Today we Celebrate the Moon god

I don't think I've ever done this before... Today, I am actually going to recant my last post. Friday, I posted on how using the word Easter was a horrible thing to do, and how that everyone that does it is dying and going to Hell. Ok, maybe I didn't say it that strong, but you get the point.

Anyway, I was thinking on it some more over the weekend, and I have to come to you today with a different perspective. Today, is the celebration of the "moon god." Did you know that? Tomorrow it's not the moon, but a god associated with Mars. The next day, it's not as certain, but probably a god associated with Mercury. The next day (which will probably give away what I'm saying) is the celebration of the god Thor. Yup, that day is "Thor's day." If you don't get it yet, so that real fast 10 times: "Thor's day."

Yeah, the names of our days are actually named after pagan gods in English. They actually come from the 'gods' of the same people where we get 'Eastre.' Yet, I have no problem calling this moon day, Monday. When Friday comes around, and I call it that, I am not celebrating Frigga, the Germanic goddess of married love. Saturday, I will not even be thinking about Saturn at all. Nor will I put much thought into the sun on Sunday - unless it's sunny out, then I might.

So, here's what I'm saying. The Venerable Bede, an Old English Christian around 700AD, was the historian that tied "Eastre" with the time of the celebration of Christ's resurrection. Most other languages use Pascha or something like that (the word translated Passover normally in the KJV). What he wrote was this: "Eostur-month, which is now interpreted as the paschal month, was formerly named after the goddess Eostre, and has given its name to the festival." At his time (1300 years ago), the month was formerly named after that goddess.

So, 1300 years ago, the Old Old English word for that season was Easter. In fact, if you look at pre-1611 English translations of the Bible, the word "Easter" is used when talking about the Passover almost exclusively. It wasn't until the 1611 when Pascha was translated Passover instead of Easter (with 1 exception). You know what, like Mike and Matt said in comments yesterday, when someone says "Easter," they're really not thinking about any gods whatsoever - only the God of gods. I'm still not sold on the idea of the eggs and bunnies, but maybe I could be persuaded on that as well... who knows?

So, anyway, enjoy your celebration of the Moon god, and we'll talk to you again on Tyr's Day.

Just a thought...