Sunday, April 24, 2011

Clay Aiken Fans Honor Easter, Spring Rebirth


NEW BIRTH -- This beautiful tiger lily graphic by Sally commemorates Easter and the rebirth of Spring.

Rebirth and Renewal

Easter Celebrates Resurrection

Sunday Christians all over the world celebrate Easter, an occasion commemorating the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The day also honors the rebirth of Spring and, for many, the renewal of faith, hope, and new life.

Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century AD, Easter has had its non-religious side and, like most Christian holidays, was originally a pagan festival.

The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating Eastre, their goddess of offspring and of springtime. When second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity, but in a clandestine manner.

To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.

Pagan Eastre Becomes Easter

The pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense to alter the festival itself and make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.

Both the rabbit, Eastre's earthly symbol, and the exchange of eggs, a celebration of springtime's rebirth, were centuries old customs of the pagan festival that eventually merged with the religious Easter season.

More about the history of Easter and the parallel pagan festivities can be read at Wilstar.

In the first of many Easter greetings, here is a Clay Aiken graphic created by AmazingCA with a photo by PermaSwooned especially for today.


Click to expand AmazingCA's Easter graphic to wallpaper size.

Easter Greetings Fill Digital World

From message boards to social networking sites to smartphones, Easter greetings have taken over the digital sphere in which we communicate.

An unending stream of joyous Easter wishes, pastel and brightly colored eggs, floral arrangements, hopping bunnies, and cute little baby chicks have become mainstay anywhere you turn.

A few weeks ago, a friend shared the link for CLIPish 3D Animations, home base for thousands of images to add to text messages. For more information about the icons, see this Clipish site. Below are three samples of the Easter fare.

No iphone? Email the images as attachments.

Below is a special Easter greeting for all who visit the Carolina blog regularly or who just happened to drop by today.

Click on the screen cap to link to the Jacquie Lawson site and listen to "Jesu. Joy of Man's Desiring" from Cantata BWV 147 by J.S. Bach as you view a special Easter card. You will be instructed to click on the church spire to begin.


Screen cap links to Easter card for Clay Nation.

Happy Easter ~ Blessed Passover ~ Joyous Spring, Clay Nation!

Caro

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Caro,

A Happy Easter to you and all that read this.....a beautiful sunny day here in southern New Jersey.

I learned something, as I usually do here on your blog. "The pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ." "Pagan Eastre Becomes Easter" very interesting.

The Clay Aiken graphic created by AmazingCA with a photo by PermaSwooned is wonderful. Just love that Clay Aiken!!!

Jacquie Lawson's Easter e-card is beautiful, Thank You for sharing.

Have a blessed Easter Sunday.

Big Hugs,
Marlyne

claysweetea said...

What a beautiful Easter blog and how interesting about Pagan Eastre. I love daffodils, so think the last photo is lovely.

kta said...

Thank you for a wonderful blog. Have a wonderful Easter. :)

T said...

Happy Easter dear Caro. That opening graphic of Sally is one of my favorite. So beautiful especially for this very significant occasion!

It's always interesting to read your blog and appreciate the Jacquie Lawson's Easter e-card. That did put a smile!

Thanks also for the nice comments on the graphic.

Have a joyous Easter & wishing you all the blessings.

((Hugs))
T

Anonymous said...

Happy Easter ! and thank u for all u do. U r a trooper to keep Us on top of things , always! Hope Clay and everyone had a nice day! D.in Wi.

Unknown said...

A belated happy Easter. Thank you for saving this with me.

Unknown said...

A belated Happy Easter to you, Caro. Thanks for sharing this with me.

Anonymous said...

I'm a little late, but want to wish you a very Happy Easter and hope you had a wonderful day. It's very quiet here at work as half the staff took an extended long weekend. I took this Friday off so I can get up early and watch the Royal Wedding.

That was a beautiful Easter card by Jacquie Lawson! Thanks for sharing!

Have a wonderful week!

Sandy