The Fall of Easter Down-under?

The earth yoked to the sun all year round?-)

Hmm ... page 23, I find that personally interesting,
 as well, as September 23 is my birthday;-)

I live in Australia, which of course is in the southern hemisphere and while Easter is a celebration of Spring, or Jesus's death and resurrection, or both considering your religious, spiritual, or pagan point of view, in Australia it is Autumn ... or Fall.

So, if you're not a Christian and like a good pagan celebration, down here we're left scratching our heads, because we are forced to celebrate a Spring rite in Autumn, just to keep in touch with the northern neighbors who have been calling the shots for centuries as if the world revolves around them ... so to speak;-)

Don't get me wrong, I like the Easter weekend and traditional Easter celebrations, including the Christian mythology overlaid over what is really a pagan celebration.
The pagan roots of Easter
"Easter is a pagan festival. 
If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? 
Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. 
However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. 
The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. 
There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.
The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld.
One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus.
Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth.
Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox.
Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome.
Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother.
Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.
In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today's Vatican Hill.
Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. 
This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection.
There was violent conflict on Vatican Hill in the early days of Christianity between the Jesus worshippers and pagans who quarrelled over whose God was the true, and whose the imitation. What is interesting to note here is that in the ancient world, wherever you had popular resurrected god myths, Christianity found lots of converts.
So, eventually Christianity came to an accommodation with the pagan Spring festival.
Although we see no celebration of Easter in the New Testament, early church fathers celebrated it, and today many churches are offering "sunrise services" at Easter – an obvious pagan solar celebration.
The date of Easter is not fixed, but instead is governed by the phases of the moon – how pagan is that?

The (Not-Quite?) Departed

Whatever floats your boat I say, I have no problem going to a church for an Easter service (not that I have for well over a decade) or out to a pagan celebration of Spring (in Fall).

But what I really hate is how commercialism is getting way out of hand when it comes to any holiday on the calendar, just about.

Take hot cross buns for instance.
"A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins, marked with a cross on the top, and traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the British Isles, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa and some parts of America.

The buns mark the end of Lent and different parts of the hot cross bun have a certain meaning, including the cross representing the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices inside signifying the spices used to embalm him at his burial.

They are now available all year round in some places.

Hot cross buns may go on sale in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand as early as New Year's Day or after Christmas."
As soon as Christmas is over in Australia the supermarkets put the hot cross buns on the shelf and sell them right up until Easter.
So, by the time Easter arrives the novelty of a hot cross bun appearing is so ho hum.
I'm sure the supermarkets will sell them all year round if they get their way.
Now that Easter is over maybe the supermarkets will stock their shelves with Christmas goodies?

The thing too in Australia is the rabbit is an introduced species to the country that has run rampant outnumbering a lot of the native animals, so now there is a push to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby. 
The Easter Bilby

We also have the major newspapers telling us according to the census Australians maybe losing the "Christian way" and non-believers are going to be the majority of Australians soon.
I doubt it, because who takes the census seriously anyway?
I've never filled in the census truthfully, as I think it is no business of the government as to what my personal business is.
I only fill it in, because you get fined in Australia if you don't.
Just because Australians don't state they are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Wiccan, Spritualists ... or whatever, doesn't mean that they don't believe in some of the beliefs of the religion they were brought up in, it just means they aren't into it like some hard-core fundamentalists of the same religion.
I don't think the fact people put "no belief" on the census means they are atheists.
I think real atheists are a minority in the main population.
If you question most people as to whether they are "religious" people they will often say, "no, but I am a spiritual person".  

I think Easter is a great spiritual time for family and friends, even if it is nothing more than taking the time out to celebrate life ... and death ... and life.

I only ate one Easter egg this year (the one pictured above), as I like a little surprise from the "chaotic universe" to see which way it points me.

Steering Synchronicity by Surprise

 Surprise!

I thought it was interesting I got Poppa Smurf with a little bottle that glows in the dark.

I'm not into Smurfs ... never have been, but I had been thinking about reading the Gilgamesh epic, which I've heard the Smurfs are based off.
"The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature."

 

I think mythology can teach us really important life lessons and that's kind of what Easter is about.

Life is one big puzzle and Easter is a time to come together and think about it, I think ... therefor I am?-)

Wow!

The Spring Equinox in the southern hemisphere falls on my birthday this year.
There's another SE (Spring Equinox/Synchronistic Event) for
Dr. Kirby Surprise;-)