by Vincent Bruno
Many pagans may have noticed that the Christian holiday of Easter and the Jewish holiday of Passover always seem to arrive around the same time, usually in early or mid April. Also, some of you may have noticed that their are increasing numbers of Christians who celebrate Passover and their are even movements among Christians to remove Easter all together and have only the Passover celebration. What is the connection between Easter and Passover and what do these holidays represent?
"Easter" Is Pagan
First let's talk about Christians Easter and why there are growing movements among Christians to stop celebrating this holiday. Is the holiday of Easter ever mentioned in the Bible? Does the Bible ever talk about the Easter Bunny or colored eggs? None of these are ever mentioned in the Bible, however Easter does have its origins in ancient paganism. Before we talks about the pagan origins of Easter, let's first talk about what Christians are celebrating on Easter. According to Christians, Easter celebrates the day when their "Messiah" was supposedly resurrected after being dead for three days. The Christian holiday of Good Friday is related to Easter as this is when Christians believe Jesus was hung on the cross.
The Bible never calls the resurrection of Jesus "Easter", nor does it prescribe the traditional Easter paraphernalia of eggs and bunnies, however it is creditably asserted by many historians that Easter is named after the old pagan fertility goddess Ostera (Ēostre). During the time when the Catholic Church was trying to Christianize pagan Europe, they found it very difficult to break the populace from their old pagan customs. One of these customs, particularly in the Germanic people, was the celebration of the coming of Spring with festivals to the fertility goddess Ostera, her patron animals and items were hares and eggs. Mythologist Jacob Grimm who is famous for being one of the Grimm Brothers and editor of the notorious "Grimm's Fairy Tales" stated he believed that the Christians could not dissuade the Europeans from engaging in this ancient pagan festival to Ostera (Ostera = Easter) and so they simply kept the name and changed it's meaning to the celebration of Christ's resurrection.
We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ ... it is mostly found in the plural, because two days ... were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries. - Jacob Grimm
It is because of Easter's pagan overlay that many Christians are beginning to abandon Easter and many of them are replacing Easter with the traditionally Jewish Passover, but how are the two related? Besides the fact that Easter has a pagan costume, nowhere in the Bible are Christians told they are to celebrate the raising of Jesus from the dead, however Jesus did tell Christians to celebrate an event of his life, the "Last Supper", which was a Passover Supper. Jesus himself was an Israelite, he was born and raised in Israel, and he of course celebrated Israeli holidays. The famous painting "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci shows Jesus celebrating the Israelite holiday of Passover, not Easter. It was at this Last Supper that Jesus includes the rituals of his remembrance into the original meaning of the Passover festival, he tells his followers to break bread and drink wine to remember him. Many Christians have realized that this is the holiday which Jesus commanded, a Passover dinner, and not his resurrection, so many of them have begun abandoning Easter for Passover. Easter is always around the same time as Passover because this is when Jesus was hung on the cross and resurrected, right after his own Passover "Last Supper". In the Christians world, Passover and Easter are almost interchangeable.
8 (Jesus) sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.”... 19 He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and gave to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” 20 Likewise, he took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. 22 The Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!” - Luke 22
What Is Passover?
So if Jesus was celebrating Passover and he told his followers to engage in rituals to remember him during a Passover meal, then Passover must inherently be a Christian holiday, but what does Passover celebrate? Many pagans have heard the story of how the pagan Egyptians supposedly enslaved the Israelites and that the Judeo-Christian god finally set his people free by sending an angel to murder all the firstborn sons of the Pagan Egyptians. Now academics and historians are very doubtful that this enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt ever happened, but the reality of these events is not what Jews or Christians are celebrating, they are celebrating an underlying meaning and message, a message of how Israel used Communism to destroy Egypt.
The idea that Communism comes from the Bible may sound a little far fetched to some, isn't Communism a atheist doctrine which has killed millions of Christians? Communism is simply the non-theistic form of a system devised in the Bible book of Genesis which the Israelites used to capture all the land, money and power of the Pagan Egyptians who had done nothing but help them. The story of Passover does not start with the slavery of the Israelites, but several generations earlier in another Pagan land, the land of Canaan. At this time their were no Jews or Christians or even any nation of Israel, there was only a small family tribe which called itself Israel.
How Israel Ended Up In Egypt
This tribe held the belief that their jealous god have given the land of Canaan to them as a birthright and that they would one day drive off the Pagan Canaanite inhabitants and claim it as their own. In the meanwhile, this tribe has to tolerate the Pagan around them which they needed to use for the time being. Now there was one boy born into this tribe named Joseph, and he was the favorite son of his father Jacob. Joseph's brothers become jealous of Joseph and so they sell him into slavery where he eventually finds himself in the Pagan land of Egypt.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.... 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought Joseph into Egypt. - Genesis 37
Through a series of intrigues the Israelite Joseph becomes the favored man of the pagan Pharaoh of Egypt who makes Joseph the second most powerful man under himself and gives him control over the nation's grain supply, and will later give him control of the nation's gold. Joseph is dressed in royal robes and given royal jewelry to signify his granted authority.
40 You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you.”41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”42 Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, 43 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt.44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” - Genesis 41Biblical Communism
Eventually a famine hits not only Egypt but also Joseph's home territory of pgan Canaan. Joseph's Israelite brothers travel to Egypt to purchase grain. Joseph recognizes his brothers who sold him into slavery and initially get's angry and keeps some of them hostage, but eventually the Israelite brothers make up and once again become a family. The generous pagan Pharaoh of Egypt hears that Joseph has found his long lost brothers and graciously offers to provide not only free transportation for all of the Israelites to come to Egypt, but he also offers them the very best of the land of Egypt, the land of Goshen which is closest to their "home" in pagan Canaan.
16 The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan. 18 Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ 19 Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”... Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” - Genesis 46-47Eventually the famine worsens and the people of Egypt are starving. Remember, Joseph is in control of all the grain supply in Egypt and he is also apparently in control of the central money supply as well. The starving Egyptians go to Joseph who first tells them to give him all their gold in exchange for food. Joseph gives the Egyptians food, however the Bible says he places the gold in the Pharaoh's house and does not let it back out into the economy, the Bible tells us that all of the gold in Egypt and Canaan dries up and the people cry "our money fails", the money fails because Joseph has it all stored in the Pharaoh's house.
13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14 Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.” - Genesis 47With no gold in the economy, and the people once again starving, the Egyptians go back to Joseph to get food, but this time he demands their animals and when they have run out of food again the pagan Egyptians offer up their lands and themselves as slaves. Joseph takes all the land of the pagan Egyptians and gives it to the Pharaoh, he and collectivizes the Egyptians into the cities. There are only three factions of Egyptian society who any longer have money or land, the Pharaoh, his elite priests, and the Israelites who are living in the best of the land in Goshen.
16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. 18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. 22 Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
25 They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s. 27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. - Genesis 47The Israelite's Flaunt Their Power
Now with the Israelites in firm control of Egypt, Joseph's father Jacob tells his son he does not want to be buried in Egypt but wants his body transported back to the pagan land of Canaan seeing that their jealous god has promised that this land will belong to them through theft. Once Joseph's father Jacob dies, the Israelites hold a grand procession with all of their Egyptian servants to carry not only Jacob's body but also all of the male household members of Israel all the way up to the land of Canaan where Jacob will be buried, all of this is done on the Egyptian dime. Even though Jacob is to be buried in Canaan, Joseph makes sure that his father is embalmed like a Pharaoh and that all of the landless Egyptians are brought to cry for seventy days as if this were the death of a king of something.
28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. 29 The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt,30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.” He said, “I will do as you have said.” 31 He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head. - Genesis 47
50 1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. 2 Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days... 7 Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. - Genesis 50The Egyptians Turn On Israel
The Bible tells us that eventually Joseph dies and that a new Pharaoh rises in Egypt who sees right through the Israelites and understands them to be enemies who could easily use their land in Goshen to plot treason against Egypt and then escape back to the land of Canaan with all their wealth. Seeing that the Egyptian people have been robbed of their land, gold and freedom by the Israelites, they turn on this tribe and very viciously enslave them, in Hinduism we call this Karma.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold,[a] the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. 12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel. 13 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, 14 and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve. - Exodus 1Jews And Christians Celebrate Pagan Child Sacrifice
To make a long story short, the Bible tells us that the Judeo-Christian god wants to make an example of Egypt, and so he puts it into the heart of the Pharaoh to be merciless with the devious Israelites, not setting them free, and thus give their god the excuse to go to such extreme measures as mass murdering all the firstborn sons of Egypt. As the Judeo-Christian god has planned, the Egyptian Pharaoh keeps the Israelites in slavery despite several plagues, until finally the Judeo-Christian god sends one of his angels to murder the Egyptian children. The Israelites are protected from this genocide by killing a lamb and splattering it's blood on their doorways as a signal. The Bible instructs Judeo-Christians to commemorate this genocide every year by preparing a lamb meal for their families. The holiday is called "Passover" because those Israelite's who had lamb blood on their door were "passed over" during the genocide.
3 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” - Exodus 7
11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover. 12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh. 13 The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. 14 This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. - Exodus 12
So what does Easter/Passover represent, what are Jews/Christians celebrating on this day? Jew and Christians who engage in the more Biblical version of this holiday will eat a dead lamb (sacrificed innocence) to remind them that their god committed a mass child sacrifice against pagan Egypt. Judeo-Christians will only tell you one side of the story, they will only tell you that the evil Egyptians enslaved the Israelites, but they won't tell you why this happened. Pagan Egypt had given an Israelite the most powerful position in the land next to the Pharaoh, pagan Egypt had saved Israel from famine, transported them all to Egypt for free and gave them the very best of their lands. When the famine grew and the Egyptians were starving, the Israelites used their power and influence to extort all of the gold from the pagan Egyptians and purposely store the gold up in the Pharaoh's house until their was not money left in circulation. When the Egyptian people cried "our money fails" Israel took their animals and then their land and their bodies. The landless Egyptians were herded into cities, meanwhile the Israelites along with the Pharaoh and his elite priests became the only land owning and wealthy class in Egypt. When you become the bureaucratic class of the ruling elite, and use your control over the central money supply to crash the economy and then relieve the populace of their land and collectivize them into cities, this is called Communism. Israel became slaves in Egypt because the enslaved Egyptians realized what had happened to them and they turned on the wealthy land owning Israelites who had destroyed their nation. In return the Judeo-Christian god murdered all the Egyptian first born sons... this is what Jews/Christians are celebrating on Easter/Passover.
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