Today is the Christian “Easter” and we hear the “meaning” of it, as the resurrection of Christ... so I though I'd make a little blog on some of the things “Pagan” that were corrupted & perverted by Christianity.
Of course, Easter, is really “Ostara” the rebirth of spring. It was one of those beloved Pagan holidays, the Xtians couldn't stamp out... so, since the Pagans celebrated on that day, they just changed it's meaning to something Xtian. They did the exact same thing with the Pagan holiday “Yule”... Rather then stamp it out, change it's meaning to the birth of Christ. Ostara's eggs and bunnies and Yule's tree & lights, are still all Pagan though, and they never managed to change them.
Something Xtians never even tried to change (surprisingly) are the names of the weekdays, which are still named for Teutonic Gods/Goddesses. Every time a person mentions a day of the week, they are speaking their names! I get a certain satisfaction knowing the names of my Nordic deities are being spoken throughout the world, many more times then the name of Christ... Or, for instance, when a Xtian might say “Lets meet Wednesday for bible study,” they are really saying “Lets meet on ODIN'S Day for bible study.”
And last, but certainly not least to Pagans 'looking for love,” is the Love “Heart” we all know and love! Does anybody wonder why it doesn't look at all like a heart, and where it came from, and what it really was suppose to represent? Well, when a person comments that someone has a “heart shaped butt” they don't know how close they are to it's original meaning! Here's the history. About 1000 AD, when the Xtians were going through Sweden on their campaign of conversion, they came upon the worshipers of “Freya (Nordic Goddess of Pleasure). These people were way too “sensual” for Xtian sensibilities, so they did there best to destroy every thing about Freya! However, she was so beloved by the people, and they just couldn't destroy the “erotic symbol” of her, so, like with Ostara & Yule they changed it's meaning, to something a little less “naughty.”
Don
Day wrote 775 Days Ago (neutral) 0Well, what can I say? It is mostly a common myth. First of all, all the names used in this article pertain either to the English language, or to the Celtic tradition. Lets take the names of the days of the week in the Latin languages - and the Gods bcome the Roman/Greek Gods/Goddesses. Monday (let's not forget in Europe the weeks starts with Monday, not with Sunday) is the day of the moon (from Lune-dia in Latin), thursday is the day of Mars (Marte-dia), Wednesday is the day of Mercury (Miercoles dia), and so on for Jovis (Zeus) and Venus. Saturday (which is quite unusual, in English being the day of Saturn) is the Sabbat day and Sunday is the day of the God(s) (unspecified). The name Ostara/Easter, again, is valid for English and Celtic. In other languages it's quite far from it - both on the count of the Spring Goddess of fertility and on the name of Easter. To go further, Easter doesn't really overlap the spring equinox celebration. Both the Western and the Eastern Christianity celebrate Easter in the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the spring equinox. By what I know, the heart shape as we know it now as the symbol for love, in Europe derives from the shape of the seeds of certain plants that were used either for making afrodisiacs or to enable love-making without getting pregnant (ancient contraceptive). I do not really know how it came to be in other cultures, but one thing is for sure - in ancient Persia as well as in China the heart symbol existed way before Christianity (and for that matter, in the case of Persia, before the Teutonic Gods iconography) But yes, all in all, it is a revival celebration, for Christians the same as it was and still is for Pagans. And it provides an opportunity to celebrate together instead of trying to create dychotomies.1 point
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