Darren Houser

What good is a savior if he can't be used as a platform for a satirical reproach to the manufactured commercialization of ancient renewal celebrations?

Today I was inspired (possibly by the will of God) to create this wonderfully ‘easter-ish’ image.  This holiday has always perplexed me.  Sure, if you enjoy sitting in rows of uncomfortable benches you’ll probably receive the good message of the biblical resurrection, others will probably enjoy the company of family, and hopefully everyone will take a moment to contemplate the symbolism of spring, but what’s with all this bunny and candy egg crap?  I know, I know,  they’re symbols of fertility and birth – so what’s the implication behind eating them!?

One of my earliest memories is of looking out my living room window to see a giant pink rabbit hopping sluggishly down the street (I still feel sorry for the poor sap inside that suit sweeting his balls off under the sweltering midday sun), and because of that I always associated easter with bunnies and eggs (oh, and the resurrection of Christ – I grew up in Christian middle class America).  It was only after I began my quest to find freedom of thought; looking under the rocks of what I’d been taught I was able to see easter as something much more meaningful than a dead guy coming back to life, eating egg-shaped candy in bright colors, and fabricated obligations.

People often complain about Valentines day being a manufactured holiday and refuse to participate, but to me Easter is far more irksome.  Not only is it a commercialized holiday getting us to pay money for unhealthy crap, but it also represents the usurpation of something much more grounded and meaningful.  The symbolism of fertility and spring growth; renewal after the death of winter, should serve as inspiration for self improvement and hope for the future.  As above, so below.

I’ll leave with one last thing on this decidedly Christian holiday and let you decide what it means to you:

Gerald L. Berry, author of “Religions of the World,” wrote:

“About 200 B.C. mystery cults began to appear in Rome just as they had earlier in Greece. Most notable was the Cybele cult centered on Vatican hill …Associated with the Cybele cult was that of her lover, Attis (the older Tammuz, Osiris, Dionysus, or Orpheus under a new name). He was a god of ever-reviving vegetation. Born of a virgin, he died and was reborn annually. The festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection.“

Wherever Christian worship of Jesus and Pagan worship of Attis were active in the same geographical area in ancient times, Christians:

“… used to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus on the same date; and pagans and Christians used to quarrel bitterly about which of their gods was the true prototype and which the imitation.”