The truth about Easter

Where our modern traditions come from

By DON WILBURN

donaldfwilburn@gmail.com E aster is a holiday that holds great significance for Christians all over the world. It is a day to honor and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central figure of the Christian faith. However, many people may not realize that the traditional Easter celebration that is commonly practiced today actually has its roots in ancient pagan rituals and traditions.

The word “Easter” itself is derived from the word “Ishtar,” which was a day of celebration for those who practiced pagan religions.

Ishtar was a day to commemorate the resurrection of the god Tammuz, who was believed to be the son of the moon-goddess and sun-god. This pagan festival was celebrated with various rituals and customs, many of which have been incorporated into the modern Easter celebration.

In ancient times, long before the birth of a certain Nazarene carpenter, there was a man named Nimrod who was a powerful king and was eventually deified by the people he ruled over.

His wife and also mother, Semiramis, also became a powerful figure in ancient Babylon and was eventually worshiped as a goddess.

Nimrod was eventually killed, and his body was cut into pieces and sent to various parts of his kingdom only to be lost. His followers eventually found them however, the part of his body that was never found was his reproductive organs.

Commonly referred to in the language at the the time as his “eggs.” Semiramis claimed that Nimrod could not come back to life without them and told the people of Babylon that he had ascended to the sun and was now to be called “Baal,” the sun god, or alternatively, the god of fire.

Queen Semiramis, now a self-proclaimed goddess who assumed the name of Ishtar, also mandated that Baal should be worshiped. In the Bible, Baal (sometimes spelled Ba’al) is the name given to several different deities who are designated as false gods or idols.

However, it is most often used to describe the specific Phoenician god of fertility and rain. Additionally, Baal is associated with Beezlebub, demons, and the devil.

Ishtar, formerly Semiramis, also claimed that she herself was a goddess who had descended from the moon in a giant moon egg that fell into the Euphrates River.

She soon became pregnant and claimed that it was the rays of the sun-god Baal that caused her to conceive.

An immaculate, or virgin, conception. She gave birth to a son named Tammuz, who was said to be a hunter particularly fond of rabbits.

As a result, rabbits became sacred in this ancient pagan religion and were associated with fertility and rebirth.

The worshipers of Baal and Tammuz were instructed to meditate on the sacred mysteries of these gods and to celebrate on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. This day, known eventually as “Ishtar’s Sunday,” (with Sunday being literally named for the god of the sun) was celebrated with rituals involving rabbits and eggs, which were symbols of fertility and new life.

When Tammuz grew up, he encountered a boar on a hunt and it was claimed that the boar killed him, but he was resurrected from the dead because Ishtar wept for him.

This is why ham is traditionally eaten at Easter-in revenge for the killing of Tammuz. It is also said in the legend that wherever drops of Tammuz’ blood hit the ground, pine trees sprouted on those spots which is related to another certain well known Christmas tradition.

Ba’al, Ashtoreth, and Molech are the three false deities for whose worship got Israel kicked out of the Promised Land. Furthermore, in the Bible the book of Ezekiel 8:14-16 records God’s condemnation of the practice known as ‘weeping for Tammuz’ – the 40 day period immediately preceding the festival of Ishtar whereupon people would fast for his death and resurrection. The modern Catholic observance of Lent comes directly from this practice.

Looking through the lens of the lore of modern Christianity, Ba’al would certainly be interpreted as being Satan himself with Tammuz being the son of the devil or the anti-christ.

The practice of exchanging candied, chocolate, ornate eggs (Nimrod’s genitalia) or hunting for them is, in essence, a ceremonial practice to bring about the birth of the anti-christ preceding the return of Satan on earth in order to bring about the events foretold in the Book of Revelations.

The truth is that the traditional Easter celebration that many of us grew up practicing actually has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, eggs, rabbits, easter egg hunts, hot cross buns and even ham have everything to do with an ancient pagan religion that is based on idol worship. For this reason, we should make sure we understand what we are actually celebrating.

Happy Ishtar.

The Babylonian goddess Ishtar for whom Easter is named.

Courtesy of the British Museum Online