![]() “In an attempt to honor God, many have desired to move away from the term Easter, using Resurrection Day in its place,” writes one website.īut for today, Christians around the world observe Easter with prayer and feasting on a traditional meal, which at many tables includes grandmother’s famous recipe for “paschal” lamb. Others are taking a more philosophical approach and making a valiant effort to rebrand it. Many Christians are uncomfortable in acknowledging the Easter holiday’s pagan name. Also in “The Reckoning of Time,” Bede describes the Anglo-Saxon Pagans’ “Mōdraniht,” (Old English for “Night of the Mothers”) that was held on December 24, or Christmas Eve. ![]() ![]() ![]() Historically Easter is not the first instance of a pagan ritual described by Bede that is now imbued with Christian meaning. Genius of Africa (genius Africae): a female spirit Guraya: name of a saint in Kabylie Gurzil: Libyan Sun-God, also god of war, in Syrtes (Sirte) Idir. In other words, early Church fathers seemed to take the tack that if you can’t beat them, join them - and “usurp” an existing holiday for Christian purposes. According to the 1835 “Deutsche Mythologie” by Jacob Grimm, “This Ostarâ, like the Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries.”
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