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Easter: Origin of the Name and Associated Symbols

ramonmercado said:
Threads merged.
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A resurrection of an Easterthread, at Eastertide! And my eastern question is answered, thank-you @ramonmercado , many easters ago.

An interesting thought has just stuck me...the characteristic semi-womb shape of an egg. It's actually quite similar to the notional orbit of the earth around the sun...
6-precession.jpg

The Sun, a yoke, to which the earth is....yoked?

Is this not a marvellous piece of Sheldrakean morphic resonance? Well, yes. But no.

There's nothing, though, but that we think it so
 
Well spotted! That's quite amazing.
 
Ermintrude said:
A resurrection of an Easterthread, at Eastertide! And my eastern question is answered, thank-you @ramonmercado , many easters ago.

An interesting thought has just stuck me...the characteristic semi-womb shape of an egg. It's actually quite similar to the notional orbit of the earth around the sun...
6-precession.jpg
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Almost there, but no coconut!

Orbits are ellipses, symmetrical about both the long and the short axes, whereas eggs are non-symetrical ovoids, which are only symmetrical about the long axis. This stops them rolling out of nests or off cliff ledges. (Hence cliff-nesting species tend to have the most pointed eggs.)

Don't let the equinoxes or solstices confuse you (they are the result of Earth's axial tilt) - the actual orbit is an ellipse.
 
So why GOOD Friday?
Seems a bit of a misnomer given the main man bites the big one. Trying to keep our spirits up until he is risen?
 
Well yesterday was just ok. Today must be nonplussed Saturday.
 
skinny" said:
So why GOOD Friday?
Seems a bit of a misnomer given the main man bites the big one. Trying to keep our spirits up until he is risen?
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Misnomer? Misspelling? We are told/taught/trained that 'God is Good'. So, Good=God. Therefore, it was, is, and shall be forevermore, God Friday: which is good. Probably. And hence the ancient Judeo-christian abbreviation, dating way back perhaps as much as thirty years T.G.I.F

ramonmercado said:
Early spindoctors?
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True, they would've had to compete with the whole T.F.I.S brigade.

At least in the eyes and ears of children, awaking into the world, it all makes sense.

Jesus, who was a man but wasn't, was sent to die for our sins (in a unique way, upon a cross....so, the same impalement suffered by hundreds of thousands of convicted criminals at that time, before, and after). But he was unique, because he was raised from the dead. But not as we will be: he was raised from the dead by followers, who rolled back an egg-shaped non-chocolate boulder, and then
found he had already gone to Argos.

Perhaps I should be more respectful of religion, but as I grow older, tireder and more exasperated, I find myself losing patience.

Santa-Crucified-35140.jpg


Let's not forget the true meaning and spirit of Christmas: mistranslated, misunderstood, misappropriated miss-will-toe-the-line. Mr, eh, play. Plastic Paschion panto.

The scrambled Xmas curate's egg is then reheated, three months later, as a contemporary hollow chocolate shell. Surplus reindeer, santas and gold pennies are denuded of their foil, and mercilessly melted-down to form creme eggs and faux-celtic bunnies.

(At this special time of year (moon cycles permitting) it's perhaps surprising that we don't all grow more beards. It's a common strand....God, Jesus, Santa, Branson, certain popular prophets: all, for sure, are not bare-faced liars)

beardo-hat-gray.jpg
 
Is Easter still about religion for most?
Caroline Wyatt Religious affairs correspondent
  • 4 April 2015
A large, feathery Easter egg stands in the middle of a small street in a shopping area in north London.
Beneath it is an Easter message: "This egg is to remind people to shop at independent retailers".
I had thought that it might be to remind people of the other message of Easter - the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, for example, which churches across the country will be marking on Sunday.
One supermarket chain buyer apparently asked the company that supplies the eggs what Easter had to do with the Church
But the message of shopping appears to be the louder one, with the magazine Retail Week announcing the glad tidings that footfall at shopping centres, retail parks and high streets will surge almost 5% over the Easter weekend "as shoppers splurge their payday cash".

It's not clear whether footfall at churches across the country will also surge by the same amount, although Christmas and Easter services continue to attract higher numbers than most weeks.
Some 1.3m people in the UK attended Easter Church of England services alone in 2013 - compared to 2.5m for Christmas.
For many years now, leading church figures have bemoaned the fact that in a country that is still officially Christian, with almost 60% of people identifying themselves as such in the 2011 census (although far fewer actually attend church services, or believe in God), the religious message of Easter has been drowned out by the secular festival of chocolate and shopping being celebrated at supermarkets across the country.

etc...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32160786
 
rynner2 said:
Don't let the equinoxes or solstices confuse you (they are the result of Earth's axial tilt) - the actual orbit is an ellipse.
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I understood that the axial tilt was the primary factor in these solar nodes/seasonal points, but I still thought there was an asymmetry between the relative midsummer/midwinter earth:sun separation distances?
 
Ermintrude said:
Misnomer? Misspelling? We are told/taught/trained that 'God is Good'. So, Good=God. Therefore, it was, is, and shall be forevermore, God Friday: which is good. Probably. And hence the ....
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I am in complete sympathy with your incoherent views. Whatever they are.
+ where was god when our lord needed him that Friday? According to my bible class, he stepped back, allowing the prevenient grace of the holy spirit to do its magic. Now I have no beef with positive spiritual redemption in any form, especially the Grace when it occurs to people. But the religious take on things is just hollow where the substance ought to be. Tomorrow morning a new crop of accolytes will awaken to the cause, and find impetus to undertake all sorts of 'elevated' goodness in the name of someone's jesus. Ne'er a church I had contact with had any even tenuous connectivity with the street. I walked away from the lot. Happy clappy pishposh.
 
Ermintrude said:
I understood that the axial tilt was the primary factor in these solar nodes/seasonal points, but I still thought there was an asymmetry between the relative midsummer/midwinter earth:sun separation distances?
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Yes, there is, because the sun is not at the centre of the ellipse but at its Focus.
(Actually every ellipse has two Foci - the closer together they are the more rounded the ellipse. In the limit, with the two foci superimposed, you get a circle!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_orbits )

But this is nothing to do with axial tilt - the earth could turned upside down without affecting its orbit.
 
skinny said:
I am in complete sympathy with your incoherent views. Whatever they are.
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Meaning I post the same way sometimes, Ermintrude. The cohesiveness, rather than the coherence, tends to be affected. I agree with the spirit of the message even if I don't quite hold the thread of intended meaning.
 
skinny said:
I am in complete sympathy with your incoherent views. Whatever they are.
+ where was god when our lord needed him that Friday? According to my bible class, he stepped back, allowing the prevenient grace of the holy spirit to do its magic. Now I have no beef with positive spiritual redemption in any form, especially the Grace when it occurs to people. But the religious take on things is just hollow where the substance ought to be. Tomorrow morning a new crop of accolytes will awaken to the cause, and find impetus to undertake all sorts of 'elevated' goodness in the name of someone's jesus. Ne'er a church I had contact with had any even tenuous connectivity with the street. I walked away from the lot. Happy clappy pishposh.
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I don't like happy clappy. It seems selfish and wrong. Because whatever God's ineffable plan is, to work it out is involving a lot of suffering. I suspect it is something to do with free will. Hopefully at the plan's fulfilment it will be justified.
 
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But what if it isn't justified, not by humanity's standards? The Lord moves in mysterious ways, but what if his grand plan is so mysterious we cannot understand what all this suffering has been for without a massive grudge being the consequence?
 
ramonmercado said:
But did he send the Easter Bunny to save us?
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Yes, but unfortunately it was betrayed and captured by the Romans. When offered a choice, the multitude shouted 'Free The Badger', so the bunny was spit roasted and served up for dinner with a chocolate sauce. It got better a few days later though and rode to Heaven on a bun with a cross on it.
 
Careful, Jim, or you might start a new religion!
 
GNC said:
But what if it isn't justified, not by humanity's standards? The Lord moves in mysterious ways, but what if his grand plan is so mysterious we cannot understand what all this suffering has been for without a massive grudge being the consequence?
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Well, I suppose it depends on how important or otherwise the human race is in the grand scheme of things. We might be no more important than, say, bees. But that is not the impression that's given, so I'd suggest that when we do get to see the plan come together we'll be feeling much like the A-Team and the end of one of their miraculous building-things-out-of-trash episodes.

Either way, how exactly are you going to apply a 'massive grudge' against the Creator of the universe? Not speak to him? Bite his toes? Refuse to make the tea?

Despite the fact that I believe, I can still see the ludicrous side. I do hope He has a sense of humour or I'm stuffed.
 
GNC said:
Am I right in saying rabbits are never mentioned in the Bible? Could the Easter Bunny be a pagan?
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Like I said. Eostre symbolised by the hare. Yes it's a pagan festival hijacked by Christianity like Christmas... Which is why the bunny makes no sense until you look at the pagan roots.
 
Cochise said:
Well, I suppose it depends on how important or otherwise the human race is in the grand scheme of things. We might be no more important than, say, bees. But that is not the impression that's given, so I'd suggest that when we do get to see the plan come together we'll be feeling much like the A-Team and the end of one of their miraculous building-things-out-of-trash episodes.

Either way, how exactly are you going to apply a 'massive grudge' against the Creator of the universe? Not speak to him? Bite his toes? Refuse to make the tea?

Despite the fact that I believe, I can still see the ludicrous side. I do hope He has a sense of humour or I'm stuffed.
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If He (or She) has a witty sense of humour, we might be OK. If He has a goofy sense of humour, we could get along. If He has a sick sense of humour, we're in trouble.
 
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