Though the weather on the East Coast does not feel like it,
as we are hit with one nor'easter after another Spring is actually upon us.
Besides the annoying allergies, for many of us Spring is a time for
celebration. For most Christians with Spring comes the celebration of Easter,
when many Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Prior to the
Christian celebration of Easter Spring is a time when many of the Jewish faith
celebrate what is known as Passover. In the Jewish faith Passover gets its name,
and meaning from the Hebrew God who sent his Angel of Death to "pass
over" all of the Hebrew doorpost marked with lambs blood. The Egyptians
doorpost that were left unmarked by lambs blood were not given mercy, as the
firstborn child in all the Egyptian homes was killed. The unspeakable plagues
sent by God on the Egyptians forced them to release Moses, and his people from
their enslavement in Egypt. For Jews around the world Passover is a ritual and
celebration that reminds them of their liberation from bondage in Egypt.
What I wanted to do
with this article is focus on whether people in the ancient world had
"Spring Celebrations" prior to our modern understanding of the more
famous Easter and Passover celebrations, and if so what were these celebrations
called?
Who celebrated them, and more importantly what from the ancient past do
we still celebrate today that most of us are not aware of? Though today most
people view Christianity and Judaism as ancient religions they really are not.
Many don't conceive of a world that predates these fairly old faiths, but the
reality is such an ancient world did exist. The ancient world was a very
advanced world in touch with nature, and the universe. It was an ancient world
that gave us mathematics, medicine, architecture, and planted the foundation
seeds for world religions; however, most people shunned it, and never studied
it because it was stigmatized as being "pagan." The word pagan today has become more or less
a dirty word, but it is by studying these pagan civilizations that the mystery
starts to unravel, and we gain a better understanding of the world around us.
Rabbits, hares, and eggs have nothing to do with Christianity
what then is the origin of these contradictory symbols?
Most of the candy
found in an Easter basket is confusing, and has very little if anything to do
with Christ. As a kid growing up I remember on Easter many of us going through
the ritual of eating chocolate Easter bunnies, cracking open Easter eggs filled
with jelly beans, and bypassing what many view as the disgusting (I actually
liked it) Peeps yellow chick candy. In fact those symbols really don't make a
whole lot of sense unless one is familiar with many of the older pagan
civilizations that give these symbols their relevant meaning.
Is the origin of the Easter Bunny steeped in the mysteries
of the German goddess Eostre often symbolically associated with the hare, or
does it date back further to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Rabbits and hares
because of their huge litters are universal symbols of life and fertility.
Spring is the season where things turn green as light
returns, so how did the rabbit become associated with equinoxes and Spring?
What's the connection? Many historians who study esoterica say the rabbit, or
hare was an ancient German fertility symbol associated with life because
rabbits are known for their sexual prowess, and huge litters, as many as 14
babies (kits) in a litter. The rabbit is also known for giving birth in the
Spring. If Spring Equinox also mean new life then a rabbit, or hare is the
perfect symbol.
Some point out that the name Easter is derived from the name
of the German goddess of fertility called Eostre. The Egyptians also had a
rabbit goddess/god called Wenet/Wenut/Wenenu that was sometimes associated with
the female goddess, but other times with the male god Osiris. Osiris was a
fertility god known for resurrection and life, so to be associated with the
hare makes sense. The egg is the most obvious fertility symbol because by
definition it is the building block of life. Rabbits don't lay eggs, so as a
fertility symbol it stands on its own. Some say that the egg as a fertility
symbol dates as far back as the Babylonian fertility goddess Ishtar. It is
important to note that Ishtar when pronounced sounded like "Easter."
The Babylonian Ishtar much like the Egyptian sun-god Ra/Horus was born from an
egg. I remember once listening to a lecture by historian Dr. Charles Finch of
Morehouse College, and he mentioned how the yellow chick is a representation of
the Egyptian sun-gods Horus and Ra who
was born from a golden egg becoming the falcon sun-god associated with the
winter solstice, and possibly the Spring Equinox as well. For the Egyptians the
yoke of an egg was associated with the sun, and the sun was associated with the
falcon who flew high and saw everything. The god Horus was both a sun god and
falcon god.
Is the Egyptian God Horus the origin of the yellow chick?
Yellow being the color associated with both an eggs yoke and the sun.
Many historians of esoterica also find the date of both
Easter and the Jewish Passover as being very interesting. Both dates coincide with the much older pagan
celebration of the Vernal Equinox, or Spring Equinox. Why are these holidays
placed on, or around the date of the Spring Equinox one might ask? In fact
Easter Sunday is never fixed it is always the first Sunday after the first full
moon that arrives after the Spring Equinox. Before the rise of Judaism,
Christianity, or Islam the Spring Equinox was celebrated by many civilizations
all over the world because for the pagans the Spring Equinox was a celebration
of life. The Spring Equinox meant an end to winter and darkness, and a return
to light. The actually word equinox translates as equal. The Equinox is a day
of equal light and darkness. Prior to the Spring Equinox the days are
noticeably shorter as they are covered by darkness. On the Equinox many will
notice that the days are noticeably getting longer, and this would have
happened naturally regardless of day light savings time.
During the equinox the sun balances on the equator as there
is an equal amount of light and darkness. The day after the equinox the sun
actually defeats darkness, as the days start to get longer and longer. This is
a natural phenomenon. The ancients were more in tune with nature than we are,
not thrown off by man made "daylight savings time" and artificial
electric light. What is even more
important is the day after the Equinox light actually begins to conqueror
darkness, as the days slowly begin to get lighter, and lighter, and lighter,
until they reach their crescendo in the summer with the arrival of the Summer Solstice.
Esoteric historians have pointed out the strange coincidence in that the Jewish
"Passover" was celebrated around the same time the ancients would
celebrate the Spring Equinox, however the pagan reverence for the Spring
Equinox actually pre-dates the Jewish celebration. The ancients would celebrate
the sun "passing over" the equator ushering in Spring, and thus
life. The ancients were excellent
astronomers who were very much in tune with nature, and the movements of the
sun, stars, and planets. They realized that by having a firm understanding of
nature they could better manage their lives be that planting crops, or
navigating the oceans. Easter baskets are often filled with green grass. Is
this green grass the arrival of the green flora and newborn fauna that comes
about after the Vernal, or Spring Equinox?
The Vernal Equinox was celebrated by ancient pagan
civilizations because it meant the arrival of Spring time and life. Did the
Roman Catholic church purposely place the dates of Easter to coincide with the
much older sacred pagan dates, if so why?
Many have stated that the Roman Catholic church most
definitely incorporated older pagan traditions like the Vernal Equinox into
Christianity, as a way to convert pagans, and help spread the new faith of
Christianity. Others have pointed out that the Jewish faith similar to the
Christian faith also blended elements from the pagan world especially borrowing
heavily from the religion of the ancient Egyptians. As was mentioned in
previous post the Jewish concept of monotheism was proven to already have
existed under the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton, and the tradition of not eating
pork was an earlier Egyptian tradition associated with the Egyptian God Set.
Circumcision a ritual long associated with a covenant with Abraham seems to
have already existed first in Egypt, and the proof of which is carved on temple
walls. The placing of Passover on an older already established pagan date of
the Spring Equinox is only further proof of all religions eventually blending
into each other.
Monotheism, obstaining from pork, circumcision, and
celebrating the Vernal Equinox all seem to have been recorded first in Egypt
before the rise of Judaism. This base relief is from Saqqara and is more than
4000 years old.
The last thing I wanted to touch on is how these ancient
civilizations encoded their celebration of the Spring Equinox in their
architecture in what many scientist today are now calling the lost art of
archaeoastronomy. One can not talk about Spring Equinox without mentioning the
megalithic structure of Stonehenge located in England. Stonehenge is not the
only stone circle in England aligned to the sun, but it is the most famous.
Stonehenge was built around 5000 years ago around 2500 B.C. No one knows who built
Stonehenge, but it was later utilized by the priest class known as the Druids,
and like many other ancient structures it was also aligned to the sun; however,
Stonehenge was aligned to the sun during the solstices not the equinox. The
largest stone circle in England was Avebury and some scholars believe it was in
alignment with the equinox. To this day followers of the old Druid religion
take pilgrimages to both the Avebury and Stonehenge circles to welcome both the
equinoxes and solstices. The Spring Equinox, and Summer Solstice have very
similar meanings both are associated with life.
The Avebury stone circle in England is the largest
megalithic stone circle in England, and it is aligned to the sun during the
Spring Equinox.
There are many megalithic stone circles in England like
Avebury and Stonehenge. They marked the solstices and equinoxes thousands of
years before dates were set for Easter, Passover, and Christmas.
President Obama visited Stonehenge in 2014 inquires about
the path of the solstices and equinoxes. One of the oldest temples in the world
can be found on the Mediterranean island of Malta. It is known as the Mnajdra
Temple. It was built as early as 3,600 BC, and it was aligned to the Spring
Equinox. What is even more interesting is many believe the temples of Malta are
in the shape of a woman. The symbolism would be the sunlight from the Spring
Equinox enters the female temple and brings life. Women much like the equinox,
and Springtime were revered as life-giving symbols of fertility.
Scholars believe that
Malta's Mnajdra Temple was in the shape of a woman. Both the Spring Equinox,
and women were viewed as symbols of fertility. The light from the sun (a
masculine symbol of fertility) would symbolically impregnate the temple.
Temples, and churches were always viewed as feminine. This is why so many
Gothic cathedrals are dedicated to Notre Dame (Our Lady)
The Egyptian civilization was consistently praised in the
ancient text by the Greeks, for being the fountain of old world knowledge.
Alexander the Great chose to be buried in Egypt not Macedonia, or Greece which
is very telling. The greatest Library of the ancient world the Library of
Alexandria was located in Egypt. It should then not come as a surprise that the
Egyptians would align their structures to celestial bodies like no one else.
The Temple of Karnak is aligned to the Winter Solstice, as are many other
Egyptian structures. The Great Pyramid sits at the center of the Earth aligned
to the four cardinal points of North, South, East, and West. During the Spring
Equinox when the sun shines directly over the equator, if one marks the Great
Pyramid at its location of 30 degrees North, and uses the equator as a midpoint
to 30 degrees South a pyramid shape is made pointing directly toward the
equinoctial sun above. The image is too much to be a coincidence, and is eerily
similar to the image of the unfinished pyramid on the back of the dollar bill
with what appears to be a sun ablaze behind the eye.
The image and the location of the Great Pyramid and its
relation to the sun during the Spring Equinox. The triangular shape when
juxtaposing 30 degrees North and South, and its relation to the sun is very
similar to the image found on the Great Seal of the Dollar Bill.
England and Egypt were not the only ancient civilizations to
celebrate the Vernal/Spring Equinox, but further to the south of Egypt in the
Nubian Desert at a place called Nabta Playa might be one of the oldest
megalithic structures in the world, and its also aligned to the Spring Equinox.
Nabta Playa's megalith actually date back to about 8000 years ago. The site was
researched by Fred Wendorf an anthropology professor from Southern Methodist University
in Texas. and later studied by independent historian Robert Bauval and former
NASA physicist Thomas Brophy. It seems as though even prior to Egypt the
Africans pastoralist at Nabta Playa were also aligning there structures to the
solstices and equinoxes. Some even suspect that these African nomads at Nabta
Playa may have eventually settled along the Nile River becoming the very first
Egyptians.
The megastructure at Nabta Playa in the Nubian Desert is
also aligned to the Vernal Equinox, and predates both Stonehenge and the Great
Pyramid by thousands of years. The last
example of the celebration of the Vernal Equinox can be found in Mexico at a
place called Chichen Itza. The temple pyramids at Chichen Itza where
constructed by the Maya and Toltec civilizations. Though the structures at
Chichen Itza date back to 1000 years the God Kukulkan was worshipped in the
Yucatan as early as 900 B.C. at La Venta, Mexico among the Olmec civilization.
These temples were dedicated to a death and resurrection god called Kukulkan
also known by the name Quetzalcoatl.
Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza Mexico dedicated to the plumed
serpent God Kukulkan.
During the Spring Equinox the pyramid at Chichen Itza is in
alignment with the sun, and at that very moment the shadow of a serpent winds
down the side of the structure.
Besides the shadow of the Kukulkan snake winding down the
side of the pyramid on the Spring Equinox, equally amazing is the bird chirp
the Temple makes If one stands at the foot of the pyramid and claps. If this is
proven to be the case the ingenuity of the ancients is mind boggling, as they
encoded Kukulkan's bird and serpent attributes into the pyramid.
I want to conclude by saying this post is not written in the
spirit of taking anything away from the great religions of Judaism and
Christianity, but it was written to improve our understanding of cultures who
came before, and highlight the commonalities all religions share especially
their relationship to the Spring Equinox. By focusing on what we have in
common, and less on our differences I truly believe it lessens prejudices we
may have of people who were once viewed as primitive. We also may slowly begin
to realize that all people contributed to civilization, and we have more in
common then we realize. Finally I will add that the Spring Equinox is powerful
because it taps into something we all can relate to regardless of race,
nationality, sex, or creed, and that is the concept of rebirth. A time for
shedding of old skin, a time for rejuvenation, or as they say "out with
the old and in with the new."
