To still not understand Easter?

[Kayano]

I was raised a catholic and attended catholic school.
I got an A* in my RS GCSE because I had been bashed round the head with a bible for many years not because I tried

But although I get Easter. Crucifixtion, raised from the dead three days later...

Why does it MOVE?!

I'm sure I know this but now I am an adult and have finally said you know what? Bull I still don't understand why the date changes.

I mean. Jesus was born on one day (Christmas... Supposedly) 25th Dec

Presumably he died one day too... Why does it not stay the same date then? Jesus died this day... Blah blah april... Jesus last year might have died this day march... Blah blah

? Can someone explain it to me

Agree with you Hecate that whatever you think of it all they (the Christians) did do a bloody good job of re-branding !

Easter Monday is NOT for queing in B&Q. its the day you roll your easter eggs down a muddy hill in your local park, hoping to avoid the dog shit. When they have all been rolled you can then eat them, whiping off as much mud and grass as possible.

You have easter eggs left on Monday?

The connection between 'Easter Bunnies' and eggs is that the bunny used to be a hare and in days past, people thought that hares laid eggs. This is beacuse they make 'nests' (called forms) in the fields and these are similar to skylark nests. The hare is also the Messenger of the Goddess.

Kladdkaka, where I live it is a SIN! to eat your eggs on a Sunday, you MUST leave them until Monday so you can join the rest of the nutters on the park.

Interesting too that my daughter must have been born on Passover as well as Maundy Thursday then ? This pleases me as I'm fond of Jewish spirituality/ writings.

She was also born on the true, original, first day of the year/ first day of Spring IMO - namely 1st April

She is the goddess of Spring

VegimalStyle I get that. I guess I'm not really being clear. My point was more that I don't think the fact that there was a pagan tradition that fell on the same dates as Easter actually matters at all.

And the Jewish peoples didn't go out of their way to rebrand festivals, but the Romans did when they began to adopt Christianity. Due to the fact they had such an extensive empire it was able to spread quickly.

Prior to this they were pagans, polytheists. They used the existing festivals that they celebrated and made them Christian in order to make changing religion easier on the masses.

So saternalia became Christmas and they kept the tree thing and brought light and life into the house at the darkest point of the year.

Oestre became easter. Easy as they were both about New life and rebirth.

Satisfactory?

LOL at 'he's alive again and we get a day off work'

She was also born in the year of the rabbit ! (so interesting to hear that the hare is the Messenger of the Goddess, and that the Easter rabbit was originally a hare )

Kladdkaka, where I live it is a SIN! to eat your eggs on a Sunday, you MUST leave them until Monday so you can join the rest of the nutters on the park.

I'd be stuffed then. I've eaten mine already!

In the Orthodox churches, many people fast over Lent - they do eat, just not nice stuff. Some Greek Orthodox friends of mine don't eat sweets, cake, extra sugar, meat, wine or coffee over Lent (the latter two a BIG undertaking) and I think in the last week of Lent (eg. Holy Week) they even eschew fish and olive oil. And then pig out on sunday.

Fish was/is commonly eaten on fridays (not just Good Friday) in Catholic countries because it reminds them about Good Friday (I think).

last year, i ate the last half of the egg i had the previous year.

no such luck this year - bfing means i eat food like it's going out of fashion

I don't have anything much to add to this thread, just wanted to comment because my DH is effectively a medieval Christian and consequently fasts from meat, dairy and alcohol throughout Lent (and from Fish on Fridays in Lent - Friday in normal non-Lent time is Fish-only). His Easter falls later than ours this year, which means everyone else gets to enjoy delicious roast lamb (or whatever you have for Easter Sunday but I love my mum's roast lamb and reckon it is traditional ) ... I don't.

So, you know, if you are irritating by Easter changing dates every year and the inconvenience of it, spare a thought for those of us with irritatingly observant husbands who keep Old Calendar fasts!

reshape (cross posted with you) - I knew about the way GO people fast from olive oil while Russians fast from dairy ... never knew about the coffee! What's the reasoning behind that, do you know?

I would die.

CrockoDuck I love you.

agincourt: I don't think it's ever been required that Christians eat fish. It used to be obligatory for Christians to fast on Fridays and holy days, and this was eventually loosened to avoiding certain foods, including meat. So people used to eat fish because they weren't allowed meat (and also the Vatican reclassified all sorts of animals to count as 'fish' so you could eat them. But you can eat other things than fish if you want. You should tell your mum to chill out!

I believe it's because it was a celebration of spring before other people got their hands on it and decided it needs a different meaning. I know that each season has an official start date, but the weather sometimes ignores that and I think that's why it's never been set in stone. As for when Jesus was born, here in Chile a major holiday is Dec 8th. Date of the immaculate conception. I'm not a Dr, or a mathemation, but that seems like a very quick pregnancy given the fact his mother was human.

I see your point though, if it's so important an occasion why can't they decide when the event being celebrated happened?

Disclaimer. I am not questioning the species if either Jesus or his mother.

Devout Catholics do not eat meat on any Friday and this is followed on RC schools too

Chippy Fridays for as long ad I can remember!

Disclaimer. I am not questioning the species if either Jesus or his mother.

LOL! I just snorted tea out my nose.

You dont have to eat fish, just not meat and you can eat fish. (I believe for a while the Vatican said Catholics could also eat penguins.)

lydia - in medieval times some people claimed 'barnacle geese' were actually hatched from barnacles and were therefore fish, not meat, and so allowed on Fridays ...

Chilenachica, I think you'll find the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary's conception, not Jesus's.

I know it's wrong but I can't stop laughing at this statement

Neither Easter or Christmas actually have anything to do with Christianity

I know the DATES where made to link up with Pagan festivals but they are definately CHRISTIAN!

Weren't beavers also classified as fish? Reason was: they live in water.

Not sure if there's any connection between that and the fact they were hunted to extinction in western Europe.

and ducks. Monastries kept ducks so they could 'fast' and abstain from meat in the middle ages.