Re-purposed and recycled!
Pagan traditions live on in Christian customs
No moss grew on Pope Gregory, that masterful father of modern
marketing!
It was the 6th century A.D. and the fact that
people felt more comfortable with the customs that were already
familiar to them wasn't lost on this observant pontiff.
As he sent out his missionaries to evangelize
the pagan Anglo-Saxons, he wisely charged them to absorb old
religious sites and festivals into the Christian rituals
whenever it was feasible so that the pagans would feel more
comfortable converting to the new religion.
It seems to have been a successful strategy.
Archetypes, Myths and Folklore : Where Religions Intersect
Here are a couple of my favorite Christian legends that make
use of pagan Easter symbols:
Mary Magdalene was carrying a basket of boiled eggs to the
tomb to share with the women who had joined her to keep watch. When she
encountered the risen Christ on the road, all the eggs miraculously turned to a
brilliant red.
Years later when Mary Magdalene was the leader of the early
Christians (or at least, many of them), she travelled to Rome to spread the
gospel there. Invited to meet the Emeperor, she greeted him with 'Christ has
risen'. Pointing to an egg resting on his table, he replied, "Christ has no more
risen than that egg is red."
The egg, of course, promptly turned red.
The hare (or rabbit) appears in a
sweet legend about a young rabbit who, for three days and nights,
waited anxiously for his friend Jesus to return to the Garden of Gethsemane, not
knowing what had happened to him. Early that first Easter morning, the
resurrected Jesus returned to His favorite garden and was greeted joyfully by
the little rabbit.
That very evening when the
disciples came into the garden to pray, still unaware of the resurrection, they
found a clump of beautiful larkspurs growing there, each blossom bearing
the image of a rabbit in its center as a remembrance of the little creature and
his hope and faith.
The hare wasn't always treated
so kindly in Christian folklore, however.
Medieval Christians considered them to bring bad luck. Anytime
the cows refused to produce milk, witches who'd turned themselves into rabbits
and suckled the cows dry were to blame. And killing the 'witch rabbits' wasn't
easy . . . only a crucifix or a silver bullet would do the trick.
Given their "mad" leaping and boxing displays during mating season as
well as their ability to produce up to 42 offspring each spring, it is
understandable that in medieval times rabbits came to represent lust, sexuality, and
excess in general. Much later the white Hare began to appear
in Christian art where, depicted at the feet of the Virgin Mary, it was used to
symbolize the triumph over lust or the flesh.
The hare's speed began to represent the need to flee from
temptation and served as a reminder of the swift passage of life.
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