Q: What is the orgins of Christmas & Easter bunnies?

 

A.: On Christmas Trees & Easter Bunnies;

From the beginning of time, people noticed the movement of the sun and stars across the sky. It wasn't long before cave men noticed that one day was the shortest day every year. People thought, after this shortest day, the SUN returns. To early humanity, it seemed like the SUN was born on the day. The day became a day for great rejoicing. Hosannah! The SUN is born. We are saved from the harshness of the dark winter. People all over the world celebrated the coming of this savior, the SUN. Colored lights and evergreens became the European standard as ritual markers of this glorious event. Many pagan Gods claimed this solstice as their day of birth.

In the early fourth century, Emperor Constantine mandated Christianity as the only religion lawfully practiced in the Roman Empire. But Constantine wondered how he would convince the people to stop honoring their pagan gods with this Sun festival. (Its date was later changed from Dec 21 to Dec 25 (when the Julian calendar was adopted). Since the solstice had become a traditional birthday of many pagan gods, Constantine decided to declare the solstice to be the birthday of the god Christ. That way, when people celebrated the birthday of the SUN, who wasborn from the sea of our Mother Earth, they could officially abe celebrating the birth of the Son who  was born of an earthly human, our Mother Mary (Mar means Sea). Because the pagan temples had all been converted to become the churches of Christianity, the great god Mithra, bachelor shepherd and warrior supreme, became the vision of Jesus in people's hearts.

The Emperor and the Pope decide to destroy the writings

The Roman Emperor, tightly connected to the Pope, then set out to select specific writings of the early church. He wanted to define the scripture that would be his ruling doctrine. He knew he could rule if the people's god was on his side. Roman Emperors had a history of declaring themselves to be sons of God. If the Emperor said "Listen up. These ar the words of God", then the pleople would have no choice but to take the command literally.

The Emperor, in consort with the Pope, set up a committee to select writings which fit with his vision and viewpoint. The Emperor's committee rejected documents from early Christianity which described Mary as a young teen, between the ages of 12 and 17, giving birth in a cave, and being put on trial by the Jewish courts for pregnancy out of wedlock. They threw out documents which called Mary Magdalene at least the "consort",  if not the wife, of Jesus. They denied documents which described the mythic mishaps ascribed to Jesus as a child. The Emperor declared any document so deselected to be unlawful, either to read or to possess. The documents, and all their copies, were destroyed. For nearly two thousand years, these writings of the early Christians were lost to the world.

But the documents were preserved in caves
In 1948, a traveling Bedouin in Arabic lands stumbled across some caves filled with jars. Buried in the sand for two thousand years, the jars contained copies of the forbidden writings. Carefully and  painstakingly, some group of people had preserved them. Hundreds of documents, lovingly sealed and secretly stored, buried in the desert sands. These gospels, works of Thomas, of Philip, of apostles and students from the early days of Christianity, portrayed a different vision of Christ. These scriptures painted the picture of Christ who loved a woman, Mary Magdalene. They described a Christ whose actions might conceivably have been those of a High Priest of Isis, rather than a pious Jew. Once again, the church denied the writings and discouraged dissemination of their teachings. Which God was Jesus the Son of? the writings seemed to say. But in general, the people didn't care, for All Gods are One God, we know from the scriptures of Egypt.

In the end, people choose the God in their hearts

The religious faithful of Christianity, unaware and unconcerned with arcane questions of theology, cared not about the actions of the church to suppress these documents. They had lives to live, weddings to attend, babies to welcome, children to raise. God was in their heart, where gods belong, and the arcane details of a long ago story need not be examined or reviewed. The people rejoiced in their gift of life, and every Spring, they reveled in the miraculous resurrection of Our Mother Earth. After her long winter sleep, the first buds of Spring promised rejuvenation, and gladdened the people's hearts at the resurrection. Joyfully, the people presented their children with chocolate bunnies and colored eggs, just as the pagans for many thousands of years before them did. Spring means fertility and resurrection of the Earth, and early pagans saw bunnies and eggs as sacred symbols of the Teutonic Goddess Eostre. It was the Goddess Eostre whose feast day came on the first full moon after the vernal equinox, traditionally called the Paschal Moon. It was the Goddess, our Mother Earth, who rose from the dead every Spring. People forgot the meaning of chocolate bunnies and colored eggs. They only remembered their parents doing it, and it felt good inside and made them happy, so they continued the tradition.

We continue our traditional ways

Colored lights for Christmas, colored eggs for Easter: time honored pagan ritual. One symbolizes the birth of our savior, the SUN, the other symbolizes the resurrection of our Mother Earth. Both symbolize the power of Deity, as the people know the God in their hearts. Nothing done by the authorities of church or state could suppress these symbols from empowering the people and filling their hearts with joy.
Thus, the traditional pagan rituals marking Christmas and Easter survive.


By: Lady Raya