The origin of Easter does have a couple of different possibilities. First of all Easter is mainly considered to be a pagan holiday. Most of the old religions have different celebrations for different seasons throughout the year. The origin of Easter plays into the celebrations carried out during or around the spring equinox.
It is during the time we call Easter that Attis died and was resurrected each and every year. Attis was an important figure in pagan history because it is him who Cybele was in love with. She was a powerful fertility goddess that everyone gave thanks and praise to each day.
Coincidentally, or not, depending on who you want to believe, Jesus is said to have died and been reborn on roughly the same dates. There are some people who believe that the origins of Easter go back much farther than Jesus and because of this the church at the time thought it would be a good idea to convert the pagan holiday into a Christian one. This is not the first time that this had been done, for example Valentines Day was also one of these converted pagan holidays.
Perhaps the Christians decided that it would be a good idea to turn these into the days that Jesus died and was reborn instead of Attis. This way the pagan people would still be able to celebrate Easter and have their feasts but they would not be doing it in a way that was disapproved of by the church.
The legend of Attis came centuries before Jesus and were very powerful for the people of those times. They felt that they had to celebrate Easter and their gods and goddesses if they were to have good crops and have healthy children. It was very important to the Christians that they make their own holidays and beliefs ,ores acceptable to the pagans. By making their holidays into Christian ones they could keep the pagans happy and content. They felt that the Christian religion would be more widely accepted if the pagans did not have to give up any of their special days and celebrations.
This worked for the origin of Easter is still muddled with the Christian and the pagan beliefs. No matter what religion you happen to be the origins of Easter always come back to the spring equinox and that itself should be a reasons to celebrate. Spring is one of the most gorgeous of all seasons.
Submitted by: Gray Rollins
About Today Contributor
Gray Rollins is a featured writer for YourEaster.com. For more information about Easter history and the origin of Easter, visit the site.