Seditious questions about Easter

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The official history of the main Christian holiday - Easter, is associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified on the Jewish holiday of Passover as a sacrifice to the Jewish god Yahweh.

In turn, bloody Passover is celebrated in honor of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Then the "good" Yahweh killed all the Egyptian firstborn babies, and the Jews, robbing the Egyptians, made an exodus from "slavery."

But if you think about everything that surrounds this main Christian holiday, many uncomfortable questions for churchmen arise.

Why is Easter on a floating date?

The Resurrection of God is, of course, a significant event, but why did Christ resurrect last year on April 12, and this year on May 1? Has he been resurrected several times? What is the reason for this?

Let's start with the fact that there are quite a few different dates for celebrating Easter in the currents of Christianity, which is due to differences in the calendars, Gregorian and Julian, with different dates of church full moons.

But regardless of this leapfrog within the framework of one religious movement - Christianity, the general concept of the holiday is tied to the solar and lunar calendar.

In short, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. The spring full moon is the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

Such a link is regularly explained by the biggraphy of one or another Character from the novel "World Religions", although the basis, consisting of a cosmic holiday of sun worshipers, is visible here with the naked eye. But before thinking about cosmogony, let's look at the Characters themselves.

Why are the biographies of Mithra-Osiris-Adonis-Christ so similar?

The cult of the son of God who died for the sins of all mankind and promises a paradise life to his followers after death is not an invention of Christianity. This is one of the modifications of the cult of Osiris, which was formed in Ancient Egypt.

This cult in Asia Minor was called the cult of Attis, in Syria - the cult of Adonis, in the lands of Romea - the cult of Dionysius, etc. Mithra, Amon, Serapis, Liber were also identified with Dionysus at different times.

In all these cults, the God-man was born on the same day - December 25. Then he died and was subsequently resurrected.

December 25 is the winter solstice, the day becomes longer than the night and here it is - the birth of a new sun. God Mithra, for example, was called the Invincible Sun.

So, we see that the cosmic, or in other words, natural cycles associated with the sun - this is the basis on which almost all religious cults were imposed.

For example, here is a table showing that when a new cult was imposed, the holidays were simply copied:

date	Pre-Christian holiday	Christian holiday
06.01	Feast of the god Veles	Christmas eve
07.01	Kolyada	Nativity
24.02	Day of the god Veles (patron saint of cattle)	Saint Blasius (patron saint of animals) day
02.03	Marena Day	Saint Marianne's Day
06.05	Dazhbog Day	Saint George the Victorious Day
15.05	Boris the baker's day	Transfer of the relics of the faithful Boris and Gleb
22.05	Day of the god Yarila (god of spring)	Transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas of Spring
06.07	Russian week	Day of Agrafena Bathers
07.07	Ivan Kupala Day	The Nativity of John the Baptist
02.08	Day of the god Perun (god of thunder)	Day of Saint Elijah the Prophet (Thunderer)
19.08	Feast of the first fruits	Festival of consecration of fruits
21.08	Day of the god Stribog (god of the winds)	Day of Myron Vetrogon (bringing the wind)
14.09	Day of the Magus Zmeevich	Day of the Monk Simon the Stylite
21.09	Feast of women in labor	Nativity of the Virgin
10.11	Day of the goddess Makosha (goddess-spinner)	Day of Paraskeva Friday (patroness of sewing)
14.11	On this day, Svarog opened iron to people	Day of Kozma and Damian (patrons of blacksmiths)
21.11	Day of the gods Svarog and Simargl	Archangel Michael Day

What pre-Christian origins can be seen in the attributes of Easter?

Great day (Great day) is the popular name for Easter among the eastern and some southern Slavs. On Easter, the rituals of meeting spring on the day of the vernal equinox moved on. Earlier on this day the Great Night ended - it came from the day of the autumn equinox and the Great Day came - it began from the day of the vernal equinox (Ukrainian Velikden, Belorussian Vyalikdzen, Bulgarian Velikden). In the mythology and rituals of the day, there are plots and motives characteristic of the folk calendar of spring and early summer. The motives of the resurrection of the SUN, the renewal and prosperity of nature take an important place in the folk Easter holidays.

The continuation of the Great Day was the Bright Week, which lasted eight days. Throughout the entire Bright Week, the souls of the deceased constantly turn between the living, visit their relatives and friends, drink, eat and rejoice with them. The memorial days of this week were the first (in some places the second) day of Easter and Navskiy Thursday. Fasting began - among other things, they went to the cemetery with the dead to break the fast. At the same time, the Orthodox Church itself admits that trips to the cemetery on Easter are not a Christian tradition."

Where did the custom of cleaning up the graves of the dead and visiting ancestors in cemeteries come from?

According to the Slavic calendar, there is such a holiday - the Day of Remembrance of the Ancestors. On this day, services are performed at all cemeteries and churchyards, cleanliness and order are brought to the graves and mounds. In addition to gifts and demands for deceased ancestors, sacred fires (candles, lamps, fire lamps) are lit on their last refuge.

According to another tradition, the Week before Easter or Red Week, and in the Belarusian Polesie, has retained the ancient name Rusalnaya. This week had many names among the people - Russian. Red, Chervona, Great, Holy week, Ukrainian. Biliy Tizden, Clean Tizden, Belor. Russian week.

According to Slavic traditions, on one of the days preceding Easter or immediately following it, the ancestors return to earth, where they stay for some time. The entire Red Week was being prepared for the celebration, from Monday to Saturday. The main preparations were from Thursday (now called Maundy Thursday) to Saturday. All week they diligently prepared for the holiday: they washed tables, benches, benches, windows, doors. They whitewashed the oven, or even the walls. They scrubbed, washed the floor, shaken out the rugs, washed the dishes. From Thursday to Saturday, there was cooking on the stove and in the yard: the hostesses baked Easter cakes, painted eggs, baked meat; men put up swings, prepared firewood for the holiday, etc. The villagers tried to be laconic. As well as during the whole fast, loud street singing was avoided, there were no street games and round dances.

And nowadays, every housewife, just a week before Easter, tries to put her house and yard in order: sweep, scoop out, clean, whiten, wash, wash … these ancient traditions are strictly observed.

In ancient times there was a custom to swing on a swing at Easter. Near the swing, as a rule, both young people and adults played paint or Easter eggs. Women and girls did not take part in the games. Most often they played "navbitki" ("cue balls") - they fought with eggs, "kotka" - they rolled eggs down a hill.

As we already know, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. Thus, the solar and lunar calendar are combined. Where do we use the lunar cycle? Almost all gardeners regularly buy a lunar calendar, because planting is very dependent on the position of the moon. According to this logic, Easter = Pashka is a logical spring holiday for the beginning of field work, fertility and the spring rebirth of Nature.

And from this point of view, the traditional symbols of Easter - cakes and eggs - are very logical - they simply have nothing to do with the "biography" of Jesus Christ.

Why are Easter cakes and eggs made?

One of the sources of these attributes, symbolizing the male giving birth, is the Egyptian cult of Isis, although similar things are found in other ancient traditions of different peoples.

If you take two eggs, put them next to the Easter cake, you will just get the oldest symbol of fertility - the male reproductive organ.

Above in the photo is a comparison of the Easter cake and the lingam, the symbol of the masculine principle in Indian mythology. In rituals, the lingam is often poured on top with milk, as a symbol of the fertile seed; the glaze in the kulich has the same symbolism.

In principle, the churchmen themselves admit this, too, here is a quote from one church resource:

Easter cake was never known in the Old Testament Passover, and indeed in Christianity. The Passover Lamb was eaten with unleavened cakes (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs. The origin of the Easter cake is pagan. Kulich, like tall bread with eggs, is a well-known pagan symbol of the fruiting god Phaloss.

Isn't it, after this information, the rite of consecration of Easter cakes in churches looks rather amusing.

The egg is also a symbol of fertility, and some lingams (swayambhu lingam, bana lingam) in the Indian tradition represent an egg on a stand.

From the point of view of logic, this is really very symbolic: an egg is one large cell, from which a whole multicellular organism is then obtained.

What do the Jews have to do with it?

Let us recall the biblical tale underlying the Jewish holiday of Passover, the "elder brother" of the Christian Passover.

Pharaoh did not let go of the Jews who wanted to leave. Then the Jewish god began to send various curses on the Egyptians. At first, these curses were in the nature of dirty tricks - toads, midges and flies. However, soon the anger of Yahweh-Jehovah grows stronger - now he sends a pestilence, inflammation with abscesses, hail and locusts. It ends with the fact that the Jewish god kills all the Egyptian firstborn - all children, including babies (so that the all-seeing god would not confuse “his people” with the Egyptians, the chosen ones smeared their doors with blood.) Then Pharaoh let the Jews go. But before leaving, God's chosen ones still managed to rob the Egyptians. The Jews asked to "revile" their Egyptian girlfriends gold jewelry, and the Jewish men borrowed from the Egyptians, initially without intending to give it back.

What does this crime story have to do with Jesus Christ?

The events described in the gospels - the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ - coincided in time with the Jewish holiday.

Christ was crucified as a sacrifice to the Jewish god Yahweh on Passover. But celebrating two Easter on the same day - Jewish and Christian - for obvious reason, somehow it was not very good, therefore, an ornate system for calculating Christian Easter appeared.

And in order to get into the confidence of the people, the natural rituals of welcoming spring and the beginning of agricultural work were taken as the basis for the new holiday.

In connection with all of the above, the last rhetorical question arises: why do people not think about such oddities, preferring instead to mindlessly repeat to each other "Christ is Risen - Truly Risen"?