Our easter baskets are filled with tons of cookies and chocolates and other goodies.
But also, having a couple of relatives who tend to take easter a bit too dourly and seriously - so we couldn't help put in a bit of education.
So we put folded up papers with the history of easter on them, the page is also decorated with bunnys and egg's in all the hidden.
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The front page says:
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THE ORIGIN OF EASTER
Origins of the name and the celebration
The name “Easter” originated with the names of ancient Goddesses and Gods. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE*) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similar “Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [were] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos.” 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: “eastre.” Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were: -- Aphrodite from Cyprus -- Astarte, from Phoenicia -- Demeter, from Mycenae -- Hathor from Egypt -- Ishtar from Assyria -- Kali, from India -- Ostara, a Norse Goddess of fertility.
Many, perhaps most, Pagan religions in the Mediterranean area had a major seasonal day of religious celebration at or following the Spring Equinox. Cybele, the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a fictional consort who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. He was Attis, who was believed to have died and been resurrected each year during the period MAR-22 to MAR-25. About 200 BCE*. mystery ‘’cults’’ began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele ‘’cult’’ centered on Vatican hill ...Associated with the Cybele ‘’cult’’ was that of her lover, Attis ([the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection.
Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians “used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation.”
Many religious historians believe that the death and resurrection legends were first associated with Attis, many centuries before the birth of Jesus. They were simply grafted onto stories of Jesus’ life in order to make Christian theology more acceptable to Pagans. Others suggest that many of the events in Jesus’ life that were recorded in the gospels were lifted from the life of Krishna, the second person of the Hindu Trinity. (Ancient Christians had an alternate explanation; they claimed that Satan had created counterfeit deities in advance of the coming of Christ in order to confuse humanity!)
Wiccans and other modern-day Neopagans continue to celebrate the Spring Equinox as one of their 8 yearly Sabbats (holy days of celebration). Near the Mediterranean, this is a time of sprouting of the summer’s crop; farther north, it is the time for seeding. Their rituals at the Spring Equinox are related primarily to the fertility of the crops and to the balance of the day and night times. Where Wiccans can safely celebrate the Sabbat out of doors without threat of religious persecution, they often incorporate a bonfire into their rituals, jumping over the dying embers is believed to assure fertility of people and crops.
Note: Its actually a bit “non-Christian” to even use the word Easter! The word Easter is mentioned but once in the Bible (Acts 12:4). There it is mentioned as a day being observed by the pagan King Herod, not by any Christian.
*See back for explaination of CE & BCE
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Back Page
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* The use of “CE” and “BCE”
to identify dates
CE stands for “Common Era.” It is a new term that is eventually expected to replace AD, though it may take 100 years, or 1000, the foundation is there for it now. AD is an abbreviation for “Anno Domini” in Latin or “the year of the Lord” in English. It refers to the approximate birth year of Yeshua ben Nazareth (a.k.a. Jesus Christ). CE and AD have the same definition and value. 2000 CE = 2000 AD.
BCE stands for “Before the common era.” It is expected to replace BC, which means “Before Christ.” BC and BCE are also identical in value. Most theologians and religious historians believe that the approximate birth date of Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus) was in the fall, sometime between 4 and 7 BCE.
The term “common” simply means that this is the most frequently used calendar system: the Gregorian Calendar. There are many religious calendars in existence, but each of these are normally in use in only a small geographic area of the world — typically by followers of a single religion.
The Ethic of Reciprocity (the Golden Rule) suggests that one should not intentionally cause pain to other humans. We should treat others as we would wish to be treated. Since only one out of every three humans on earth is a Christian, some theologians felt that non-religious, neutral terms like CE and BCE would be less offensive to the non-Christian majority. Forcing a Hindu, for example, to use AD and BC might be seen by some as coercing them to acknowledge the supremacy of the Christian God and of Jesus Christ.
Consider an analogous situation: the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. The most recent version of this pledge includes the phrase: “Under God.” Imagine what a Wiccan — who believes in a God and a Goddess — or many Buddhists and strong Atheists — who do not believe in the existence of God — feel when having to recite those words. Consider how a Christian would feel if the pledge read “Under Buddha” or “Under Allah.”
Although CE and BCE were originally used mainly within theological writings, the terms are gradually receiving greater usage in secular writing, the media, and in the culture generally.
However, there is nothing to prevent a person from defining CE and BCE as “Christian Era” and “Before the Christian Era” if they wish. The American Abbreviations Dictionary does exactly this.