Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter / Eastre*


Easter Egg Tree :)
Eggs are coloured according to the old pagan tradition on Easter in Lithuania, each colour symbolises some natural element or the well being of the family, black being the most fortunate as it is the colour of earth and in the old ideology symbol of wealth.
We are having a great time here celebrating!

*According to Bede the word Easter is derived from Eastre, the name of a goddess associated with spring.

3 comments:

Richard said...

Ah, but that is only in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Aside from Bede's naming of Eostre, I am not aware of any other reference to her.

CG said...

Neither am I Richard, however in many countries (Lithuania included) the word Easter is usually derived from a pagan name, or even worse still has pagan traditions in the whole thing!

Richard said...

I am not familiar with its name in most languages. Definitely, French, Spanish and Italian derive it from Greek Pascha (which is derived form the Hebrew for Passover). In Polish it is called the "big night" or "great night". As for the rest, well, I could try looking it up, but I won't.

As for "pagan" practices in Christianity ... big topic. The Roman Catholic Church does not oppose any local customs or traditions if they are compatible with its teaching. Now, there are some (Catholics and non-Catholics) who have a *very* restricted view of what is acceptable and what isn't.

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