Posted by Jeff from d53-152-230.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.230.152) on Saturday, April 26, 2003 at 1:16AM :
The truth about Easter
Posted By: Nineb Lamassu <siduri99_9@hotmail.com> (0-proxy-01-lon.on-air.bz)
Date: Friday, 25 April 2003, at 11:04 p.m.
Easter maybe over for some Assyrians,but some are yet to celebrate it on Sunday. anyway this is an article for all about the truth behind easter.
I hope you enjoy it.
THE TRUTH ABOUT EASTER
Easter is a highly significant day in the Christian calendar; it is celebrated as the day of Christ’s resurrection. However, is this truly the meaning of Easter, and this its true origin?
Under the definition for Easter in Webster's Dictionary (College Edition) one finds: "originally the name of pagan vernal festival . . . Eastre, dawn goddess."
Further reading in an encyclopaedia or most books on the holidays will identify this Eastre with the pagan goddess known variously as Eostre, Ishtar. Thus the name Easter is that of an ancient Assyrian Goddess.
The greatest festival of the Christian church commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a movable feast; that is, it is not always held on the same date. In AD 325 the church council of Nicaea decided that it should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox of March 21. Easter can come as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.
We Assyrians celebrate the 1st of April as our national new year, although the date remains disputed among most of the Assyrian intelligentsia. who base their assertion on the translation of the ancient Assyrian tablets, and believe that our new year should be celebrated as the 21st of March, like the Persians that celebrate Nuruz (The meaning of Nuruz in Persian is “a new day”, hence the new day of the new year.), and the Kurds that have adapted the tradition from the Persian; who in turn have acclimatized this tradition, like numerous others, that are either borrowed or greatly influenced by the customs of our ancient Assyrian culture.
Easter in the Christian tradition; is the resurrection of Christ from his tomb, and in the ancient Assyrian rituals; the 21st of March is the resurrection of Tammuz, who also happens to be the lover of Ishtar. So it seems that the whole resurrection concept is an adaptation of the Ishtar and Tammuz mythology.
The Translation of the Assyrian Tablets also illuminate that the ancient Assyrians used to fast, pray and observe other rituals leading to the festival of 21st of March (the annual commemoration of Tammuz’s resurrection). As Christians we also fast for forty days, or in Eastern Orthodox Churches, the lent perpetuates for fifty days. The theological explanation is that: This is observed in memory of the 40 days' fast of Christ in the desert. However I believe that this lent is another emulation of the Akitu rituals. A testimony to this is the difference of the Lent’s length between the Eastern and Western churches: if the lent really represents the Christ’s fasting in the desert, then why the difference, when the scriptures are clear of its length? Unless! It was adapted, and modified, to portray it to be of a Christian origin.
Many Easter customs come from the Old World. The white lily, the symbol of the resurrection, is the special Easter flower. Rabbits and coloured eggs have come from pagan antiquity as symbols of new life. The Easter rabbit, a symbol of fertility, and in coloured Easter eggs, originally painted with bright colours to represent the sunlight of spring.
There is absolutely no Biblical authority for such days as Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, or Maundy Thursday. "Good Friday" is the most bizarre of them all. Any grade school child can see that the Lord could not have died and been buried late Friday, spent three days and three nights in the tomb (Matt. 12:40) and risen again Sunday morning!
The word Easter is mentioned but once in the Authorized (KJV) Version of Scripture (Acts 12:4). There it is being observed by the Roman King Herod (The Roman were greatly influenced y the Assyrian customs and rituals; which they received either directly from the Assyrians, or thro
-- Jeff
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