Yeah, assumptions were made- based upon some evidence- but nothing solid. But not just set to compete with Pagan holidays are oft said. Mind you, his assumptions are a bit mystical, but still, they kinda seem to make some sense.
Ok. So, back to my OP and wading through the side trips and secondary issues, am I correct in saying that Easter and spring coincide because of this: Jesus was killed during Passover, which was a springtime event. The resurrection/Easter story that comes with his death, then, was coincidental with the time of year. I can’t exactly suss out how the whole Jesus death/resurrection story developed and who was responsible, but it seems that the biological rebirth of spring simply happened at the same time. Do I have that about right?
To the best of our ability to determine, yes.
Pretty much, yes. The only thing I’d add is that it’s the Gospels which state that Jesus was killed during Passover; as with a lot of Christian canon, even if there was a person named Jesus, the way things are described in the Bible may or may not have been exactly how (or when) it occurred, if it actually occurred at all.
In other words, AFAIK, there is no known corroborating evidence from that time (such as Roman records) stating that a Hebrew man named Jesus was put to death in or around the time of Passover. Christians believe it to be so, because the Gospels say it is so.
But the Romans were killing a bunch of Jewish troublemakers around that time, and very few records survive, so it’s not in any way an implausible story.
Certainly. But, going back to the OP: Easter is celebrated in the Spring because the Gospels say that Jesus was put to death, and rose from the Death, around Passover.
I don’t remember the details, but I’m pretty sure Jews do attach some theological significance to the Exodus having happened at the “rebirthing” time of year. So, assuming I have that right, there is at least an indirect connection between the season of the year and the timing of Easter.
Passover is also a Jewish new year - the ecclesiastical new year, unlike the civil and agricultural new year on Rosh Hashana. A new year isa time of birth.
See also the egg traditionally placed on the seder plate (along with the similarly new-life-evoking green parsley sprigs).
Quite a few records do mention Jesus, however. And why toss out the Gospels? Biased, sure, written some time after the events sure, but that is the way of most of ancient historical writing. Suetonius wrote a biased account of Caligula some 60 years after Caligula’s death- and altho modern historians point that out sometimes, still, he is one of the most used sources on the Roman Emperors. And quite a few others.
I mean, one can claim Socrates didnt exist either. Socrates wrote nothing himself, and what we know of him was mostly written by his disciples.
What it comes down to in the end is that whether as a faithful record or as a retcon, the people in charge of ”Write That Down!” in the early Church tied Passion Week/Resurrection Sunday from the start with the already existing Passover holiday (now they’re slightly offset after centuries of calendar updates). So why is “Easter”/Holy Week when it is, ends up being because Pesach is when it is.
Intuitively it makes sense that Easter and Christmas are basically co-opted pagan holidays. Easter for the spring equinox, growth/rebirth, eggs, and the Easter Bunny, which are all symbols of fertility that resonate with the resurrection story. Christmas is a winter solstice holiday, the tree is an evergreen that symbolizes perseverance through the cold dark winter, and lights on the tree are a reminder that the sun will return. The star on top of the tree is the one overtly Christian symbol, representing the Star of David. I didn’t learn until recently why Christmas is a few days after the solstice; it’s because that’s the first day after the solstice that primitive people were able to measure that the sun was indeed higher in the sky and the day longer than before, reassuring them that the darkness was retreating.
I wouldn’t consider Halloween a Christian holiday today, but apparently it used to be more so. Still, it grew out of pre-Christian fall harvest celebrations. Valentine’s Day is more Christian than Halloween, but it seems to be getting less and less so every year. It seems to have come from an ancient Roman fertility and purification festival. The whole point is that as Christianity expanded, it absorbed these other traditions to make conversion more palatable. The pre-existing dates were already pretty much fixed, so they just kinda rolled with it.
Except- as a holiday, with merrymaking, gifts and such, Christmas was not celebrated until the reign of Charlemagne.
Mostly pagan like additions to Christmas, and fairly late, 1500’s or so.
First, it doesn’t represent the Star of David, and second, the Star of David is a cultural symbol more than religious, and even to the extent that it’s religious, it’s Jewish, not Christian.
The star on a Christmas tree is usually taken to represent the Star of Bethlehem, but then, a star really isn’t very distinctive as a symbol.
But of course, there are plenty of other tree decorations that are overtly Christian. The tree topper is often an angel rather than a star, and I’ve seen plenty of non-topper ornaments featuring angels, too. Plus not a few nativity scenes and crosses.
Whoops my mistake.
I’d bet most people don’t know that that angel is Gabriel or why he’s up there.
It’s curious that, AFAICT, there’s no tradition of having an angel tree-topper until Christmas Eve and switching it to a star for Christmas Day.
For sure, the forms of social celebratory activities around Resurrection Sunday and Nativity naturally sycretized parts of the cultural seasonal holidays of the different peoples that adopted the new religion. If the social celebration did not involve something that violated the teachings of the Faith, hey, “you can go on having your fun and praise Jesus all the same! Aren’t we inclusive(=catholic)?”
(The whole thrust here has been that YES everyone can understand the sillyness with the rabbits and eggs is cultural absorptions from nonchristian peoples, while at the same time that the date of the Resurrection a.k.a. “Easter” was borrowed from Judaism, not Paganism.)