For the person who asked about Easter: Easter is the Roman Catholic hijacked holiday that was the Pagan festival of Oestre, which is obviously cognate for Easter. Oestre is a Germanic goddess which is the same as (and cognate with) the Mesopotamian godess Ishtar. In their Mythos Ishtar was the goddess of sexual love and of the battlefield. For people familiar with Greek/Roman mythos this would be the equivalent of the goddess Eris. (fnord ;-) As far as bunnies are concerned its part of the German myth. In that pagan story, there was a great bird who intensely desired to be a rabbit. The Goddess Oestre (Estre) graciously turned the bird into a rabbit, and in gratitude the rabbit (who could still remember how to lay bird eggs) came each Spring, during the Festival of Oestre (Estre), and laid beautiful eggs for the benevolent goddess. This is exactly how we got a supernaural, egg-laying rabbit god in our Easter tradition. Disclaimer: I am not a pagan. I'm a dedicated, hard-core agnostic. Obcryto: Crypto is necessary because people unthinkingly yield their decision making to corrupt organizations in much the same way as they don't question religious beliefs. (ok -- stretch of the year) Maybe it will always be this way. Perhaps its time that the Christian mythos became a "shared secret". (sorry there) Recommended book of the year "The Christ Conspiracy". Details all the background of the Christian mythos. Sure, you've suspected or read about most of it before. But this one brings it all into sharp relief. Its conclusion is that its all synthetic. The closer you get to the actual year 0, the fuzzier the story become until it just vanishes like vaporware. One of the most important books I've ever read. (Oh, while it has a slight feminist bent "The Woman's Book of Myths and Secrets" is an excellent reference for all of the mythological hocus-pocus) And now I will stop going off on unthinking religious beliefs for another decade or so. Usually I'm happy to let the deluded ones be, but sometimes..... --- Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1st Inaugural
