The Sunday Mail
Shingai Rukwata Ndoro Chisel The Debris
APART from Christmas, Christians’ biggest festival every year is “Easter”, and its a period to remember, observe and commemorate the alleged suffering, execution and resurrection of a supposedly historical Hebrew person, Yahoshua the Nazarene (renamed Greek “Iesousthe Christos”).
It is fixed as “the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox”.
Origins of the name
The word “Easter” is derived from the ancient German feminine cosmic power of fertility and the dawn, ‘Eastre’ (also Estre, Estara, Ostara). – Catholic Encyclopedia.
This was the equivalent of Queen Auset (Isis) for ancient Egypt, Inanna for Sumerians, Ishtar-of-the-Stars “Queen of Heaven With Crescent Horns” for Akkadians (Phoenicians/Canaanites and Babylonians).
Easter is “a name traced to the virgin-mother of the slain Tammuz, Ishtar … calculated by the relative positions of sun and moon at the spring equinox, varying with each year”. (Williamson, “The Great Law”, as quoted in “Esoteric Christianity or the Lesser Mysteries”, by Annie Besant – 1914)
Date of observation
Easter always falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive.
This period is the “Spring Festival” marking the beginning of spring or the vernal equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
Based on the Gregorian calendar, Easter Sunday or Spring Sun-day always falls on the first Sunday after the full moon after the Spring Equinox that occurs on March 21. This shows that Easter is an astronomical event rather than a scriptural one.
From ancient times, this festival “had long been celebrated as the season of new life or the rebirth of the earth.” It’s an ancient rite whose observation has been adopted by Christians.
Therefore, the word “Easter” does not have the slightest relationship with Christianity.
Although Easter is a major Christian event, its name and occurrence is based on three things: natural phenomenon, predating Christianity and is founded on the false narrative of death through crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.
Easter cannot be claimed as a Christian observance, celebration and remembrance.
Relationship with Hebrew Passover
The alleged suffering and resurrection of Yahoshua the Nazarene is assumed to have occurred during the Hebrew Passover (“Festival of the Unleavened Bread,” Exodus 12:12–20; Numbers 28:16–25), which commences on the 14th of the lunar month of Nisan.
According to Esther 3:7, Nisan is the first month of the Hebrew calendar.
Passover (Hebrew “Pesach” and Latin “Pascha”) is one of the most widely celebrated Hebrew days. It occurs when the sun crosses the equator from south to north on the spring or vernal equinox.
This means the Hebrew religious event is an observation of an astronomical occurrence, made to coincide with the historicalised but mythical story of Exodus when Hebrew slaves were supposedly released from bondage in Egypt.
“The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Isreal and the Origin of Sacred Texts” (2002) by Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman shows that the scriptural exodus is a historical myth.
Passover is, therefore, a metaphorical and even allegorical celebration of the deep human yearnings for freedom that later becamea historicalised astronomical event.
Adoption by Christianity
In the first century, Christianity adopted Passover as a Christian event because “a change in date of Passover from the 14th of Nisan to a Sunday happened because any distancing between Judaism and Roman Christianity seemed physically advantageous”.
“In time, such a dependence on the (Hebrews) was considered humiliating, especially when Gentile Christians were trying to differentiate themselves from the (Hebrews). Thus, the bishops of Rome and Alexandria developed their own computations for the date of Easter based on the Spring equinox and the day of the full moon.” (Samuele Bacchiocchi, “God’s Festivals in Scripture and History”)
Both Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses do not observe the Christian Easter.
Significance of spring period
The spring season “is a special times where there is a quality of energy in our planet. Energy to plant, energy to grow, energy to renew our lives. What is occurring is that life it self is being renewed, because energy is emerging from the ground where it has been dormant in the earth since the Winter Solstice.” (“Vernal Equinox–Spring”, Gurdjieff Dominican)
During spring (“pfumvudza” in Shona), “the seeds germinate and push their tender shoots through the dark earth towards the warmth of the sun.
“This reminds us of the necessity of self-reliance and that energy, courage and persistence are needed to enable one to pierce the darkness of ignorance, so that ideas may be vivified by the radiance of higher consciousness.
“This season is … characterised by warmth, spots of flora emerging everywhere on the naked ground, sounds of all types of birds in the air, movement of wild animals in the forest and very bright sunshine. This is the Season of optimism and hope.” (Andy Kester Sawian, based on John Keats, “The Human Seasons”, 1818)
Happy Spring Festival!
Feedback: [email protected] and Twitter @shingaiRndoro. A gallery of previous articles is found at www.sundaymail.co.zw/author/shingairukwata
