Posted by Astrid at 4:15pm Apr 13 '09Easter Bunny , we don't have it. But since East and West Church went separate ways in 1054 it is no wonder.
of course I was curious about this entire bunny thing ( kittens must be curious)
Now what I know
Rabbit were under protection of Aphrodita in ancient Greece, for their ability to inhabit almost all areas and breed very fast. Like that it was carried further to the Roman culture where warriors would eat bunny meat in order to be more fertile and have more male children thus strongen their family.
Godess Ostara according to the legend turned a bird into a rabbit. Ostara was a Godess of spring and fertility and her symbols were the bird , a bunny and eggs. How peculiar? Her celebration day was the day of the spring equinox , I believe you know her as Oestra since Celts adopt her and is now popular (again) as one of the New Age goddesses .....
You would notice that in many religions important dates match, Like the date of birth of Jesus and Mitrah etc. etc. and spring equinox is logical choice for pagan people to celebrate. Thus fertility Gods are logic choice or worship in that period of time. Rabbit is also a logic choice of symbol for fertility.
Christian symbolic assimilated most of pagan symbols and reinterpreted , we can agree on that? ( every religion does- religion is people with faith, and it's hard to just come and reboot people so they just change customs like that. Symbols are important part of any human communication, heck even Coca Cola uses symbolic communication, so it is logical that it was easier just to keep the symbols and change the interpretation then to invent new symbols all over again.Plus people tend to have a better response to familiar symbols then novelties.)
The rest is history.
What do I find interesting here though is something else, Ortodox Christian Church incorporated more pagan beliefs then Western, and yet somehow skipped the Bunny. Why?
I might get back to this, symbolics is something that I find most fascinating but right now not able to make smart observation.
of course I was curious about this entire bunny thing ( kittens must be curious)
Now what I know
Rabbit were under protection of Aphrodita in ancient Greece, for their ability to inhabit almost all areas and breed very fast. Like that it was carried further to the Roman culture where warriors would eat bunny meat in order to be more fertile and have more male children thus strongen their family.
Godess Ostara according to the legend turned a bird into a rabbit. Ostara was a Godess of spring and fertility and her symbols were the bird , a bunny and eggs. How peculiar? Her celebration day was the day of the spring equinox , I believe you know her as Oestra since Celts adopt her and is now popular (again) as one of the New Age goddesses .....
You would notice that in many religions important dates match, Like the date of birth of Jesus and Mitrah etc. etc. and spring equinox is logical choice for pagan people to celebrate. Thus fertility Gods are logic choice or worship in that period of time. Rabbit is also a logic choice of symbol for fertility.
Christian symbolic assimilated most of pagan symbols and reinterpreted , we can agree on that? ( every religion does- religion is people with faith, and it's hard to just come and reboot people so they just change customs like that. Symbols are important part of any human communication, heck even Coca Cola uses symbolic communication, so it is logical that it was easier just to keep the symbols and change the interpretation then to invent new symbols all over again.Plus people tend to have a better response to familiar symbols then novelties.)
The rest is history.
What do I find interesting here though is something else, Ortodox Christian Church incorporated more pagan beliefs then Western, and yet somehow skipped the Bunny. Why?
I might get back to this, symbolics is something that I find most fascinating but right now not able to make smart observation.
point of interest - Astrid