I always took this communion thing to be a kind of extension or reinterpretation of it (though I understand that Jesus is supposed to have said as much during his Passover meal).

PMark–If you liked the stories, and hold to the above, you will *really* enjoy “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco, who makes such a scholarly foray into the subject of Christ’s survival, marriage, and transmitted bloodline, that you will be unable to tell where historical fact leaves off.

Eco is rumored to be making an appearance at Emory University, near where I live, soon, and I’d love to hear him speak.

Nice chatting with you Kewbie!

I believe it is up to us as *humans* to rise above ideology and seek out truth. “Everybody knows” does not qualify as a reliable source. Neither does listening solely to people with whom you agree. I am a conservative, brought up as a mainstream Protestant Christian. For whatever reason, most of my close friends are Buddhists, nonbelievers, even pagans (which I disagree with vehemently, but that’s another discussion).

The point is, I am constantly challenged on almost all of my positions and beliefs. I am frequently wrong. No problem–I always learn something in the process. I am open to *anyone* who is interested in true dialogue, as opposed to shouting slogans.

I know that this is a humor site. Take a look at what I was responding to and tell me what humor you see there. I see only abject cynicism and a commonly perpetuated misunderstanding–deliberate or otherwise–of one of the central sacraments of the Church.

I don’t even consider myself particularly faithful. I AM about accuracy, and believe that humor is more effective if clearly based in either reality or complete fantasy. I would think that as we and this site mature that our humor would progress beyond Bush Is A Moron/The Pope (or Priests) Are Creepy/ Leftist Mantra Of Choice. Oh, wait, those weren’t funny in the first place.

Please cite sources.

On the other hand, if, as a believing Christian, you hold that (a) we are in God; (b) God is in us; and (c) Christ is God made manifest, then the Eucharist is simply a formal recognition of the fact that Every Thing–not just what we eat and drink–is of God and sustains us. Oh, and that we should acknowledge it and be grateful for it.

Tell me, are you grateful for anything in your life, or is it just easier to make fun of people of whom you disapprove? And what, specifically, are you doing to make any of the situations you describe better?

Actually, when I said the ‘rabbits and eggs’ thing happens only in the US, I meant the vast commercialization thereof–which reflected my own culturocentrism. In that context, it is true. But I had no idea of the apparently universal symbolism of the egg for rebirth in Western civilization. Great link, PMark, and I plan to spend a good deal of time investigating it. TX.

Pending more research, I am withholding judgment on the incorporation of local holidays into the Christian liturgy. I am not suggesting it is not so, simply that I don’t know.

For you neopagans and the otherwise uninformed, though–”The Da Vinci Code” *wasn’t history*, okay? Dan Brown’s plots are so full of holes you could fly jetliners through them and not worry about clearance. -”Kewbie”

Passover isn’t related to the death/resurrection of Christ. That’s the day the angel of death came to take the firstborn sons of Egypt, and to pass over the houses of the Israelites.

I’m a Christian, and it doesn’t bother me that there is symbolism
borrowed from pagan religions in some of my faith’s holidays. And yes,
i am aware of the relation between Passover and Easter. personally,
i think the layers of Christian, Jewish, and ancient pagan symbolism make
Holy Week and Easter all the more beautiful.

http://www.reference.com/search?q=easter

Sorry, but I think it’s clear the early church had a vested interest in co-opting the dominant holidays of the tribal areas they were attempting to expand into.

Yes, the ENGLISH word for Easter derives from Eostre, the name for “a Northumbrian goddess whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox.” (Oxford English Dictionary.) However, the Christian HOLYDAY derives from events which occurred some one thousand years earlier, several thousand miles to the east, and has quite different names in the myriad of other languages through which it came.

Eostre’s name itself came through Old High German, then Latin, from a Greek word meaning “dawn”. Most of the rest of the Western European names for ‘Easter’–Paschal and the like–derive from the Hebrew word for Passover, “Pesach”. The Polish word for Easter is Wielkanoc (lit., “great night).

Does it occur to you New-Age types (actually, garden-variety pagans) to do some research before you mouth off about things about which you know nothing?

Polly: The “rabbits and eggs” derive from an 18th-century German custom which was brought to the US. Nowhere else. Don’t be such a culturocentrist. Read some. Same to you, Jane and Jamie (below).

“Those who fail to learn what happened before they were born will remain forever children.” -Cicero (a Roman historian)

[The biggest tip-off of co-option is the name of the holiday. The Saxon Goddess of fertility was named Oester.]