Easter is celebrated at Spring equinox, a time that for thousands of years was a celebration of the goddess Ishtar resurrecting the god of food and vegetation (Babylonian god Tammuz / Sumerian god Dumuzid).

Ohhhh, it makes so much sense!

The burgeoning of spring: a time of fertility, when rabbits lay eggs, flowers come out, seeds sprout and our food grows. Easter is a wonderful celebration of the sun’s warmth returning to us, a celebration of new life, and best of all – CHOCOLATE EGGS!!!

Springtime means summer is on it’s way – the SUN has been resurrected!

I love the sun. I worship the sun. After an amazing sunset on the beaches in Salvador, Brazil, one claps and cheers the sun as it retires for the day. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth, so it does deserve a little appreciation.

When spring begins and the sun’s rays get stronger, we are talking about a pretty important resurrection! But not a literal one.

Just like Christmas, early Christians adopted and adapted this pagan tradition to be their own. NO WHERE in the bible does it talk about Easter. Just like NO WHERE in the bible does Jesus ask to be worshiped.

It may be worth mentioning that the Bible does refer to the Ishtar tradition: in see Ezekiel 8:13-14 a woman weeping for Tammuz is seen as an “abomination”!

It seems strange that Easter has been adopted – in both dates and traditions (ie spring equinox and with exchange of Easter eggs) – by religious followers of the same holy book that describes the tradition as an abomination…

Rather than celebrating the resurrection of the sun, Easter is has become a celebration of the resurrection of the Son. Hm.

Tell me, what makes more sense:

a) that Jesus was sent by God to die on the cross and  “save you from your sins” and then physically rise back to being human and 40-days later ascend into heaven;

or

b) that Jesus (or other men of the late 1st century BC / early 1st century AD) heard the Buddhist philosophies of love and non-violence, and created movement toward the “kingdom of heaven” ie peace on earth. In time those rebelling against Roman rule were killed by the religious/political leaders of the day who saw the growing movement as a threat.

Is it possible that after the horrific death the early Christians felt Jesus energy come to them and “tell them” to continue with the peace movement? After my Opa died I felt his energy outside the hospital, I could see his energy around me, in the trees, in the air, everywhere – I suppose that is a form of resurrection.

Is it possible that the idea of Christ’s resurrection being physical, with a missing body, was added to the Christan gospels in order to synthesize Judaism with Paganism and gain momentum for this movement? Was this even intended to be understood as physical?

Scholars, both Christian and secular, agree that the part about the resurrection in the gospel of Mark was added a few hundred years after the writer of Mark finished documenting the story. Hmmm… I wonder where else has been added?

Enough enough enough – Easter, I mean Ishtar, is time for celebration.

I do have one final question: now that we have re-established the underlying meaning of Ishtar/Easter, can someone please explain to me why in Australia – as leaves turn orange, as the sun is retiring earlier and its intensity slowly dying – am I eating this chocolate bunny??? I’m not complaining, I love chocolate maybe even more than I love the sun. But still, shouldn’t it be spring?