Happy Easter my friend

[Forbidden Passions]

You are missed!!!

[cherrysis]

The Traditions of Easter

As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has had its non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner.

It would have been suicide for the very early Christian converts to celebrate their holy days with observances that did not coincide with celebrations that already existed. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

As it happened, the pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

The Date of Easter

Prior to A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In that year, the Council of Nicaea was convened by emperor Constantine. It issued the Easter Rule which states that Easter shall be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. However, a caveat must be introduced here. The "full moon" in the rule is the ecclesiastical full moon, which is defined as the fourteenth day of a tabular lunation, where day 1 corresponds to the ecclesiastical New Moon. It does not always occur on the same date as the astronomical full moon. The ecclesiastical "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. Therefore, Easter must be celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

The Lenten Season

Lent is the forty-six day period just prior to Easter Sunday. It begins on Ash Wednesday. Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday") is a celebration, sometimes called "Carnival," practiced around the world, on the Tuesday prior to Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to "get it all out" before the sacrifices of Lent began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the U.S. Read about the religious meanings of the Lenten Season.

The Cross

The Cross is the symbol of the Crucifixion, as opposed to the Resurrection. However, at the Council of Nicaea, in A.D. 325, Constantine decreed that the Cross was the official symbol of Christianity. The Cross is not only a symbol of Easter, but it is more widely used, especially by the Catholic Church, as a year-round symbol of their faith.

The Easter Bunny Bunny

The Easter Bunny is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons through her earthly symbol, the rabbit.

The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter rabbit to America. It was widely ignored by other Christians until shortly after the Civil War. In fact, Easter itself was not widely celebrated in America until after that time.

The Easter Egg

As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.

From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.

Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.

Ronnie...Just wanted to add my hugs and best wishes too CAUSE YOU ARE MISSED!!!

Sorry if I posted something toooo Long to read on library time
LOVE YOU MAN!!!
hugs to you and the girls!!!

[mRs.GaToR]

Happy Easter Roger!

[Forbidden Passions]

Jelly Beans??? OMGG,...its been years since I last had some,...OMG,...now i want some sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo bad!! Oh my,....YUMMY*lol

[Sportyfan]

Dear Forbidden Passions,
I had a really good laugh on your comment about jelly beans. Especially since I was eating some at the time! You are right that they are delish, but unlike you, I have them every spring. You're never too old for jelly beans my dear! Happy Easter one and all.

Sportyfan

[ellanoize]

Thank you for the Holiday greetings Miz Passions And Mrs Gator, I'm glad I was able to see them before the Bunny Arrived.

Sis, You must be getting better with cut & paste, eh? I love that kind of intresting trivia.

I sit here in this noisey Library, and I send everyone Easter greetings from our Family to Yours. I gotta go easy on the Chocolate, & Jelly beans, But I'll keep you in my thoughts.

[img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

rOgEr

[mRs.GaToR]

You mean that as in......you just havent eaten any
or you cant get jelly beans there??

omg...i found these new kind yesterday! Twizzlers Tweeters!
They are the cherry licorice with a jelly bean
coating! They are sooooooo good!

[Forbidden Passions]

Both mRs.!!! Both!!! If I could get em, trust me, I would bath in em*L

*glad I made someone laugh*vbs

[cherrysis]

Send me you addy honey and I will mail you some ok!!!


Rog YES *thanks to you my dear Friend* I am getting much better at the cut copy and paste LOL.

Now I need to work on the photobucket thing you and mRs. Gator told me about.

I hope you all had a wonderful easter and I hope Julie is feeling better today!!!

HUGS YA!!!

[Forbidden Passions]

Aaaaw sis that's such a sweet thought but its prolly rather expensive sending it here BUT I'll give you my adress anyways, maybe we can exchange postcards or something? That's cheaper*L