(no subject)
I was struck by the essential paganism of easter yesterday at - of all places - Tesco!
The shop was thronged with people buying Easter eggs - the egg being the symbol of the goddess Oestre (aka Astarte / Ishtar / Eostre). Her rebirth is celebrated at the Spring Equinox (late March) - hence the egg related business - and, of course, the pagan festival was hijacked by Christianity and turned into the moveable feast of Easter.
But it wasn't just the egg thing that made me reflect on the pagan-ness of the festival: many of the staff were wearing makeshift Easter bonnets - essentially headbands to which had been attached either rabbits ears or bunches of flowers. It was all very Jack-in-the Green....all that was missing was a Wicker Man :-)
For a good an interesting summary of the merging of pagan and Christian look here
The shop was thronged with people buying Easter eggs - the egg being the symbol of the goddess Oestre (aka Astarte / Ishtar / Eostre). Her rebirth is celebrated at the Spring Equinox (late March) - hence the egg related business - and, of course, the pagan festival was hijacked by Christianity and turned into the moveable feast of Easter.
But it wasn't just the egg thing that made me reflect on the pagan-ness of the festival: many of the staff were wearing makeshift Easter bonnets - essentially headbands to which had been attached either rabbits ears or bunches of flowers. It was all very Jack-in-the Green....all that was missing was a Wicker Man :-)
For a good an interesting summary of the merging of pagan and Christian look here