Today, while another teacher's class was in the library where I am media specialist, one of the students was decorating the doors of the library for Easter. He had made grass, eggs, birds, clouds, & a sun. He asked me for other ideas of what to add to the scene. I shrugged and suggested an Easter bunny. He thought about that for a minute. I thought too and wondered if it might be too difficult for him to draw a bunny. Without thinking much about it I suggested a cross. I was just thinking of the practicality of it. It would be much easier to draw than a bunny. The student said he probably shouldn't because it was a religious symbol. I said, "Yeah, you're right." I wasn't trying to overstep the boundaries of church and state. To me the cross is not religious, it's my lifeblood and of course the primary symbol I associate with Easter. I told the student that actually the Easter bunny is a religious symbol as well. It represents the worship of the fertility goddess. The kinds of bad things that went on during these celebrations, he didn't want to know about. I left it at that.
Eggs, bunnies, and the word "Easter" do have roots in the Saxon celebrations for the fertility goddess, Eastre. See the following link for more info: http://altreligion.about.com/cs/alchemy/a/mpreviss.htm Another site asks the question: "Would Jesus celebrate Easter?" http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn75/easter.htm
It provides an interesting perspective. I'd love to see what my readers think about it. I had always felt Easter baskets, egg hunts, and cute bunnies were harmless fun ways to celebrate the holiday, but this site gives food for thought.
It is interesting to me that public schools think nothing of allowing the religious symbols of bunnies and eggs. A parent complaining about the use of these symbols would be painted as a ridiculous fanatic. On the other hand, it seems to be a given that a cross is considered a violation of the separation of church and state. But the double standard does not surprise me in the least. Our educational system doesn’t really care about excluding religion from our schools. In fact, a discussion about Islam, Buddhism, or Native American spiritualism would be encouraged under the guise of “multiculturalism” and “tolerance.” It is Christ, not religion, who burns a hole in their conscience and compels them to douse the flame of conviction with a cry for separation of church and state.
I admit that I’m a little nervous about this controversial post because I’ve invited my principal to view my blog. If you read this and think I should be reprimanded or (gulp) fired, do what you must. But please do so because I made the mistake of suggesting a bunny before I suggested a cross.
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3 comments:
I think we should have an Easter Turkey... I mean, what's a holiday without turkey??? Can't very well eat ham on what was originally a Jewish holy day, can we? So that rules out Honeybaked (!!!). But everyone loves a good turkey. It would make the egg hunts seem a little more sensible to the little boys and girls, and would avoid the whole topic of the birds and bees, giving the parent ample opportunity to find another excuse to avoid that subject at a later date. Besides, if it's the Saxon celebration you want... Well, they ate turkey legs, so we should, too! The pilgrims ate turkey, and they were puritans. We should get a really fat guy with hauntingly white legs, dressed in a red bermuda short / red button-up shirt combo, black socks and open-toed sandals required, to deliver a turkey to us on Easter morn. Not sure about the whole reindeer thing... Kind-of hard for them to endure the warmer weather, I'd think. Maybe have his sleigh pulled by actual turkeys? Nah... That would just be too morbid. Turkey dinner delivered by turkeys. However it's delivered, we just need to chow down like there's no tomorrow...
I mean, with the way we've abandoned the Resurrection hope, we are actually approaching a day when there truly will be no tomorrow.
Well, James and I have talked long and thought much about all of this before, and we do have a conclution.
We believe that if you do not tell your kids any thing about the bad then when they hear it they are more likly to fall for it. So we believe in honesty. We tell them all about the easter bunny, we tell them about the the evil sacrificeing of babies. We tell them it all, and tell them that God says that that is evil.
We also tell them that those ( incluing the ones worshiped at Christmas)are fake gods. They are made with mans hands they have to be stood up by people if they fall over.
We tell our little ones that there are all kind of symbols at Christmas and Easter that are evil symbols to the fake gods.
We then tell them that it means NOTHING it is fake and dumb. I did the eggs coloring with them about 3 weeks ago and told them we did it because it came in a ceral box and that we do not believe the old, fake ways of the worshipers.
Same with the Christmas tree. We tell them some did it for evil, we do it cause it is pretty, and nothing more. We let them do egg hunts for fun, and nothing more.
This way they know all of this, we tell them every year. They know what is fake.
This year I have told them in detail about the passover witch is right now too and that Jesus fulfilled. The resurrection is the best holiday I think.
The resurrection is our hope and the reason for our hope to one day also be resurrected as well.
I am not offend by those who do more or those who do less. Here is the reason for my belief.
Romans14:5-12.
"One person esteems one day above another;another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind....
Ruth,
Thank you for your balanced perspective. This is just the type of dialog I hoped to get started with my post. I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time at Christmas when you shared the pagan roots of the Christmas tree. I will continue to decorate with one because of its beauty and I have never once worshipped it. I do think it is important to understand the origins of these holidays. Our intentions are not to worship false gods (we aren't even aware that these holidays were pagan rather than Christian in origin). I think the most important thing to remember these days is not to get caught up in the commercialism. All those who have voted on the poll so far have checked that one in addition to others. Truly, Americans struggle the most with worshipping money, material things, and self.
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