 Pagan celebration
A celebration of springEaster, for Christians, is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. For Jewish people, Passover commemorates the Parting of the red sea. However, it would seem that a long time ago, Easter was simply a pagan celebration of spring and renewal that coincided with the first full moon following the equinox.
The most common legend comes from Ancient Greece and tells the story of a goddess named Persephone in Grecian civilisation and Proserpine in Roman civilisation. She was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of spring bounty who was trapped in the underworld. Her mother, desperate and distraught , refused to let the earth fruit until her daughter was returned to her. A deal was finally struck between the king of the underworld and the goddess of spring bounty. Persephone was to spend half of the year in the kingdom of the dead and the other half among the living. The winter months represent the sadness and desolation of the earth caused by her absence and the spring represents the return of the beloved daughter that brings the earth back to life.
The Anglo-Saxon name given to this holiday is representative of its pagan origins; Easter is the name of a Saxon God associated with spring.
 |
Easter 
Subscribe to this comment's feed