Scott Seidman wrote:
" wrote in
oups.com:

..please tell me you know that Easter isn't
a christian holiday at least?


Then what is it? Having origins in pagan celebratins does not make it a
pagan holiday--unless, of course, one is trying to make a meaningless
point.

It's exactly what I told you about X-mas. Christians co-opting
existing pagan holidays to convert people to their relgion.

"Many of the symbols associated with the modern holiday of Christmas
such as the burning of the Yule log, the eating of ham, the hanging of
boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. are apparently derived from traditional
northern European Yule celebrations. When the first missionaries began
converting the Germanic peoples to Christianity, they found it easier
to simply provide a Christian reinterpretation for popular feasts such
as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely
unchanged, rather than trying to suppress them.
"

"Eostre was the Saxon version of the Germanic lunar goddess Ostara. She
gave her name to the Christian Easter and to the female hormone
estrogen. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the vernal
equinox -- almost the identical calculation as for the Christian Easter
in the west. One delightful legend associated with Eostre was that she
found an injured bird on the ground one winter. To save its life, she
transformed it into a hare. But "the transformation was not a complete
one. The bird took the appearance of a hare but retained the ability to
lay eggs. ..the hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as gifts
to Eostre.
"

What do you think decorating eggs or celebrating a rabbit have
to do with christianity? Why does the date of Easter vary with
the lunar cycle?
- Ken