Happy Easter.....Passover....

Well this year the weeks before Easter became a little more confusing. And to all those Christians who are spending weeks before Christmas saying "Let's Put Christ Back Into Christmas" I am considering saying....."Let's Put Less Confusion into my Holidays".

So to make a long story short - because I am certain you are either preparing for your Wonderful Easter Feast or your Wonderful Seder - this spring holiday was very interesting due to Facebook and a family member. First it was explained to me by someone deeply subscribed to their Christian faith (I poke no fun) that they would not be celebrating Easter and that their one difficulty with the Catholic faith was the ties to the Pagan holidays. We will leave the obvious argument aside that all religious holidays can in many ways be brought back to Pagan celebrations. Remember we are keeping a long story short. We will also leave behind the argument that the Catholic church did their bestest to crush and destroy all Pagan related celebrations (yes I am Catholic - no I don't hate Pagan ties). The fact still remains that almost all Christian religions are celebrating holidays that are related to the Pagan celebrations of old - Catholics included.

Anyway....it was explained to me that the Pagan ties of Easter to the celebration of Eostra, Eostre, etc. as seen here.......
Eostre was the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, the east, fertility, and rebirth, and she is still celebrated by pagans today. Sometimes, Eostre is called Ostara, Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Estre, Eostre, Eoster, Eostra, Eastre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron, Aurora, or Ausos. Her name honors the sun rising in the east, and the month of April was dedicated to her. One of the biggest festivals of the Saxons of second century Europe was the spring equinox celebration in honor of Eostre. Eostre's sacred animal was a hare, and she was said to be able to take the form of a hare. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg representing the god, and the hare the goddess. Some Neo-pagans believe that she was sometimes depicted with a hare's head, though it is not possible to substantiate this belief as no known animal-headed deities appear in Germanic cult objects. Eggs and rabbits are sacred to her, as is the full moon, since the ancients saw in its markings the image of a rabbit or hare. Pagan Anglo-Saxons made offerings of colored eggs to her at the Vernal Equinox. They placed them at graves especially, probably as a charm of rebirth. The Goddess of Fertility was also the Goddess of Grain, so offerings of bread and cakes were also made to her.

Uh oh this is getting longer........but I found that explanation of Eostre and thought I would share it - plus it explains where the Bunny and Easter Eggs came from - too cute.

So anyway....no pagan rituals are being allowed in some Christian religions it appears and Passover is instead being celebrated. Okay. To each their own. A smidge confusing to me because the three years I celebrated Passover it was a Jewish celebration and all my Christian friends were still riding the Easter holiday - and the synagogue we attended service at didn't talk about how Jesus was risen......or actually that Jesus was a son of God or any of the things that I associated Easter to signify. Still....if my Christian family member and her church want to forgo Easter and celebrate only Passover it is not for me to say. They may know more then me. Then I started noticing that a few of my Christian friends on Facebook were requesting directions as to how to serve a Seder Meal. Huh? My first thought was - wait they aren't Jewish. My second thought was......oh, I bet this is related to the "no Easter" thing. So I asked.

Not exactly as it turned out though.

They were celebrating Passover......the pass over when God instructed them to slay the pure lamb and take its blood and mark the doorways of those who believed and then God would pass over their homes when he came through to kill the first born son of those who did not believe. Passover for the Jewish religion it turns out is somewhat different from the Christian Passover. Christian Passover does not include all the rest of the Exodus....but I may not be completely clear on that (meaning don't quote me I am still trying to figure this all out). This is where I get confused though - because the people on Facebook who were preparing a Seder meal were still intending to celebrate Easter. The Seder meal was being prepared on Holy Thursday. I never knew that anyone not Jewish prepared a Seder meal - and honestly I personally love this idea. I looked the meal up and it is similar to a Jewish Seder meal, but there are small differences. But back to Easter. So these Facebook friends were preparing Seder for Holy Thursday - then there would be Good Friday and then Easter. All that aligns with my understanding of Easter. But the family member was letting go of Easter.........so when does Jesus rise for them? And that is where I get confused. Over the past week I have shared emails with my brother-in-law who is in seminary trying to figure it out, and while I admit I have a much clearer understanding of all these elements that are the celebration..........I still don't understand the part where some religions are letting go of Easter due to pagan ties. It seems to me they all belong together. Plus - each one of the celebrations has a boiled egg included - tying it back to the Pagan ritual celebrations.

So I am hanging up the hand towel in understanding this right now.....pass me a chocolate bunny, let's hide some matzoh for the kids to find and who wants a Deviled Egg?