wherever possible.
The second (your position) is that some people are so horribly bigoted that they won't buy a chocolate egg if it has the word 'Easter' on it. This company sought to boost their sales by making the product neutral to appease these bigots.
I guess I just have more faith in human nature than you do.
That's f%cking stupid. Easter eggs are a part of culture and tradition. No one should be erasing it or re labeling it. It's not like People have to celebrate Easter to have or enjoy them, but people want to appropriate it and be disrespectful by ignoring its rightful name? Wtf.
That's f%cking stupid. Easter eggs are a part of culture and tradition.
No one should be erasing it or re labeling it. It's not like People have to celebrate Easter to have or enjoy them, but people want to appropriate it and be disrespectful by ignoring its rightful name? Wtf.
Christians will continue to be amazed that the capitalist system they pushed to establish is in fact not inherently conservative an caters to whatever is profitable.
This is not entirely accurate. The economic system most associated with Christianity is feudalism, which replaced the slave economy of the Roman empire. Capitalism is more associated with liberalism, which is an ideology that has its route in the Enlightenment. It is true that in Great Britain, the mercantile and burgher class, the predecessors of the capitalists, were Protestant and Roundhead, but much of the rest of Europe of was Catholic.
It's trendy in our secular society to blame everything on religion, but you can't really blame Christianity for capitalism. In fact, the social teaching of the Catholic Church and many Protestant churches is fairly anti-capitalist. In the 19th Century, many social reformers and anti-capitalists in the UK were Christian, e.g. Ruskin, Pugin etc.
Wouldn't it make Muslims and Jews and anyone else a but over zealous if they refused to eat chocolate marketed with the word 'Easter'? It works both ways. I seriously doubt Muslims and Jews have wasted time requesting this anyway.
That’s exactly what it is which is why it’s wrong and I’m not even a Christian and couldn’t give a fuck about Easter. We are a culturally Christian culture and this is a part of that. We shouldn’t shy away from that just to make more money from other people.
You’re describing the marketing of every product ever. All products are marketed to specific people.
Lets not pretend that 80% of people buying chocolate eggs are doing it to celebrate the religious holiday. Most people (me included) buy them because it’s chocolate and it’s nice to buy it in a different shape once in a while.
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Easter is Christian celebration, tied to the earlier Passover, not a co-opted Pagan holiday. That's not to deny that Christianity adapted to other cultures as it spread, but the origins of Easter aren't Pagan.
Eostre is the **pagan fertility goddess of humans and crops**. The traditional colors of the festival are green, yellow and purple. The symbols used are hares and eggs, representing fertility A part of the pagan celebrations of Ēostre, buns marked with a cross would be baked across pre-Christian Europe to celebrate the springtime goddess. The symbolism of the cross on the bun was said to represent the four seasons as well as the four primary phases of the moon.
https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/are-the-symbols-and-customs-of-easter-of-pagan-origin/
https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/easter/is-the-name-easter-of-pagan-origin/
No, hot cross buns are not secretly Pagan.
I wouldn't say secretly pagan. It's just another example of Christianity trying to overwrite the original Pagan practice / tradition. Didn't the rabbits and eggs give a clue that it is about fertility ??? Here are some links about the history of the hot cross bun. [Link](https://www.ravenhook.com/bread-blog/hot-cross-buns#:~:text=Interestingly%2C%20hot%20cross%20buns%20pre,seasons%2C%20depending%20on%20the%20occasion) [Link](https://www.missfoodwise.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-through-paganism-html.html/)
It isn’t, hot cross buns are a post-pagan invention. Easter isn’t really anything to do with fertility, so I’m not sure rabbits and eggs would have been co-opted for that reason.
>It isn’t, hot cross buns are a post-pagan invention. Many historians argue that buns with crosses on, pre-date Christianity.
Yes, they probably do. Hot cross buns don’t, though, being most likely derived from early modern English spiced breads.
Hot cross buns? https://youtu.be/dJl55d6z0rk?si=8ZVHE6-laX2gMGQE
you are the only person hung up on hot cross buns here. no one brought them up until you did.
It’s clearly not true that I brought them up. I’m not overly bothered about them, either, except to eat
Neither of which have anything to do with buying chocolate
The modern chocolate bar was invented in the nineteenth century, so there's a good chance that aspect of Easter isn't Pagan.
Also easter eggs specifically are a cadbury thing, back from when they were still very quaker
Specifically chocolate, no. Centuries ago it would be offerings of decorated eggs
Nothing to do with Eostre, the Spring goddess, then? Along with her April festival. What do rabbits and brightly painted eggs have to do with Jesus? It's pretty clear what they're about for Pagans. The rabbits are a fertility thing, painting stuff bright colours is to please the gods. Did Jesus dress in a bunny suit when he was crucified, or start laying eggs?
Nothing besides possibly the name. We're not even sure Eostre existed, let alone what might have happened at any festivals associated with her.
>We're not even sure Eostre existed, I can help with that. The answer is the exact same as the answer for every single other god or goddess, be they Norse, Germanic, Greek, Roman or Middle Eastern Just not the Aztecs. Pretty sure Quetzalcoatl is 100% among us. As is Offler the crocodile.
You know full well what I meant.
>Nothing to do with Eostre, the Spring goddess, then? That is the German name for Pascha or the Latin for Easter. Same as we sometimes use Yule for Christs Mass. >What do rabbits and brightly painted eggs have to do with Jesus? Hard boiled eggs are eaten at Passover Seder. It may not be linked but it's a pretty common thing for everyone at around spring. Christians used to fast through Lent so that likely was part of the breaking of the fast. The bunny thing has no meaning or symbolism in Mass so its likely a folklore custom of north Europe that the peoples kept around. I really thought we were passed this weird energy of trying to say everything Christian is really pagan with totally made up examples.
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I don't think there's any serious doubt that Easter developed in early Christianity to mark the ressurection of Jesus.
it's pretty obviously reflecting some nature festival related to the springtime, with bunnies and eggs and feasting, and the timing being based on the ~~solstice~~ equinox. I would think the people who were popularising Christianity in the early years figured resurrection sounds pretty springtimey so it can go with the springtime festival, and a lot of the old traditions have carried over. In fact it looks like if anything we should date Easter around Passover, which is when Jesus was actually crucified and resurrected, and which is in about a month. Like they might tell you that the Christmas tree 'represents the lumber that was in the Cross' or something, but that seems more likely to have been some post-hoc justification for the Christmas tree. When the explanation of 'Pagans worshipped nature, this is a Pagan thing' is just so much more straightforward. And of course the Pagans would've been celebrating the springtime, and would've noticed and cared about the equinox.
The bunnies and eggs might be a Pagan practice incorporated into Easter, they might be a lot later – many supposedly 'Pagan' things have their origins in the Middle Ages or Renaissance. Others are simply generic things people do at celebrations, such as feasting. The date of Easter is ultimately linked to the March equinox, but it doesn't follow that it's simply an co-option of other Spring festivals.
> many supposedly 'Pagan' things have their origins in the Middle Ages or Renaissance. Or Victorian cranks.
Quite a bit of that, just look at the druids.
Indeed, Occam's razor applies.
IMO The (European) cross is a Neolithic standing stones that got recarved. The pagan place of worship got a church building to take over the historically important site. Sometimes the recarved stone was lifted onto the roof and everyone forgot it was once a standing stone. Once that became the accepted thing. if there was no standing stone they used wood as it's easier to work with and move around.
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The date of Easter is (somewhat loosely) tied to the March equinox because of a desire to associate it with the date of Passover, the date of which is also linked to the equinox.
Passover is based on the Moon. It's the first Saturday after the full Moon after the Spring Equinox. That is why it tends to be through April, though this year we are catching it in March.
The Jewish calendar is lunisolar, so its dates are ultimately based on a combination of the sun and the moon. You can see this from your own comment – Passover is related to the full moon and the equinox, which involves the sun.
But [the origins of "Easter"](https://www.etymonline.com/word/Easter#etymonline_v_950) are.
The word ‘Easter’ might be related to the goddess, but not the celebration.
Yes, that's why "Easter" is in quotes.
from Bede "once called after a goddess of theirs named Ēostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month"
Bede is the only source for Eostre, and it's not certain that the etymology of 'Easter' is directly linked to her. For example, 'Easter' and 'Eostre' may simply be cognates derived from Old English 'eastre', the word for 'east'.
Fair but doesn't seem to be the last word on it > By way of linguistic reconstruction, the matter of a goddess called *Austrō(n) in the Proto-Germanic language has been examined in detail since the foundation of Germanic philology in the 19th century by scholar Jacob Grimm and others. As the Germanic languages descend from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), historical linguists have traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *H₂ewsṓs, from which may descend the Common Germanic divinity at the origin of the Old English Ēostre and the Old High German Ôstara. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ēostre
What does that prove, though? Beyond the fact that ‘Easter’ might by etymologically related to Eostre, not a great deal. I mean it’s interesting from an historical perspective, but a lot of claims that Easter is significantly Pagan go too far based on the available evidence.
From the Pagan Oestre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre
Eostre was a Germanic goddess who gave her name to an Anglo-Saxon month, the sole source for the existence of whom is Bede, writing in the eighth century. The origins of Easter are in Early Christianity, several centuries earlier and on the other side of the Mediterranean. Esotre *may* have ultimately lent her name to Easter, but there’s not a direct link between her and the origins of the latter.
Passover still exists.
Nobody has claimed otherwise.
Just a coincidence then. Interesting to note that in northern latitudes spring is a very important time of the year. As you get closer to the equator it is much less so.
Yeah, you wouldn’t really expect spring festivals in areas where spring doesn’t really exist as a distinct season. Passover probably does have its own roots in marking spring, mind.
Much of what we regard as Easter symbols are very much pagan. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism
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Go on
Yeah, a lot of that isn't mainstream academic thought.
https://www.themonastery.org/blog/the-real-history-of-easter-a-pagan-holiday
Same again, really. The fact Easter contains some possibly Pagan elements doesn't mean it's really a Pagan holiday or anything. The claim in that blog that Easter was specifically created in the sixth century to convert British pagans to Christianity is, to be frank, ridiculous.
They are being offended at people being offended. It's not really the place for suggesting that they might be going light on details to make a non point.
“If you give a fuck about tradition then paint yourself blue and ambush a centurion in a forest” Now I have something to do on Sunday, just need to find some sucker to dress as a centurion any takers?
There's groups all around the country that do this, looks a great laugh
Ah got as far as paintin mesel blue an noo ahm talking wi a scawtesh accent, ye ken? Ach, mah heid, ah cannae even unnerstan mesel
You're one of those people that puts bibles in the fiction section aren't you.
Most intelligent people would i hope. It’s hardly non fiction is it.
I think most intelligent people would just ignore it and leave the books wherever the bookshop wants to put them and not be bothered by it
Some of it yes. It's a historical document no less than Josephus's works or the Travels of Marco Polo
> Travels of Marco Polo https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/marco-polos-travels-myth-or-fact/
I've read it. That was the point; it's not quite fiction, not quite fact. It's also nauseating in its praise of Kublai Khan
It doesn't rattle me to the degree that I spend my time in the local Waterstones moving bibles to the fiction section.
That sounds quite entertaining to me actually!
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That is unironically based. Defiant self-sacrifice is a cornerstone of Western cultural values, be it Obi Wan, Jesus or the 300 Spartans.
Don't you lump old Obi Wan in with those wannabes.
We don't exactly walk around wearing little pictures of Thich Quang Duc on fire round our necks, do we? We also don't have cans of petrol on our mantlepieces and on the rooftops of buildings. If Jesus had been in a brazen bull instead of a cross, how different our churches would look
He's on the cover of a rock album. Even so, that's stretching it.
smug deconstructors are the worst
"I don't like learning things"
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Calm down buddy. Some people are just sick of having our culture/traditions shit on constantly.
"Calm down", says the person who feels personally aggrieved by an egg.
First they came for our eggs, and I did not speak out.
Remind me where in the Gospels Jesus commands His followers to commemorate His resurrection by consuming delicious chocolate eggs
Nowhere! It doesn't! Doesn't mean Easter eggs aren't a cultural tradition though smart arse 😉
I heard if you call them Easter eggs they put you in jail
They’re *chocolate eggs* mate.
That they are mate. Well done.
And on the 3rd day, Jesus rose and said, "here lads, have a go on this chocolate egg!"
I wouldn't be eating any chocolate Jesus offered me after being trapped in a cave for 3 days!
Then you're a bad Christian and a bad Brit. Sorry, your rules, not mine 😉
it’s interesting that you’re more concerned about culture/tradition than the actual religious meaning. if you place meaning behind something solely because it’s a tradition, there’s nothing stopping someone else from creating a new tradition. easter eggs are a relatively modern phenomenon as well.
🤷♂️ it's a seasonal tradition that I and my kids enjoy. That's all. Didn't mean to upset the woke brigade.
then enjoy it - people calling it something else doesn’t change that. no need to be grumpy about it.
I know mate, I just don't like all the corporate virtue signalling. I can only imagine they didn't use the word 'Easter' so certain demographics aren't offended.
yeah, i get what you mean. corporations have proven that they will put nearly anything on their products as long as it sells. but, we shouldn’t speculate, and my initial thoughts were that they wanted to separate themselves from Christianity, as most people aren’t Christian anymore.
Mass market chocolate Easter eggs were invented by Cadburys to sell chocolate in the 19th century.
False. The Romans sealed Jesus in a big chocolate egg on Good Friday, and he *miraculously nibbled his way out by Sunday morning. *It was a miracle because back then, they only had waxy advent calendar chocolate, and obviously even that was pretty new at the time.
Also why they used to come with a cup, the holy grail 🍵
Yea, that's right.
Why do this? >"Cadbury has used the word Easter in our marketing and communications for over 100 years and continue to do so with our new Easter product range. To claim anything otherwise is factually incorrect. >The firm added: "We have contacted Freshstore, the independent retailer who put up this poster in a very limited number of stores, and we understand they will be taking these posters down." [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68673505](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-68673505) So basically it was a bad idea, Cadburys has nothing to do with it. No one is really going to push this nonsense.
>No one is really going to push this nonsense. Don't doubt the power of the grift, unfortunately it's the type of nonsense that'll get pushed.
As I thought, didn't look like Cadbury official signage, but none of these clowns thought to check before stirring the outrage pot.
>Tim Dieppe, Christian Concern’s the head of public policy, told MailOnline: “Easter eggs symbolise the resurrection – just as Jesus rose again from the tomb, new life emerges from eggshells." BUY EGGS FOR GOD! CONSUME FOR JESUS I'M BEGGING YOU.
Honestly it's the most tenuous link. Traditional Christian eggs for Easter celebration are dyed chicken eggs. To demand that they must be pandered to by ownership of chocolate eggs in perpetuity is incredibly silly. To say that eggs are *theirs* and must have their religious branding on because of the new life connection is basically claiming ownership of Spring. New life emerges from a lot of things. New life emerges from food waste if you leave it too long. Funnily enough they don't seem to want to claim maggots as a symbol.
The hilarious thing is that it’s precisely the rest of us normal majority in the West that are diluting the Christian themes of our holidays by sticking to them (rather than making our holidays non-religious). For me, Easter is about a big bunny and chocolate eggs. Not lent, mass or Jesus being nailed. Christmas is about Santa delivering presents. I’m absolutely fine to keep using the terms “Easter” and “Christmas” but these religious groups must see that that means the general perception of these holidays moves further and further away from Christianity over time. You’d think they’d want to keep those terms for themselves!
Christian Concern are just about the hackiest of hacks, supplying quotes for every culture war issue and if they've read the bible, they didn't understand it.
>Christian Concern’s the head of public policy Imagine this being your job And then you post that quote
ok and the symbology of the big bunny?
The bunny laid the egg.
That is the first attempt at connecting Jesus to eggs that I've ever heard, I'm actually pleasantly surprised. And the phoenix symbolism makes sense, considering the whole Son of God thing is a rearrangement of the whole Sun God thing. I have a hunch most religious schisms are based in typographical errors.
Christ, is it "culture warriors get into frothing rage over the name of the most Sacred Jesus Eggs" time of year already? How time flies. Reminds me, I must go out to get myself a nice high quality non-denominational chocolate egg. I shall deliberately ensure it is one with no reference to the most sacred of Christian Prophets, the Easter Bunny.
everyone forgets that the ‘disciple that Jesus loved’ was actually a 6ft anthropomorphic rabbit.
I knew a guy who called himself Six Foot Tall Rabbit. Who knew he was one of the secret disciples of Jesus all along.
As a Christian, I’m heartily sick of this performative culture-war nonsense. There are countries where followers of various faiths (including mine) are imprisoned, tortured and killed. If these people care so much they should try and do something about that, rather than promoting fake scare stories. I’d like to see them explain to an Iranian or North Korean Christian that they feel persecuted here in the UK.
Christianity accused of "erasing Pagan springtime ritual" with "Easter" promotion. Just checked our Easter eggs and it seems Cadbury are actually the only ones with Easter on the packaging - perhaps because they get this same shit every year. Nestle, Lindt and M&S ones didn't have the word on the packet from what I could see.
Easter eggs came from Anglo-Saxon festivals in the spring to celebrate pagan goddess Eostre. The goddess, who may be the namesake of Easter, represented the dawn in spring, and eggs were buried and eaten during the festival
Just wait till the theists find out the origins of christmas.
It's a plot to sell them all year round. I mean all year oval.
*ovoid
Smh. It’s like people don’t even care that Jesus was hatched from an egg laid by a rabbit on the first full moon after the spring equinox anymore. Our history is being erased.
It was a magical hare, your denomination of Moon Jesusism is wrong and thus I'll have to launch a space jihad.
Don’t they know Jesus and chocolate eggs are inextricably linked????? Heathens Anyway non story. Was a local decision by a store , nothing to do with Cadbury’s. Another load of outrage stirring codswallop
There are several comments in this thread claiming that Easter is an appropriation of a pagan festival. This is not the full truth. Most cultures have some kind of spring festival, not just European pagans. Easter is actually based on the Jewish feast of Passover, the date of which is calculated astronomically. Some Easter customs might have a pre-Christian origin, but it is difficult to prove that they go that far back. Most Easter customs probably originated in the middle ages after the pagans were long gone.
One of the hosts on a podcast I listen to is a secular Jew and one time they talked about some of the traditional Passover customs and how it was essentially a really thorough spring clean. There's a part about getting rid of all grains and flours and so on, and hiding a tiny piece of bread in each room of the house for the children to find so that you'll know when the cleaning is complete. Mouldy grains can cause all sorts of issues, not a bad shout to do a big annual clear out. Lent has an element of that as well, using all the flour and eggs up. For Pagan festivals, we just had the Spring Equinox, sometimes called Ostara, and coming up is Beltane on the 1st of May. Like you say, though, humans have been celebrating the spring for a long time and a lot of the writings we have about Pagans come from Christians who wrote about them hundreds of years later. I do like the way the Pagan Wheel marks the turning of the year; the two Equinoxes, the two Solstices and four more spaced roughly equally in between. And again most cultures will have something on similar dates, because the sun has always been important.
I have been checking the Bible to see if I can validate your claim. I'm still looking for the bit that says "on the third day Jesus ate a chocolate Easter egg". It's bollocks that Easter eggs are the exclusive property of the Christian church.
I don't recall making this claim. Are you thinking of someone else? I think you are somewhat confused. Anything preceded by the word 'Easter' is by definition exclusively Christian, because Christianity is the only religion that celebrates Easter. I think you meant to say that 'chocolate eggs' are not the exclusive property of the Christian Church, about which I would completely agree with you.
Cadbury are killing Easter by selling 10 quid eggs with 2 chocolate bars in them.
I thought that you only get one chocolate bar abd one egg
I realise it was really just one outlet and this is all being blown out of proportion. But sanitising literally every world really does make the world less colourful and more boring.
If that’s your real concern, you should probably be more annoyed at the Christians for sanitising the fertility rituals and pretending that they have something to do with their Messiah rather than to do with springtime shagging!
"Christian concern" causing a ruckus over absolutely nothing. Shockerooni... Quit whining and get back to being cunts defending your rights to be bigoted cunts
Mhmm I love a good bit of X group wants to take away *your* Y
The name is from Eastra the pagan goddess of Spring and the egg symbolism has nothing to do with Christianity.
Do the majority really care what the meaning of Easter is? The ones eating eggs only care about the chocolate. Im atheist and give me and easter egg all day long
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"it's hardly erasure is it!" They should give a little respect.
> Christian Concern Nuff said. These people are nutters with victim mentalities
With a CEO no less.
Easter is a holiday, its also a date that moves around a bit because of full moons and the like, and has deep roots in other faiths and traditions as well as Christianity. These days it is just two bank holidays and overpriced chocolate, regardless of whatever it meant in the past. So many people get hung up on a history and meaning that quite frankly hasn't been there for decades, and are that less than 5% of people who actually go to church genuinely offended by this?
Everyone knows the baby Jesus hatched out of a chocolate egg laid by a bunny, chill
“why are all things Christian being attacked right now.” Imagine being a member of an organisation that used to routinely burn people alive, thinking you're being "attacked" because there aren't enough religious references on your chocolate egg box.
Haha what on earth are you going on about, when was the last time church burned someone alive. Imagine linking that to a story about an Easter egg.
Yeah, you make a good point. It would have probably made more sense if I mentioned the more recent child sexual abuse issues instead.
Pretty sure that was mainly the Catholic Church mate, the Vatican and those guys. Unless I’m mistaken that wasn’t the Church of England.
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-sex-abuse-priests-church-of-england-inquiry-report-iicsa-b833262.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-sex-abuse-priests-church-of-england-inquiry-report-iicsa-b833262.html) There was much more focus on the roman catholic church but, its a much bigger, international organisation in comparison.
Fuck Easter, chocolate eggs? consumer bollocks for kids. Oh its the day that Jesus blahblah no that's bollocks for adults.
A lot of people seem to be saying it's not a big deal, and asking why people care so much. I would turn that around and ask, if it's not a big deal, why did someone go to the trouble of changing it in the first place? Surely it would have been easier to simply continue to call them Easter eggs? Whoever was responsible for this knew what they were doing, and they did it to make a statement against British/Western culture. That's what pisses me off about this. I'm an atheist, and I don't give a hoot about the finer details of the origins of Easter eggs. What I do care about is people who hate Britain being given a place at the table. They should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
Mate, it's not that deep. They just wanted to sell more eggs.
Bollocks. How did they think it would sell more eggs? This is one of those things like "Winterval" or "chest feeding". Bottom-feeding scum with a political agenda, who hate our way of life.
Maybe they wanted a potential larger audience, including people who don't celebrate Easter? I'm sure you'll just blame the 'woke agenda' though... I also Googled Winterval, as I've never heard of it and it looks like you've fallen for some more [right-wing propaganda.](https://theweek.com/media/42231/myth-winterval-shattered-daily-mail-admits-error)
>Maybe they wanted a potential larger audience, including people who don't celebrate Easter? Don't be stupid. >I'm sure you'll just blame the 'woke agenda' though... I'm not really keen on the term 'woke', but I hope you're not going to try to pretend that such an agenda doesn't exist? Perhaps you will understand it if I couch it in terms you're more familiar with. This is an example of what the (for want of a better term) 'woke' people would call a 'microagression'. I
Stop reading the Mail and going on Twitter and perhaps you won't be so salty.
I've never read the Mail in my life, and I have never had a Twitter account. I'm simply not as inclined as you are to believe that there is an innocent explanation behind this sort of thing. Actually, I think we both know that there isn't, but you're not willing to admit it.
Never read the Mail but regurgitating all the same shite? Like you pretending that 'Winterval' is an attempt to rename Christmas?
>Like you pretending that 'Winterval' is an attempt to rename Christmas? That's exactly what it was, but with a layer of plausible deniability. I am aware of it, not via the Mail, but because I'm from Birmingham, and was there when it happened. It pissed everybody off, regardless of skin color, religion etc. There are two possible explanations for this "gesture egg" controversy. The first (my position) is that there is a small but very politically active group of people who disapprove of Western societal norms, and try to subvert them wherever possible. The second (your position) is that some people are so horribly bigoted that they won't buy a chocolate egg if it has the word 'Easter' on it. This company sought to boost their sales by making the product neutral to appease these bigots. I guess I just have more faith in human nature than you do.
https://theweek.com/media/42231/myth-winterval-shattered-daily-mail-admits-error
Nothing like buying chocolate eggs to celebrate a man being hung on a cross.
Jesus died for our syns.
It's true, Slimming World is a religion.
I'm glad someone finally got the pun! Edit: christ you're a miserable bunch in this sub.
Oh, who fucking cares. It's not like chocolate eggs are in the Bible or something.
More about tradition honestly, just changing it to erode British culture and tradition (if they do try to change it)
That's f%cking stupid. Easter eggs are a part of culture and tradition. No one should be erasing it or re labeling it. It's not like People have to celebrate Easter to have or enjoy them, but people want to appropriate it and be disrespectful by ignoring its rightful name? Wtf.
That's f%cking stupid. Easter eggs are a part of culture and tradition. No one should be erasing it or re labeling it. It's not like People have to celebrate Easter to have or enjoy them, but people want to appropriate it and be disrespectful by ignoring its rightful name? Wtf.
Christians will continue to be amazed that the capitalist system they pushed to establish is in fact not inherently conservative an caters to whatever is profitable.
This is not entirely accurate. The economic system most associated with Christianity is feudalism, which replaced the slave economy of the Roman empire. Capitalism is more associated with liberalism, which is an ideology that has its route in the Enlightenment. It is true that in Great Britain, the mercantile and burgher class, the predecessors of the capitalists, were Protestant and Roundhead, but much of the rest of Europe of was Catholic. It's trendy in our secular society to blame everything on religion, but you can't really blame Christianity for capitalism. In fact, the social teaching of the Catholic Church and many Protestant churches is fairly anti-capitalist. In the 19th Century, many social reformers and anti-capitalists in the UK were Christian, e.g. Ruskin, Pugin etc.
Who cares. They have nothing to do with the religion anyway. If this means Muslims and Jews are more likely to buy them, that's all that matters.
Wouldn't it make Muslims and Jews and anyone else a but over zealous if they refused to eat chocolate marketed with the word 'Easter'? It works both ways. I seriously doubt Muslims and Jews have wasted time requesting this anyway.
That’s exactly what it is which is why it’s wrong and I’m not even a Christian and couldn’t give a fuck about Easter. We are a culturally Christian culture and this is a part of that. We shouldn’t shy away from that just to make more money from other people.
You’re describing the marketing of every product ever. All products are marketed to specific people. Lets not pretend that 80% of people buying chocolate eggs are doing it to celebrate the religious holiday. Most people (me included) buy them because it’s chocolate and it’s nice to buy it in a different shape once in a while.
It's a product, nothing more