Easter has been hijacked

I was wondering that.

Why are the atheists being lumped together with pagans?

GracesGran is there something impolite about identifying as an atheist? I sometimes do as it's simpler than explaining complex theology.

I thought that the main theme of Casualty last night was a gloss on the Resurrection.

Yggdrasil wrote:
"Still we do get a public holiday for Beltane, only one month away :-)" I know I little Borders town where there is a Beltane festival.

I agree wholeheartedly with your post Blugal.

Ohh Monica you have just added another date & celebration I wasn’t aware of . I need to get reading.

The term for this is syncretism.

I agree everyone should celebrate any festival any way they wish, but I think the OP was really getting at is the COMMERCIALISM of it all. There is so much bordering on glutony that the simple pleasures that I, for one, experienced at not only Easter but Christmas are being lost. I used to love waking up to chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday and going to church and my grandchildren still do. The only difference now is that THEY get chocolate eggs (kinder, Cadbury's cream eggs) any day of the week all year.

Similarly Christmas is not the same now as they get toys throughout the year. Whereas WE only got toys on birthdays and Christmas. Yes they still enjoy it in their own way but sometimes I cringe at the amount of presents they get. I feel sad for people who have nothing in other parts of the world.. Last year I didn't give any of my children/grandchildren presents - instead I donated to a school in India. Nobody even noticed t.b.h. They still had an abundance of presents, but I think the kids in India would have appreciated a few books and pencils more.

I took two of my grandchildren to church this morning and it was beautiful, so colourful with lots of singing and all the children were given an Easter egg, with beautifully decorated cakes for all with teas/coffees.

Times are changing and I guess we just have to accept it and do what WE want to do Floradora9.

Come on folks, it isn’t a competition is it? My faith/athienism/paganism is better than yours.
Easter, spring time - it all symbolises new beginnings, surely an opportunity to love and let live ?

Happened the other way round M0nica. The Christians took over the Celebration and moved it to the Passover in time.

Thanks for your post Esspee, another interesting element of Easter I was not aware of.

I assume that all the pagans/ atheists here who wish to return to the pagan festival will start celebrating it on 21 March and not piggybacking on the popular Christian festival that just happens to share the same name.

I have been delighted to see Easter return to it's original pagan roots over the years. It was a celebration of the reawakening of Spring, Fertility and new life (The name says it all) long before Judaism with it's Passover and Christianity with it's Resurrection ever existed.
The Christian church simply welded it's mythology onto pre existing practices. Easter has much deeper roots.

I have observed that sometimes GG you tie yourself in a complete knot of nonsense.

Who on earth has called people names GG?

Because I think that what is happening here is exactly what happens on the political threads Annie. Here, people's beliefs are not known and there their political view is ignored. There they end up being called Corbynistas and here it's atheists.

I don't know about you but I think calling people names just because they don't share someone else's point of view is very in-Christian.

Happily I have just discovered that the origins of Easter Eggs originated as representing the empty tomb of Jesus.

here we go again ?

I'm all for live and let live - just as annie is saying. The word "hijacked" in the thread title is a value judgement that seems inappropriate.

Exactly LG, but there are other posts on this thread that are jumping on the "value judgement" bandwagon too. Every time a holiday with some attachment to Christianity comes up we have a particular type of "Christian" who see it as their job to tell everyone what they should be doing. It will happen again, I have no doubt.

But why ask who they are GG? You wanted names? Why ?

I just wondered why you were taking a pop at poor old atheists for no apparent reason - very Christian

Thank you for the interesting link, MiceElf. The notable omission from the list of renditions of Easter in European languages is German: Ostern. This has the same root as our Easter, and according to one respected German authority, Duden, comes from the Old German Auströ, meaning sunrise, which as I see it can symbolise the resurrection or the dawn of a new religion, or just Spring. No gods or goddesses involved

And as an atheist (I feel that the phrase confirmed atheist suggests some sort of ceremony conducted by a kind of Dawkinsian bishop) I have no desire to convert anyone to or from anything. Each to his/her own.

I'm all for live and let live - just as annie is saying. The word "hijacked" in the thread title is a value judgement that seems inappropriate.

Why GG?

Who are these atheists Annie?