Did we Christianize pagan culture?

Easter is the most important holiday for Christians that commemorates the death and resurrection of Christ and the days after his crucifixion.

Christians believed that Jesus, the son of God, died for everyone’s evil deeds and then came back to life three days later to defeat death and evil: so if you believe in Him, you will live forever in Heaven.

1. Lent is the forty-six day period just before Easter Sunday and begins on Ash Wednesday as the first day of Lent. The name comes from the tradition of placing a small cross of ashes on the forehead at religious services on Ash Wednesday. This is a sign of confession and helps people remember that they trust God for the forgiveness of their sins.

2. Easter was originally a pagan holiday practice for several hundred years. This seasonal celebration was not called “Easter”. before the fourth century. The early Christians took over the festivities and turned the pagan festivities of new life into the meaning of the new life that Jesus gave the world when he rose from the dead.

3. Christians observed Pascha, Christian Easter, in the spring of the year. Adapted from the Jewish Passover, Pascha was a festival of redemption. As Jews, these early followers of Jesus celebrated both their liberation from slavery in Egypt and their new liberation from the power of death itself.

4. Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”) is a celebration, sometimes called “carnival,” that takes place around the world on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It was designed as a way to “get it all out” before the Lenten sacrifices began. New Orleans is the focal point of Mardi Gras celebrations in the US. Read about the religious meanings of the Slow Season

5. However, as Christianity spread throughout the Roman world, the celebration became more and more distinctly Christian. But some disagreement also arose over when and how the holiday should be observed. One of the main reasons for organizing the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE was to set a firm date for the celebration.

6. The Council of Nicaea was called by Emperor Constantine issuing the Easter Rule which dictated that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox.

7. As a seasonal celebration to survive the harshness of winter, the European pagan festival of ‘Ostara’ celebrated a new life called “The Festival of the Return of Spring” which became known as “Easter”, a name derived from “Eostre “, or “Eastre” the Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe.

8. The Symbols reflect definitive elements of pre-Christian religious practice converted and incorporated into Easter traditions.

* The Easter Bunny originated with the pagan festival of Eastre in honor of the Goddess Eastre, and was worshiped by the Anglo-Saxons through the earthly symbol of the rabbit.

* The Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in spring is a custom that dates back centuries when Christians first celebrated Easter as a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Today, children hunt for colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets. animated easter egg

9. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. It is when Christians remember how Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. It is called Palm Sunday because the people were very happy to see Jesus and they knew that he was very important, so they took branches from the palm and olive trees that lined the road. They waved them in the air shouting ‘Hosanna’ (meaning ‘God saves’ in Hebrew) and put some of them on the road to make it easier for the donkey to walk on the rocky path.

10. Easter is a season instead of just one day in other cultures and the religious practice a seven-week season called Eastertide. It is a period of fifty days that begins at sunset on the eve of Easter Sunday and lasts six more Sundays until Pentecost. Variously referred to as Eastertide, or the Easter season, or the Paschal time.

Tradition holds that Jesus “ascended” to God on the 40th day after the resurrection. In the church calendar this day, always a Thursday, is known as Ascension Day. In practice, the Ascension is sometimes “moved” to the sixth Sunday of Easter. The season officially ends on Pentecost Sunday, which is considered by Christians to be the “birthday of the church.” This feast celebrates the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and, indeed, of the world.

Feel free to add your comments to this POV. My goal is to educate and present information that allows for a broader frame of reference for the events we hold. Before someone goes and calls me names because these specific facts and tidbits of information are not what you know to be the truth, leave your comment and be aware of the season.