Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| 100-Year-Old Easter Card Sent to Earl Clarke Mounts of Rural Washington, Pa. |
If your mind wanders, you might wonder why the most sacred holiday of the Christian faith is called Easter.
Easter is not a word you'll find in the Bible. And a lot, if not all, of what you hear is only partially true, or not true at all.
Some like to say that Easter is a pagan holiday named after the Germanic goddess of fertility, Eostre, at the time of year that Eostre was celebrated, Eosturmonath, which not surprisingly was around the Spring equinox.
To confuse Easter with the worship of Eostre, though, is like confusing the month of March, with the God Mars, which, it is said, is the derivation of the name of the month.
Words and names evolve, and the original word or name might have little to nothing to do with the current meaning or use of the word or name.
The Spring equinox is a great time to observe and celebrate new beginnings, no matter what day of the year the resurrection actually occurred.
So Easter is not the worship of the goddess Eostre or bunnies or eggs, and Resurrection Sunday, as Christians might more properly call it, is nothing less than the most sacred day of the Christian faith, no matter on what day of the year it is celebrated. Believers do not confuse bunnies or eggs with the resurrection, but do see in the renewal of spring as a picture of the hope and fact of the resurrection. They might see in the egg, a wonderful image and symbol of new birth, but an even better one, for me, and one that I've talked much about lately, is the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly, which emerges, after days of apparent lifelessness in the chrysalis. On good Friday, I think of the cross, but on Resurrection Sunday, I think of the empty tomb.
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One of the difficulties Biblical scholars acknowledge is the precise timing of the crucifixion and resurrection. A recent book seems to shed some light on that. It seems the Essenes used a solar calendar, while the Pharisees and Sadducees, who ran the temple rituals, used a lunar calendar (adding significantly more meaning to the terms "sons of darkness" and "sons of light"). If that book (Lost Prophecies of Qumran by Peck) is correct, Christ and the disciples observed Passover on slightly different days than much of the nation. And it was the religious leaders of the day that wanted Christ crucified, so there is no doubting the conflict.
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| Monarch Caterpillar Hanging Beside Monarch Chrysalis |
I just took the above photo of a hanging caterpillar beside a chrysalis to illustrate two of the stages. The caterpillar will emerge from an egg, go through a number of molts as it grows, then when ready, go into what is called a J-hang, as you see the one on the left doing, and in a few hours turn into a chrysalis, like the one you see on the right. Then after a few days a butterfly will emerge from the chrysalis.
Amazing transformation that reminds me so much of the message of Easter.
I won't talk much more about butterflies in the future. Maybe a little.
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