actually, Yerusalyim's thread about easter traditions made me think of this: on spring equinox (which is on great friday this year), there's this old custom of throwing a puppet representing Morana (the old slavic goddess of death and winter) in a river and letting the current take her away to symbolize the end of winter. do you know/observe this tradition (or any other pagan ones)? are there any pre-christian traditions (not necessarily related to spring) in your country? what are they? (disclaimer: i'm not a black metal fan)
I don't know - we have this odd thing here about rabbits (the Easter Bunny) and Easter eggs. Reminds me of an old cartoon I once saw - had a grimacing rabbit laying (like a chicken lays an egg) an Easter egg beside huge piles of what must have been thousands of Easter eggs exclaiming "You have no idea how much I hate Easter!" :shock:
Quite honestly almost all Easter and Christmas traditions, most RELIGIOUS traditions have a pagan forebearer...even those of our friends the Jehovah's Witnesses who shun all things pagan.
you are right - in czech lang. even the names for christmas (vánoce) and easter(velikonoce) are from pre-christian age and their root(noce = nights) is related to original meaning of this celebrations..
Catholics play a major role in this. They wanted to convert as many pagans to Christianity as possible so they mixed pagan customs into Christian Holiday celebrations as a compromise. The Easter egg and Christmas Tree serve as a couple examples of this.
Now that's arguable. I've heard that Martin Luther was the first to use an evergreen to celebrate Christmas, but the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia states that the Christmas tree was developed in 1605 by the Diocese of Strasburg. What we do know is that the tradition of adorning a tree with gold & silver for religious purposes originated in pagan worship: Jeremiah 10:2-4 (New International Version) 2 This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. 4 They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter.
