![]() In ancient Rome, the 10-day rite in honor of Attis, son of the great goddess Cybele, began on March 15th. He is the vegetation, dying each year (at harvest) to be reborn in the spring. The son is a savior who saves his people in some way, sometimes through sacrifice. These gods are always the son of a God and a mortal woman. Murray then goes on to recount the myths of the Year Gods - Attis, Adonis, Osiris and Dionysus - who like Christ die and are reborn each year. Gilbert Murray in Five Stages of Greek Religion writes about the passion behind the Greek celebration of Easter:Īnyone who has been in Greece at Easter time, especially among the more remote peasants, must have been struck by the emotion of suspense and excitement, with which they wait for the announcement, “Christos aneste,” “Christ is risen!” and the response “Alethos aneste,” “He has really risen!” explained her anxiety: “If Christ does not rise tomorrow we shall have no harvest this year.” We are evidently in the presence of an emotion and a fear which, beneath its Christian colouring and, so to speak, transfiguration, is in its essence - a relic from a very remote pre-Christian past. ![]() In the agricultural cycle, it is time for planting. The goddess shows herself in the blossoms, the leaves on the trees, the sprouting of the crops, the mating of birds, the birth of young animals. The month of March contains holidays dedicated to all the great mother goddesses: Astarte, Isis, Aprhrodite, Cybele and the Virgin Mary. Demeter is reunited with her daughter, Kore (the essence of spring), who has been in the Underworld for six months and the earth once again teems with life. The Coming of the SpringĪlthough we saw the first promise of spring at Candlemas in the swelling buds, there were still nights of frost and darkness ahead. Just as the dawn is the time of new light, so the vernal equinox is the time of new life. ![]() The Saxon goddess, Eostre (from whose name we get the direction East and the holiday Easter) is a dawn goddess, like Aurora and Eos. The spring equinox is sacred to dawn, youth, the morning star and the east. Day and night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to tip over on the side of light. The spring equinox is one of the four great solar festivals of the year.
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