Friday, April 17, 2009

Easter


Just scratching the surface of history throws up very interesting insights.
Take for instance Easter - the celebration of The Resurrection of Christ Jesus.
Have you ever wondered why we have this concept of Easter eggs and Easter bunnies.I have'nt. Possibly because while young I don't ever remember this being mentioned.

But, in the West you cant possibly have an Easter celebration without Easter Eggs and Bunnies.

That brings us to the question - What does Easter have to do with decorated eggs? Apparently, thats is an interesting story.

The term Easter is arrived from or should we say a distorted version of Isthar a fertility Goddess of the Ancient - of Assyrian origin.

Ishtar(Assyrian) - Ashtaroth( Hebrew) - Astarte(Pheonician) - Eostre( Teutoninc) - Easter( Anglo Saxon).One equate them to the different Avatars of the Indian Mythology.

These are all different names for the same Fertility Goddess of Assyrian/Canaanite origin.The celebration of Ishtar during pre-Biblical times included coloring the eggs an ancient symbol of fertility. As expected Ishtar finds mention in the Bible though as an abomination.

As regards the Easter bunny once again you don't have to look far. After all rabbits are renowned for the ability to multiply.And the phrase rabbits foot can be traced back to here.

Some more historical stuff..

Wonder how we got the terms "Hot Cross Buns"?

No comments: