It is only the truth that you know and act on
that will make or set you free.
Published last Passover/Pesach, and reposted for this week, for the many new subscribers and readers.
A very warm welcome and abundant shalom, to each and every one who have joined us these last few months.
As we are at the beginning of the Hebrew Spiritual New Year which starts with the Spring Appointed Times/Feasts; this post is a summary of our Heavenly Fathers Biblically Appointed Times and Seasons according to the Hebrew Calendar. This will hopefully serve as a helpful reference during the rest of the year and beyond if Messiah tarries.
It also includes some background and factual information revealing the roots of some of our western ‘christian’ traditions and focusing specifically on Passover/Resurrection which is more often called easter.
In Israel/Yisrael/יִשְׂרָאֵל and wherever Jewish people are around the world, they are often heard saying: The holidays are late this year or The holidays are early this year. However, the holidays never are early or late; they are always on time, according to the Hebrew calendar. Why? Because it is based on our Heavenly Fathers Word. He is the Creator of all things and King of the Universe/ Melek HaOlam.
Unlike the Gregorian (civil) calendar, which is based on the sun/solar, the Hebrew/Israelite calendar is based primarily on the moon/lunar, with periodic adjustments made to account for the differences between the solar and lunar cycles. Therefore, the Jewish calendar might be described as both solar and lunar.
The moon takes an average of twenty-nine and one-half days to complete its cycle; twelve lunar months equal 354 days. A solar year is 365 1/4 days. There is a difference of eleven days per year. To ensure that the Hebraic/Jewish holidays always fall in the proper season, an extra month is added to the Hebrew calendar seven times out of every nineteen years. If this were not done, the fall harvest festival of Sukkot, for instance, would sometimes be celebrated in the summer, or the spring holiday of Passover/Pesach would sometimes occur in the winter.
Hebrew/Israelite days are reckoned from sunset to sunset rather than from dawn or midnight. The basis for this is biblical. In the story of Creation Genesis 1, each day concludes with the phrase: And there was evening and there was morning. . .
Since evening is mentioned first, the ancient rabbis concluded that in a day, evening precedes morning.
A List of Our Heavenly Fathers’
Appointed Times/ Moedim for this year.
There are four Spring moedim and three Fall moedim.
מועדים pronounced: Mo-ahd-eem,
Spring Moedim:
Passover – Pesach
Feast of Unleavened Bread – Hag HaMatzot
First Fruits – Yom Habikkurim
Festival of Weeks (Pentecost) – Shavuot
Fall Moedim:
Feast of Trumpets – Yom Teruah (Rosh Hashanah)
Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur
Feast of Tabernacles – Sukkot
A brief review of the Moedim with dates for this year; for those new to this understanding of the Biblical Calendar.
The Spiritual New Year always begins with the
Spring Appointed Times which in some lists include other events/minor festivals, as well as the 7 Moedim:
Note: The Jewish calendar date begins at sundown of the night beforehand. Thus all holiday observances begin at sundown on the secular dates listed, with the following day being the first full day of the holiday. Jewish calendar dates conclude at nightfall.
In 2023, 14th day of Adar 5783
Purim פּוּרִים ; “lots”, from the word פור, “pur”
Also (plural) Puwriym {poo-reem’}; or Puriym {poo-reem’}; from puwr; a lot (as by means of a broken piece)
Strong’s Hebrew: 6332. פּוּר (Pur) — “a lot,” a Jewish feast
Upcoming Purim dates include:
2023, Mar 06 – Mar 07
2024, Mar 23 – Mar 24
Purim is an unusual holiday in many respects. First, Esther is the only biblical book in which God is not mentioned. Second, Purim, like Hanukkah, is viewed as a minor festival according to Jewish custom, but has been elevated to a major holiday as a result of the Jewish historical experience. Over the centuries, Haman has come to symbolize every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance of Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become: a thankful and joyous holiday that affirms and celebrates Jewish survival and continuity throughout history.
The main communal celebration involves a public reading of the Book of Esther (M’gillat Esther)
Strong’s Hebrew: 4039. מְגִלָּה (megillah) — a scroll
This book tells the story of the holiday: Under the rule of King Ahashverosh, Haman, the king’s adviser, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of Persia from destruction.
For those new to mmm, a very warm welcome and there is more information on each of the moedim, click on links below each one.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/who-was-hadassah/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/double-take-and-casting-lots/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/if-i-perish-i-perish-remembering-purim/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/what-has-a-flower-got-to-do-with-a-servant-heart-salvation-and-a-bridegroom/
In 2023, Passover – Pesach- פסח
starts on Wednesday April 5th. 14-22 Nisan
Upcoming Passover dates include:
2023, Apr 05 – Apr 13
2024, Apr 22 – Apr 29
2025: April 12-20
2026: April 1-9
2027: April 21-29
Passover – פסח
Strong’s Hebrew: 6453. פָּ֫סַח (pesach) — passover
Pesach in Hebrew is a major spring festival celebrating freedom and family as the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,000 years ago is remembered. The main observances of this holiday center around a special home service called the seder, which includes a meal, the prohibition on eating chametz, and the eating of matzah.
Chametz (also spelled “hametz” or “chometz”) is any food product made from wheat, barley, rye, oats or spelt that has come into contact with water and been allowed to ferment and “rise.”. In practice, just about anything made from these grains—other than Passover matzah, which is carefully controlled to avoid leavening.““““““
On the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, people gather with family and friends in the evening to read from a book called the Haggadah, meaning “telling,” which contains the order of prayers, scripture readings, and songs for the Passover seder. The same that Jesus/Yeshua celebrated with His disciples.
הַגָּדָה, pronounced hah-GOH-doh;
The Haggadah helps to retell the events of the Exodus, so that each generation may learn and remember this story that is so central to Hebrew/Jewish life and history.
Passover/Pesach is celebrated for either seven or eight days, depending on family and community custom. In Israel and for most around the world, Passover is seven days, but for many others, it is eight days. This includes the days of Unleavened Bread.
Immediately following is
the seven-week period between Pesach/Passover and Shavuot/pentecost, a period of time is known as the Omer.
The Omer has both agricultural and spiritual significance: it marks both the spring cycle of planting and harvest, and the Israelites’ journey out of slavery in Egypt (Passover) and toward receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai (Shavuot). An omer (“sheaf”) is an ancient Hebrew measure of grain. Biblical law forbade any use of the new barley crop until after an omer was brought as an offering to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Book of Leviticus (23:15-16) also commanded: “And from the day on which you bring the offering…you shall count off seven weeks. They must be complete.”
This commandment led to the practice of the S’firat HaOmer,
or the 49 days of the “Counting of the Omer,”
which begins on the second day of Passover and ends with the celebration of Shavuot on the 50th day.
Hag HaMatzot First Fruits – Yom Habikkurim Festival of
Links below for more posts on:
Passover, First Fruits, Seder Meal, Unleavened Bread, Afikomen & Omer…
https://www.minimannamoments.com/revealing-the-overcoming-resheet-of-bikkurim/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/afikomen-mysterious-and-hidden/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/first-fruits/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/13-for-supper-and-only-4-cups/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/counting-our-blessings-with-omer/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/palm-sunday-nisan-the-appointed-time-of-the-lamb/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/not-passing-over-passover-week/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lot-can-happen-in-a-week/
SHAVUOT
In 2023, Shavuot Pentecost starts on evening of
Thursday May 25th: 5 Sivan
Upcoming Shavuot dates include:
2023, Friday May 25 – May 26
2024, Jun 11 – Jun 13
2025: June 1-3
2026: May 22-23
Shavuot (שָׁבוּעוֹת)
is the Hebrew word for “weeks,”
and the holiday occurs seven weeks after Firstfruits/Passover/Unleavened Bread.
Shavuot, like many other Jewish holidays, began as an ancient agricultural festival that marked the end of the spring barley harvest and the beginning of the summer wheat harvest. In ancient times, Shavuot was one of three pilgrimage festivals during which Israelites brought crop offerings to the Temple in Jerusalem. Today, it is a celebration of
the giving of Torah (Matan Torah – מַתַּן תּוֹרָה)
to the Israelites in the wilderness. It also marks the culmination of the experience of redemption, sometimes called Atzeret Pesach, the Gathering of Passover.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/50-days-later-an-earthly-and-spiritual-harvest-pentecost-shavuot/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/shavuot-2-x-3000-a-marriage-made-in-heaven-conclusion/
ROSH HASHANAH
Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה
1 Tishrei, 2 Tishrei
In 2023, Rosh HaShanah starts on Friday September 15th.
Upcoming Rosh HaShanah dates include:
2023, Sep 15 – Sep 17
2024: October 2 at sundown – nightfall on October 4
2025: September 22 at sundown – nightfall on September 24
Rosh HaShanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, a time of prayer, self-reflection, and repentance/ t’shuvah.
It is an appointed time in which we can review our actions during the past year, and look for ways to improve ourselves, in the coming year. The holiday marks the beginning of a 10-day period, known as the Yamim Nora-im /Days of Awe or High Holidays, ushered in by Rosh HaShanah and culminating with Yom Kippur/the Day of Atonement.
Rosh HaShanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which – because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar – corresponds to September or October on the Gregorian or secular calendar. Customs associated with the holiday include sounding the shofar, eating a round challah, and tasting apples and honey to represent a sweet New Year.
The Fall Moedim • Yom Teruah (Trumpets)
Date Of Moed: 1st Day of 7th Month (Tishri – September / October)
https://www.minimannamoments.com/returning-to-your-first-love/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/apocalypse-of-the-teruahs-cry/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-the-sound-of-the-trumpet/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/blowing-your-own-trumpet-2/
YOM KIPPUR
Day of Atonement – יום כפור
In 2023, Yom Kippur starts on Wednesday September 24th/25th.
Tisrei 10/11
9 days after the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
Upcoming Yom Kippur dates:
2023, Sep 24 at sundown – nightfall on – Sep 25
2024: October 11 at sundown – nightfall on October 12
2025: October 1 at sundown – nightfall on October 2
2026: September 13 at sundown – nightfall on September 14
2027: October 10 at sundown – nightfall on October 11
Yom Kippur means Day of Atonement and refers to the annual observance of fasting, prayer, and repentance. It is part of the High Holidays, which also includes Rosh HaShanah /the Civil New Year in Israel, Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day on the calendar.
Yom Kippur is the moment in time when our mind, body, and soul are dedicated to reconciliation with our Heavenly Father and our fellow human beings. As the New Year begins, we are called to commit to self-reflection and inner change.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/at-one-ment-with-the-one-you-love/
SUKKOT
סֻכּוֹת
In 2023, Sukkot starts on Sunday October 9th.
15-21 Tishrei 5784
Upcoming Sukkot dates include:
2024: Sundown on October 16 – Nightfall on October 23
2025: Sundown on October 6 – Nightfall on October 13
2026: Sundown on September 25 – Nightfall on October 2
2027: Sundown on October 15 – Nightfall on October 22
Sukkot is one of the most joyful festivals on the Hebraic calendar. Sukkot is a Hebrew word meaning booths or huts and refers to the Appointed Time of giving thanks for the fall harvest. The holiday has also come to commemorate the 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the desert after the giving of the Torah atop Mt. Sinai.
Sukkot is also called Z’man Simchateinu /Season of Our Rejoicing/time of our joy, as it is the only festival associated with a specific commandment to rejoice. Sukkot is celebrated five days after Yom Kippur on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, and is marked by several distinct traditions. One, which takes the commandment to dwell in booths literally, is to build a sukkah, a small, temporary booth or hut. Sukkot, the plural of sukkah, are used for eating, entertaining and even for sleeping during the seven-day festival.
They have open walls and open doors, and this encourages a welcome to as many people as possible, inviting family, friends, neighbors, and community to rejoice, eat, and share with each other.
Another name for Sukkot is Tabernacles and another is Chag HaAsif/Festival of the Ingathering, representing the importance of giving thanks for the bounty of the earth, as well as future prophetic meaning when Messiah will tabernacle/make His home with us forever.
https://www.minimannamoments.com/sukkot-the-promise-of-a-permanent-dwelling-place/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/sheltering-presence-god/
https://www.minimannamoments.com/the-sheltering-presence-of-god-cont/
As we are about to begin the
Spring Moedim/Appointed Times….
it is important for us to have some insight into our calendar and its holidays/holy days.
Each year in the springtime, the mainstream Christian world celebrates a holiday called Easter. Many assume that the name of this holiday easter, originated with the resurrection of Messiah Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach but as the information provided here will reveal, this spring tradition of men is actually an older and far less ‘holy’ day than one would think.
This post is not in any way negating the season and appointed time of Jesus/Yeshuas’ sacrificial, substitutionary death and resurrection; rather an eyeopener to the truth behind the name easter which so many of grew up with and no one told us what it really stands for!
The truth about the name Easter is that we can get so caught up in traditions of men that have grown over time connected to that which is behind the name, that we miss the crucial point of it all. Jesus/Yeshua and His disciples didn’t have eggs, rabbits or a pretty basket.
This is not an attempt to try and spoil our joy but rather an effort to open our eyes to what we have now become accustomed to and as a tradition of men, it is making the word of God of no effect. We need to ask ourselves, where in scripture is the word Easter to be found? Where are we told to celebrate Easter? It is not in there because it is called Passover/Pesach in Hebrew. It is the commemoration of the passing over of the death angel before the children of Israel, the Hebrews made their Exodus from Egypt. The reason they were Passed over was
because of the blood of the Phascal/Passover lamb
placed on the doorposts and lintel of their homes. There was no rabbit, no eggs, or other decorative motifs of western easter decor. it was life or death and depended on their
trust/faith in the blood of the lamb!
We are mixing holy thing with unholy things when we incorporate the worldly easter traditions and iconography. Can we really believe this is pleasing to our Heavenly Father? Where in the Word of God are any instructions of such easter celebrations? Did the disciples and apostles follow the easter traditions that are not based on any scriptural instruction?
It’s Time For Some Truth
because
The Truth Will Make You Free –
There is so much truth contained in the 7 Appointed times that our Heavenly Father set in His calendar and Jesus /Yeshua is the central focus in them ALL! The old covenant/testament fulfilled in the new.
The following extensive list of quotes have been compiled from researching valid and scholarly sources and it would not take but a few clicks on the internet for any reader to confirm them:
The purpose is to reveal the truth about the origins of this spring ‘Christianized’ pagan holiday.
The point is not so much the hidden meanings of the symbols and story but that of how our hearts are before our Creator, Savior and soon returning King.
Do we decide and choose what days to observe and celebrate, or does Our Heavenly Father? The Bible tells us that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. After reading though them and discerning the truth hopefully it will be helpful information for use in explaining to others the roots of our ‘christian traditions’; and for us to follow His lead – away from non-biblical holidays.
What are we really saying and referring to and paying homage to when we say the word easter? Lets find out….If you have never considered this before let the Fathers Spirit of Holiness prepare your heart, some of the following may be a shock! Its not always easy to admit we have been misled for most of our lives; but I for one, would rather throw away all I have thought was right in exchange for the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE.
“The English word Easter is derived from the names ‘Eostre’ – ‘Eastre’ – ‘Astarte’ or ‘Ashtaroth’. Astarte was introduced into the British Isles by the Druids and is just another name for Beltis or Ishtar of the Chaldeans and Babylonians. The book of Judges records that ‘the children of Israel did evil …in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, …and forsook the LORD, and served not Him.’ Easter is just another name for Ashteroth ‘The Queen of Heaven.’ Easter was not considered a ‘Christian’ festival until the fourth century. Early Christians celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the first month and a study of the dates on which Easter is celebrated will reveal that the celebration of Easter is not observed in accordance with the prescribed time for the observance of Passover. After much debate, the Nicaean council of 325 A.D. decreed that ‘Easter’ should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the vernal equinox.
Why was so much debate necessary if ‘Easter’ was a tradition passed down from the Apostles?
The answer is that it was not an Apostolic institution, but, an invention of man! They had to make up some rules. History records that spring festivals in honor of the pagan fertility goddesses and the events associated with them were celebrated at the same time as ‘Easter’. In the year 399 A.D. the Theodosian Code attempted to remove the pagan connotation from those events and banned their observance. The pagan festival of Easter originated as the worship of the sun goddess, the Babylonian Queen of Heaven who was later worshipped under many names including Ishtar, Cybele, Idaea Mater (the Great Mother), or Astarte for whom the celebration of Easter is named. Easter is not another name for the Feast of Passover and is not celebrated at the Biblically prescribed time for Passover. This pagan festival was supposedly ‘Christianized’ several hundred years after Christ.” (Richard Rives, Too Long in the Sun)
“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times [i.e., aside from the Holy Days appointed by God] was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians, who continued to observe the Jewish [i.e., God’s] festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events which those festivals had foreshadowed. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it of Christ, as the true Paschal Lamb and the firstfruits from the dead, continued to be observed, and became the Christian Easter. The name Easter (Ger. Ostern), like the names of the days of the week, is a survival from the old Teutonic mythology. According to Bede (De Temp. Rat. c.xv.) it is derived from Eostre, or Ostara, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month answering to our April, and called Eostur-monath, was dedicated. This month, Bede says, was the same as mensis pashalis, ‘when the old festival was observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.’ The name of the festival in other languages (as Fr. paques; Ital. pasqua; Span. pascua; Dan. paaske; Dutch paasch; Welsh pasg) is derived from the Lat. pascha and the Gr. pascha. These in turn come from the Chaldee or Aramaean form pascha’, of the Hebrew name of the Passover festival pesach…” (Encyclopaedia Brittanica, 11th edition, vol. 8, p. 828, article: “Easter”)The Origin and History of Easter
“The term ‘Easter’ is not of Christian origin. It is another form of Astarte, one of the titles of the Chaldean goddess, the queen of heaven. The festival of Pesach/Pasch [Passover and the Feast of Unleavens] was a continuation of the Israelite Hebrews [that is, God’s] feast….from this Pasch the pagan festival of ‘Easter’ was quite distinct and was introduced into the apostate Western religion, as part of the attempt to adapt pagan festivals to Christianity.” (W.E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, article: Easter, p.192)
Ish·tar : Mythology The chief Babylonian and Assyrian goddess, associated with love, fertility, and war, being the counterpart to the Phoenician Astarte. (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000)
The fact that Ishtar was connected to fertility and reproduction gave rise to the springtime renewal of natural birth cycles and in time developed into using images of newborn spring lambs/chickens and rabbits and of course the symbolic egg.
Tammuz: ancient nature deity worshiped in Babylonia. A god of agriculture and flocks, he personified the creative powers of spring. He was loved by the fertility goddess Ishtar, who, according to one legend, was so grief-stricken at his death that she contrived to enter the underworld to get him back. According to another legend, she killed him and later restored him to life. These legends and his festival, commemorating the yearly death and rebirth of vegetation, corresponded to the festivals of the Phoenician and Greek Adonis and of the Phrygian Attis. The Sumerian name of Tammuz was Dumuzi. In the Bible his disappearance is mourned by the women of Jerusalem (Ezek. 8.14).(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
“There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of the Christmas date nor Easter as holydays, rather the contrary…and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. ” (Morton H. Smith, How is the Gold Become Dim, Jackson, Mississippi: Steering Committee for a Continuing Presbyterian Church, etc., 1973, p.98)
“EASTER (AV Acts 12:4), An anachronistic mistranslation of the Gk. pascha (RSV, NEB, “Passover”), in which the AV followed such earlier versions as Tyndale and Coverdale. The Acts passage refers to the seven-day Passover festival (including the Feast of Unleavened Bread). It is reasonably certain that the NT contains no reference to a yearly celebration of the resurrection of Christ.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by Geoffrey Bromiley, Vol 2 of 4, p.6, article: Easter)
“The term Easter was derived from the Anglo-Saxon ‘Eostre,’ the name of the goddess of spring. In her honor sacrifices were offered at the time of the vernal equinox. By the 8th cent. the term came to be applied to the anniversary of Christ’s resurrection.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, edited by Geoffrey Bromiley, Vol 2 of 4, p.6, article: Easter)
In primitive agricultural societies natural phenomena, such as rainfall, the fecundity of the earth, and the regeneration of nature were frequently personified. One of the most important pagan myths was the search of the earth goddess for her lost (or dead) child or lover (e.g., Isis and Osiris, Ishtar and Tammuz, Demeter and Persephone). This myth, symbolizing the birth, death, and reappearance of vegetation, when acted out in a sacred drama, was the fertility rite par excellence.(The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
Attis, in Phrygian religion, vegetation god. …Like Adonis, Attis came to be worshiped as a god of vegetation, responsible for the death and rebirth of plant life. Each year at the beginning of spring his resurrection was celebrated in a festival. In Roman religion he became a powerful celestial deity. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
“The festival, of which we read in Church history, under the name of Easter, in the third or fourth centuries, was quite a different festival from that now observed in the Romish [and Protestant] Church, and at that time was not known by any such name as Easter. It was called Pasch, or the Passover, and though not of Apostolic institution [It was instituted by God and by Jesus–Lev 23; Matt 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20; I Cor 11:23-30], was very early observed by many professing Christians in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ [It is a memorial of His death, not His resurrection–I Cor 11:26]. That festival agreed originally with the time of the Jewish [i.e., God’s] Passover, when Christ was crucified …. That festival was not idolatrous, and it was preceded by no Lent” (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p.104)
“The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess, originally of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honor.” (Compton’s Encyclopedia and Fact-Index. Vol 7. Chicago: Compton’s Learning Company, 1987, p.41)
“Easter. [Gk. pascha, from Heb. pesah] The Passover …, and so translated in every passage except the KJV: ‘intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people’ [Acts 12:4]. In the earlier English versions Easter had been frequently used as the translation of pascha. At the last revision [1611 A.V.] Passover was substituted in all passages but this…The word Easter is of Saxon origin, the name is eastra, the goddess of spring in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year. By the eighth century Anglo-Saxons had adopted the name to designate the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.” (New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, article: “Easter”)
“It is called Easter in the English, from the goddess Eostre, worshipped by the Saxons with peculiar ceremonies in the month of April.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol II, Edinburgh: A. Bell & C. Macfarquhar, 1768, p.464)
“The name of a feast, according to the Venerable Bede, comes from Eostre, A Teutonic goddess whose festival was celebrated in the spring. The name was given to the Christian festival in celebration of the resurrected Eostre, it was who, according to the legend, opened portals of Valhalla to recieve Baldur, called the white god because of his purity and also the sun god because his brow supplied light to mankind. It was Baldur who, after he had been murdered by Utgard Loki, the enemy of goodness and truth, spent half the year in Valhalla and the other half with the pale goddess of the lower regions. As the festival of Eostre was a celebration of the renewal of life in the spring it was easy to make it a celebration of the resurrection from the dead of Jesus. There is no doubt that the church in its early days adopted the old pagan customs and gave a Christian meaning to them.” (George William Douglas, The American Book of Days, article: Easter)
“EASTER: This is from Anglo-Saxon Eostre, a pagan goddess whose festival came at the spring equinox.” (Joseph T. Shipley, Dictionary of Word Origins, New York: Philosophical Library, MCMXLV, p.131)
“The word Easter comes from the Old English word eostre, the name of a dawn-goddess worshipped in the Spring.” (Oxford Junior Encyclopaedia, London: Odhams, 1957, p.123)
“When Christianity conquered Rome: the ecclesiastical structure of the pagan church, the title and the vestments of the pontifex maximus, the worship of the Great Mother goddess and a multitude of comforting divinities, the sense of super sensible presences everywhere, the joy or solemnity of old festivals, and the pageantry of immemorial ceremony, passed like maternal blood into the new religion,–and captive Rome conquered her conqueror. The reins and skills of government were handed down by a dying empire to a virile papacy.” (Will Durant, Caesar and Christ, p. 672)
“Satan, the great counterfeiter, worked through the ‘mystery of iniquity’ to introduce a counterfeit Sabbath to take the place of the true Sabbath of God. Sunday stands side by side with Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy (or Maundy) Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Whitsun day, Corpus Christi, Assumption Day, All Souls’ Day, Christmas Day, and a host of other ecclesiastical feast days too numerous to mention. This array of Roman catholic feasts and fast days are all man made. None of them bears the divine credentials of the Author of the Inspired Word.” (M. E. Walsh)
“The {Roman Catholic] church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan, Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season. Sunday and Easter day are, if we consider their derivation, much the same. In truth, all Sundays are Sundays only because they are a weekly, partial recurrence of Easter day. The pagan Sunday was, in a manner, an unconscious preparation for Easter day.” (Willliam L. Gildea, D.D., Paschale Gaudium, in The Catholic World, Vol. LVIII., No. 348., March, 1894, published in New York by The Office of The Catholic World., pp.808-809)
“In ancient Anglo-Saxon myth, Ostara is the personification of the rising sun. In that capacity she is associated with the spring and is considered to be a fertility goddess. She is the friend of all children, and to amuse them, she changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit brought forth brightly colored eggs, which the goddess gave to the children as gifts. From her name and rites the festival of Easter is derived. Ostara is identical to the Greek Eos and the Roman Aurora.” (Encyclopedia Mythica, article: Ostara)
“Vernal Mysteries (spring heathen rites) like those of Tammuz, and Osiris and Adonis flourished in the Mediterranean world and farther north and east there were others. Some of their rites and symbols were carried forward into Easter customs. Many of them have survived into our own day, unchanged yet subtly altered in their new surroundings to bear a ‘Christian’significance.” (Christina Hole, Easter and its Customs)
“…Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon name of a Teutonic goddess of spring and fertility, to whom was dedicated a month corresponding to April. Her festival was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox; traditions associated with the festival survive in the Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in colored easter eggs, originally painted with bright colors to represent the sunlight of spring, and used in Easter-egg rolling contests or given as gifts.” (Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia, article: Easter)
“EASTER: from Old English eastre, name of a spring goddess.” (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1995)
“The pagan festival held at the vernal equinox to honor Eastre, the goddess of dawn, was called Eastre in Old English. Since the Christian festival celebrating Christ’s resurrection fell at about the same time, the pagan name was borrowed for it when Christianity was introduced to England, the name later being changed slightly to Easter. ” (Robert Hendrickson, The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, New York: Facts on File, 1987, p.177)
“EASTER: West Germanic name of a pagan spring festival.” (Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1976)
“The English word Easter comes from the goddess Eastre, whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox, and who presided over the fertility of man and animals.” (Betty Nickerson, Celebrate the Sun, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969, p.38)
“The story of Easter is not simply a Christian story. Not only is the very name “Easter” the name of an ancient and non-Christian deity; the season itself has also, from time immemorial, been the occasion of rites and observances having to do with the mystery of death and resurrection among peoples differing widely in race and religion.” (Alan W. Watts, Easter: its Story and Meaning)
“Before Christ was born the people living in northern Europe had a goddess called Eostre, the goddess of the spring. Every year, in spring the people had a festival for her. The name of our spring festival, Easter, comes from the name Eostre.” (The Easter Book, Milan: Macdonald Educational, 1980, p.5)
“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.” (Larry Boemler, Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 18, Number 3, 1992-May/June, article: “Asherah and Easter”)
“Eostre: Saxon and Neo-Pagan goddess of fertility and springtime whom the holiday Easter was originally named after.” (Gerina Dunwich, The Concise Lexicon of the Occult, New York: Citadel Press, 1990 p.54)
“EASTER: Bæde Temp. Rat. XV. derives the word from Eostre (Northumb. spelling Éastre), the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox; her name…shows that she was originally the dawn-goddess.” (The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989)
“Astarte: a Phoenician goddess of fertility and sexual love who corresponds to the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess Ishtar and who became identified with the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and others.” (Oxford Dictionary of English)
“Ishtar: ancient fertility deity, the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylonian and Assyrian religion. Ishtar was important as a mother goddess, goddess of love, and goddess of war. Her cult spread throughout W Asia, and she became identified with various other earth goddesses (see GREAT MOTHER OF THE GODS). Great Mother of the Gods: in ancient Middle Eastern religion (and later in Greece, Rome, and W Asia), mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth’s fertility. As the creative force in nature, she was worshiped under many names, including ASTARTE (Syria), CERES (Rome), CYBELE (Phrygia), DEMETER (Greece), ISHTAR (Babylon), and ISIS (Egypt). The later forms of her cult involved the worship of a male deity (her son or lover, e.g., ADONIS, OSIRIS), whose death and resurrection symbolized the regenerative power of the earth.” (www.encyclopedia.com)
When we reflect how often the Church has skilfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis, which, as we have seen reason to believe, was celebrated in Syria at the same season. ( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941).
“Thus much already laid down may seem a sufficient treatise to prove that the celebration of the feast of Easter began everywhere more of custom than by any commandment either of Christ or any apostle.” (Socrates, Hist Ecclesiates., lib. v. cap. 22)
“Just as many Christian customs and similar observance had their origin in pre-Christian times, so, too some of the popular traditions of…. Easter dates back to ancient nature rites… The origin of the Easter egg is based on the fertility lore of the Indo-European races…The Easter bunny had its origin in pre-Christian fertility lore. Hare and rabbit were the most fertile animals our forefathers knew, serving as symbols of … new life in the spring season.” (Jesuit author Francis X. Weiser, The Easter Book, pp.15,181,&188)
“As with the other Christian holidays, there was also a holiday in ancient times that was celebrated at about the same time. In this case, it was the celebration of the vernal equinox-the tribute to the goddess of spring, Eastre. Eastre was an Anglo-Saxon goddess who is reputed to have opened the gates of Valhalla for the slain sun god, Baldrun, thereby bringing light to man. Easter also refers to the rising of the sun in the east.” (Carole Potter, Encyclopedia of Superstition, London: Michael O’Mara Books, 1983, p.69)
“Then look at Easter. When means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.103]
“About the end of the sixth century, the first decisive attempt was made to enforce the observance of the new calendar. It was in Britain that the first attempt was made in this way; and here the attempt met with vigorous resistance. The difference, in point of time, betwixt the Christian Pasch, as observed in Britain by the native Christians, and the Pagan Easter enforced by Rome, at the time of its enforcement, was a whole month; and it was only by violence and bloodshed, at last, that the Festival of the Anglo-Saxon or Chaldean goddess came to supersede that which had been held in honour of Christ.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.107]
“Many of the customs associated with Easter are derived from various spring fertility rites of the pagan religions which Christianity supplanted.” (Encyclopedia International, China: Lexicon Publications, 1973, p.190)
“Easter is connected in many ways with early pagan rituals that accompanied the arrival of spring.” (Merit Students Encyclopedia, New York: P. F. Collier, 1983, p.167-168)
“Both of these festivals [Easter and Christmas] have roots in old pagan rituals that they have superceeded.” (G. MacGregor, Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, New York: Paragon House, 1991, p.207)
“Even though it [Easter] has stood for over fifteen hundred years as the symbol of the resurrection of Jesus to members of the Christian Church, it is not entirely a Christian festival. Its origins go far back into pagan rites and customs.” (Charlotte Adams, Easter Idea Book, New York: M. Barrows and Company, 1954, p.11)
“Many of the customs associated with Easter originate in pagan celebrations of spring.” (New Standard Encyclopedia, Vol 6. Chicago: Standard Educational, 1991,pE-25-E-27)
“There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the [so-called] apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the mind of the first Christians.” (The Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., Vol VIII, Cambridge: The University Press, 1910, p.828)
“Around the Christian observance of Easter as the climax of the liturgical drama of Holy Week and Good Friday, folk customs have collected, many of which have been handed down from the ancient ceremonial and symbolism of European and Middle Eastern pagan spring festivals brought into relation with the resurrection theme.” (The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1992. p.333)
“When Christians first spread across Europe, believers in the new faith changed many of the older rites and ceremonies, adapting them to fit with the life and teaching of Jesus. They did not try to stop people from having a great spring festival for their old pagan goddess, Eostre.” (Julian Fox, Easter, Vero Beach: Rourke Enterprises, 1989, p.11)
“About 200 B.C. 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.” (EASTER: ITS ORIGINS AND MEANINGS by The Religious Tolerance Organization Web site http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter.htm)
Easter Eggs
“Eggs were a primitive symbol of fertility; but Christians saw in them a symbol of the tomb from which Christ rose, and continued the [pagan] practice of coloring, giving, and eating them at Easter. “(New Age Encyclopedia.,Vol 6. China: Lexicon Publications, 1973, p.190)
“The custom may have its origin in paganism, for a great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)
“Eggs were hung up in the Egyptian temples. Bunsen calls attention to the mundane egg, the emblem of generative life, proceeding from the mouth of the great god of Egypt. The mystic egg of Babylon, hatching the Venus Ishtar, fell from heaven to the Euphrates. Dyed eggs were sacred Easter offerings in Egypt, as they are still in China and Europe. Easter, or spring, was the season of birth, terrestrial and celestial.” (James Bonwick, Egyptian Belief and Modern Thought, pp. 211-212)
“…the egg as a symbol of fertility and of renewed life goes back to the ancient Egyptians and Persians, who had also the custom of colouring and eating eggs during their spring festival.” (Encylopaedia Britannica, article: Easter)
“Eggs were sacred to many ancient civilizations and formed an integral part of religious ceremonies in Egypt and the Orient. Dyed eggs were hung in Egyptian temples, and the egg was regarded as the emblem of regenerative life proceeding from the mouth of the great Egyptian god.” (Anon, Easter: The Pagan Origins of Common Easter Traditions)
“The egg has become a popular Easter symbol…In ancient Egypt and Persia, friends exchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox, the beginning of their New Year. These eggs were a symbol of fertility for them….Christians of the Near East adopted this tradition, and the Easter egg became a religious symbol. It represented the tomb from which Jesus came forth to new life.” (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p.101)
“The origin of the Pasch eggs is just as clear. The ancient Druids bore an egg, as the sacred emblem of their order. In the Dionysiaca, or mysteries of Bacchus, as celebrated in Athens, one part of the nocturnal ceremony consisted in the consecration of an egg. The Hindoo fables celebrate their mundane egg as of a golden colour. The people of Japan make their sacred egg to have been brazen. In China, at this hour, dyed or painted eggs are used on sacred festivals, even as in this country. In ancient times eggs were used in the religious rites of the Egyptians and the Greeks, and were hung up for mystic purposed in their temples. From Egypt these sacred eggs can be distinctly traced to the banks of the Euphrates. The classic poets are full of the fable of the mystic egg of the Babylonians; and thus its tale is told by Hyginus, the Egyptian, the learned keeper of the Palatine library at Rome, in the time of Augustus, who was skilled in all the wisdom of the native country: ‘An egg of wondrous size is said to have fallen from heaven into the river Euphrates. The fishes rolled it to the bank, were the doves having settled upon it, and hatched it, out came Venus, who afterwards was called the Syrian Goddess’–that is, Astarte. Hence the egg became one of the symbols of Astarte or Easter; and accordingly, in Cyprus, one of the chosen seats of the worship of Venus, or Astarte, the egg of wondrous size was represented on a grand scale.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship) , Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., pp.108-109]
“Christians adapted the symbols, ceremonies and name of the spring festivities of Ishtar-Esther-Eostre to create Easter. Jesus breaks through the hard, cold coffin shell of death to be reborn every spring. In the resurrection of Christ, we witness the vernal rebirth of the soul.” (D. Henes, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations, New York: Perigee Book)
“The Persians and Egyptians colored eggs and ate them during their new year’s celebration, which came in the spring.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1991, p.44)
“In northern Europe, Eostre, the Teutonic-Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn, evolved from Astarte in Babylon and from Ishtar from Assyria. Eggs, dyed blood-red and rolled in the newly sown soil at spring equinox, ensured fertility of the fields. The Moon Hare, sacred animal totem of Eostre, laid more colored eggs for children to find. From the name, Eostre, Astarte, and Ishtar, we derive the scientific terminology for the female hormone and reproduction cycle: estrogen and estrus. Easter also derives from Eostre.” (D. Henes, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles and Celebrations, New York: Perigee Book)
“Since man’s earliest time, the egg, symbolizing the universe, figures in creation mythologies including those of China, Japan, Finland, Siberia and parts of Africa. …When today’s children hunt for Easter eggs they are re-enacting one of man’s oldest rituals. ” (Betty Nickerson, Celebrate the Sun, Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1969, p.38)
“This [Easter egg hunting] is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite” (Funk & Wagnalls’ Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Volume 1, pg.335)
“The egg, as a symbol of New Life is much older than Christianity and the coloring of it at the spring festival is also of very ancient origin. The Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans used it this way. Eggs were eaten during the spring festival from very early times. Children are told that the rabbit lays the Easter eggs in a garden for the children to find. This is an adaption of the pagan custom of regarding the rabbit as an emblem of fertility, that is, of new life.” (George William Douglas, The American Book of Days, article: Easter)
“The exchange of Easter eggs, which symbolize new life and fertility, is one of the oldest traditions. Rabbits and flowers are also pagan fertility symbols.” (New Standard Encyclopedia, Vol. 6, Chicago: Standard Educational, 1991. pE-25-E-27)
Easter Lilies
“The so-called ‘Easter lily’ has long been revered by pagans of various lands as a holy symbol associated with the reproductive organs. It was considered a phallic symbol!” (A. J. Dager, Facts and Fallacies of the Resurrection, p.5)
Easter Bunny (i.e., rabbits/hares)
“Nobody seems to know precisely the origin of the Easter bunny, except that it can be traced back to pre-Christian fertility lore. It has never had any connection with Christian religious symbolism.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.104)
“Little children are usually told that the Easter eggs are brought by the Easter Bunny. Rabbits are part of pre-Christian fertility symbolism because of their reputation to reproduce rapidly.” (Greg Dues, Catholic Customs and Traditions, 1992, p.102)
“The Easter Rabbit lays the eggs, for which reason they are hidden in a nest or in the garden. The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility (Simrock, Mythologie, 551).” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)
“The Easter hare was no ordinary animal, but a sacred companion of the old goddess of spring, Eostre.” (Julian Fox, Easter, Vero Beach: Rourke Enterprises, 1989, p.11)
“Like the Easter egg, the Easter hare, now an accepted part of the traditional Easter story, came to Christianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol 7. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1955, p.859)
“The hare, the symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt, a symbol that was kept later in Europe, is not found in North America. Its place is taken by the Easter rabbit, the symbol of fertility and periodicity both human and lunar, accredited with laying eggs in nests prepared for it at Easter or with hiding them away for children to find.” (The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th ed. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 1992, p.333)
“The white rabbit of Easter, beloved of small Americans, comes hopping down to us from eras when the sun and the moon were gods to men.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.133)
Sunrise Services
“The custom of a sunrise service on Easter Sunday can be traced to ancient spring festivals that celebrated the rising sun.”(The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1981, p.41)
“Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. (Holy Scripture, King James Version, Ezekiel 8:15-16)
“Cults of the sun, as we know from many sources, had attained great vogue during the second, third, and fourth centuries. Sun-worshipers indeed formed one of the big groups in that religious world in which Christianity was fighting for a place. Many of them became converts to Christianity . . . Worshipers in St. Peter’s turned away from the altar and faced the door so that they could adore the rising sun.” (Gordon J. Laing, Survivals of Roman Religion, p. 192)
“A suitable, single example of the pagan influence may be had from an investigation of the Christian custom of turning toward the East, the land of the rising sun, while offering their prayers…” (F.A. Regan, Dies Dominica, P. 196)
“Others, with greater regard to good manners, it must be confessed, suppose that the sun is the God of the Christians, because it is a well-known fact that we pray toward the east, or because we make Sunday a day of festivity.” (Tertullian [155-225 AD.], Ad Nationes, i 13, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. III, p. 123)
Easter Parades & Wearing of New Clothes
“The Easter Parade which is held after church services in many cultures is another survival from long ago. Before there were courtiers or fashion pages there was a lively superstition, dear to princesses and peasant maidens alike, that a new garment worn at Easter meant good luck throughout the year.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.133)
“For centuries, even in pagan times, it had been the custom to put on new clothes for the spring festival.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.134)
Hot-cross buns
Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? (The KJV Bible)
“The hot-cross bun, for example, is pagan in origin. The Anglo-Saxon savages consumed cakes as a part of the jolity that attended the welcoming of spring. The early missionaries from Rome despaired of breaking them of the habit, and got around the difficulty at last by blessing the cakes, drawing a cross upon them.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.134)
“The ‘buns,’ known too by that identical name, were used in the worship of the queen of heaven, the goddess Easter, as early as the days of Cecrops, the founder of Athens–that is, 1500 years before the Christian era. ‘One species of sacred bread,’ says Bryant, ‘which used to be offered to the gods, was of great antiquity, and called Boun.’ Diogenes Laertius, speaking of this offering being made by Empedocles, describes the chief ingredients of which it was composed, saying, ‘He offered one of the sacred cakes called Boun, which was made of fine flour and honey.’ The prophet Jeremiah takes notice of this kind of offering when he says, ‘The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven.’ The hot cross buns are not now offered, but eaten, on the festival of Astarte; but this leaves no doubt as to whence they have been derived.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.108]
“It is quite probable that it [the word bun] has a far older and more interesting origin, as is suggested by an inquiry into the origin of hot cross buns. These cakes, which are now solely associated with the Christian Good Friday, are traceable to the remotest period of pagan history. Cakes were offered by ancient Egyptians to their moon goddess; and these had imprinted on them a pair of horns, symbolic of the ox at the sacrifice of which they were offered on the altar, or of the horned moon goddess, the equivalent of Ishtar of the Assyro-Babylonians. The Greeks offered such sacred cakes to Astarte [Easter] and other divinities. This cake they called bous (ox), in allusion to the ox-symbol marked on it, and from the accusative boun it is suggested that the word ‘bun’ is derived.Like the Greeks, the Romans eat cross-bread at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and taken in with them,a custom alluded to by St. Paul in I Cor. x.28. At Herculaneum two small loaves about 5 in. in diameter, and plainly marked with a cross, were found. In the Old Testament are references made in Jer. vii.18-xliv.19, to such sacred bread being offered to the moon goddess. The cross-bread was eaten by the pagan Saxons in honor of Eoster, their goddess of light. The Mexicans and Peruvians are shown to have had a similar custom. The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early church adroitly adopted the pagan practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist. The boun with its Greek cross became akin to the Eucharistic bread or cross-marked wafers mentioned in St. Chrysostom’s liturgy. In the medieval church, buns made from the dough for the consecrated Host were to be distributed to the communicants after mass on Easter Sunday. In France and other Catholic countries, such blessed bread is still given in the churches to communicants who have a long journey before they can break their fast.” (Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed., article: “bun”)
Easter Bonfires
“Pagan festivals celebrating spring included fire and sunrise celebrations. Both later became part of Easter celebrations.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1991, p.44)
“….every year, at Beltane (or the 1st of May), a number of men and women assemble at an ancient Druidical circle of stones on her property near Crieff. They light a fire in the centre, each person puts a bit of oat-cake in a shepherd’s bonnet; they all sit down, and draw blindfold a piece from the bonnet. One piece has been previously blackened, and whoever gets that piece has to jump through the fire in the centre of the circle, and pay a forfeit. This is, in fact, a part of the ancient worship of Baal, and the person on whom the lot fell was previously burnt as a sacrifice. Now, the passing through the fire represents that, and the payment of the forfeit redeems the victim. If Baal was thus worshipped in Britain, it will not be difficult to believe that his consort Astarte was also adored by our ancestors, and that from Astarte, whose name in Nineveh was Ishtar, the religious solemnities of April, as now practised, are called by the name of Easter–that month, among our Pagan ancestors, having been called Easter-monath.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.104]
“The Easter Eve bonfires predate Christianity and were originally intended to celebrate the arrival of spring.” (Merit Students Encyclopedia, Vol 6, New York: P. F. Collier, 1983, p.167-168)
“The Easter Fire is lit on the top of mountains (Easter mountain, Osterberg) and must be kindled from new fire, drawn from wood by friction (nodfyr); this is a custom of pagan origin in vogue all over Europe, signifying the victory of spring over winter. The bishops issued severe edicts against the sacrilegious Easter fires (Conc. Germanicum, a. 742, c.v.; Council of Lestines, a.743, n.15), but did not succeed in abolishing them everywhere. The Church adopted the observance into the Easter ceremonies, referring it to the fiery column in the desert and to the Resurrection of Christ; the new fire on Holy Saturday is drawn from flint, symbolizing the Resurrection of the Light of the World from the tomb closed by a stone (Missale Rom.). In some places a figure was thrown into the Easter fire, symbolizing winter…” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol.5, article: Easter)
“Fire, once part of the pagan spring festival, is now a Christian Easter symbol.” (The New Book of Knowledge, Danbury: Grolier, 1981, p.41)
“Spring fire rites to honor the sun god were forbidden until the year 752 A.D. By that time the pagan fires had changed into Easter fires.” (Edna Barth, Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs: The Story of the Easter Symbols, New York: Seabury Press, 1970, p.15)
“Bonfires on Easter Eve are particularly common in Germany, where they are lighted not only in churchyards but upon hilltops, where the young people gather around and jump over them, dance, and sing Easter hymns. These are remnants of pagan and sacrificial rites in which quantities of tar-soaked barrel staves, branches and roots of trees were burned.” (Priscilla Sawyer and Daniel J. Foley, Easter the World Over, Philadelphia: Chilton Book Company, 1971, p.103)
ALL over Europe the peasants have been accustomed from time immemorial to kindle bonfires on certain days of the year, and to dance round or leap over them. Customs of this kind can be traced back on historical evidence to the Middle Ages, and their analogy to similar customs observed in antiquity goes with strong internal evidence to prove that their origin must be sought in a period long prior to the spread of Christianity.( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.)
The essentially pagan character of the Easter fire festival appears plainly both from the mode in which it is celebrated by the peasants and from the superstitious beliefs which they associate with it. ( Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). The Golden Bough. 1922.)
Lent
“The word Lent is of Anglo-Saxon origin, meaning spring.” (Marguerite Ickis, The Book of Religious Holidays and Celebrations, New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1966, p.114)
“The celebration of Lent has no basis in Scripture, but rather developed from the pagan celebration of Semiramis’s mourning for 40 days over the death of Tammuz (cf. Ezek 8:14) before his alleged resurrection—another of Satan’s mythical counterfeits.” (John MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: 1 Corinthians, Chicago: Moody, 1984)
“‘It ought to be known,’ said Cassianus, the monk of Marseilles, writing in the fifth century, and contrasting the primitive Church with the Church in his day, ‘that the observance of forty days had no existence, so long as the perfection of that primitive Church remained inviolate.’ Whence, then, came this observance? The forty days abstinence of Lent was directly borrowed from the worshippers of the Babylonian goddess.” [The Two Babylons (Or The Papal Worship), Alexander Hislop, 1916, Neptune, NJ, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., p.104]
Pagans Still Celebrate Easter
“Sabbats in Modern Witchcraft–Spring Equinox–A solar festival, in which day and night, and the forces of male and female, are in equal balance. The spring equinox, the first day of spring, marks the birth of the infant Sun God and paves the way for the coming lushness of summer. Dionysian rites are performed. The Christian version of the sabbat is Easter. (Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, New York: Facts On File, 1989, p.289)
“Witches celebrate eight major festivals or sabbats each year. The sabbat is a religious ceremony deriving from ancient European festivals celebrating seasonal and pastoral changes. The first is Yule, 20 or 21 December, celebrating the winter solstice. The next is 1 or 2 February, Oimelc, Imbolc, or Candlemas, at which initiations often take place. 20 or 21 March, Eostre, the vernal equinox, is a fertility festival. 30 April is Beltane.” (Jeffery B. Russell, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans, London: Thames and Hudson, 1980, p.167)
After reading these facts, the choice to reject using the name “easter” should be weighing on our conscience as the right thing to do..
Lets’ call it Passover/Pesach, and keep the same days that Yeshua/Jesus Himself kept.
We should pray that our Heavenly Father grant us forgiveness and repentance and that His spirit of Holiness comforts and encourages us to step out in faith and “be separate” from the world. We really need to reject the holidays of men and learn about the genuine Holydays of our Heavenly Father and know that in the His word prophetically He says through Zechariah in chapter14:16.
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
So it is certain they are not done away with…..
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