Indian Festival - Holi
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I can't comment on the other ones, but Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. So yes, it is connected to the change of seasons. However, that was decided rather arbitrarily by a bunch of people at the Council of Nicaea in 325. It's also loosely related to the date of the Jewish festival 'Passover' because Jesus' Last Supper was thought to be a Passover meal.
Simon
Simon Stevens wrote:
that was decided rather arbitrarily
Nominate the above for the dictionary definition of religion :o)
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That's Easter for the catholic and protestant churches. The Russian and Greek orthodox (and maybe the Koptics) celebrate the rite on a different Sunday most years.
Sorry, yes, I'm only thinking of Roman Catholic derivations.
Simon
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Mmm. You'd almost think they all stemmed back to some pagan thing to do with the change of the seasons...
Paddy Boyd wrote:
change of the seasons...
happy Lady Day!
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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That's Easter for the catholic and protestant churches. The Russian and Greek orthodox (and maybe the Koptics) celebrate the rite on a different Sunday most years.
Russell Jones wrote:
That's Easter for the catholic and protestant churches
Ironically, Easter is named after the Germanic Goddess Eostra. Her holiday (the 21st of March) was celebrated by hiding decorated eggs and was named Ostara.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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Russell Jones wrote:
That's Easter for the catholic and protestant churches
Ironically, Easter is named after the Germanic Goddess Eostra. Her holiday (the 21st of March) was celebrated by hiding decorated eggs and was named Ostara.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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The word "Easter" was named after a Germanic month; it's debatable whether or not there was an actual goddess associated with the month (and unknown what the month's celebrations were).
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jesarg wrote:
The word "Easter" was named after a Germanic month
That's like saying that Wotan was named after Wedsnesday. The month was named after the goddess.
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eostre[^] There are no historic artifacts or first-hand accounts of the goddess existing, despite plenty of literature and artifacts of Germanic tribes being available; the best we have is the statement of a single monk from the 700's who had never seen the goddess worship personally (but heard third-hand that it did happen in the past). In the 20th century, however, some neo-pagan groups have pretended to know more about traditional religions than they actually did, and I'd rather not have their ideas be mistaken as well-researched facts.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eostre[^] There are no historic artifacts or first-hand accounts of the goddess existing, despite plenty of literature and artifacts of Germanic tribes being available; the best we have is the statement of a single monk from the 700's who had never seen the goddess worship personally (but heard third-hand that it did happen in the past). In the 20th century, however, some neo-pagan groups have pretended to know more about traditional religions than they actually did, and I'd rather not have their ideas be mistaken as well-researched facts.
Somehow you must've missed (from the same article) "The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Eastre, which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to the goddess Eostre, who was celebrated at the Spring equinox, and has cognates in Old High German ostarun, plural, "Easter" (modern German language Ostern). The Old English term Eastre ultimately derives from east - meaning the direction of east. This suggests it originally referred to a goddess associated with dawn. Corresponding traditions occur with the Roman goddess Aurora and the Greek goddess Eos." maybe we should just agree to disagree?
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
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Somehow you must've missed (from the same article) "The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Eastre, which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to the goddess Eostre, who was celebrated at the Spring equinox, and has cognates in Old High German ostarun, plural, "Easter" (modern German language Ostern). The Old English term Eastre ultimately derives from east - meaning the direction of east. This suggests it originally referred to a goddess associated with dawn. Corresponding traditions occur with the Roman goddess Aurora and the Greek goddess Eos." maybe we should just agree to disagree?
Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface
It's true that some scholars believe that Eostre was a Germanic goddess (rather than simply a common word that was used to describe the month), but since we have only one source to attest to that (and he may have been mistaken, seeing as he never saw Eostre worship, himself), it's officially debatable. I could have sworn the wikipedia article used to mention the debate more. In any case, we still have no evidence showing that Easter eggs or any other modern Easter traditions came from the worship of the goddess, if she was worshiped by some Germanic tribes (and I can see the article still mentions that). The wikipedia article on Easter [^] seems to mention the debate better than the Eostre article. I'm pretty much for just letting old dead goddesses rest in peace and letting the scholars take care of the rest, honestly.
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Paddy Boyd wrote:
change of the seasons...
happy Lady Day!
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)