That mythical drama reminded humanity that suffering is never final, that death is always followed by resurrection, that all defeat is annulled and overcome by final victory.
Mircea Eliade
Since ancient times, it was believed that the year began with spring. This date agreed with the plant renewal that humanity distinguished on two occasions: spring and summer. The dates were not very precise and were different depending on the region of the world, but they all coincided between the months of March, April, and May.
Those archaic peoples, who existed before the voyages of exploration and before crossing the oceans, did not know each other, but their observations of nature presented great analogies. They constructed similar ideas about those phenomena beyond their control and associated them with divine powers in all their explanations and stories.
Las sociedades más antiguas dejaron evidencia de su paso por el mundo en el medio oriente. Durante la época que ellos llamaban el mes de Nisán, creían que para ayudar a la naturaleza a elevar su poder renovador se debían realizar rituales especiales. La sangre humana se consideraba un líquido vital, poderoso y sagrado. Se sabía que la naturaleza atravesaba por un momento de trance semejante al parto y requería de una particular fortaleza que solo la sangre podía aportar.
The blood of a king was the most valued and in the early days of humanity, this man suffered a bloody sacrifice that culminated in his ritual, symbolic or real death, and his blood was spilled on the earth to germinate the seeds. We must remember that all ritual calendars were governed by agricultural activities throughout the world. The king symbolized that grain that must suffer a passion to die, be buried, be reborn gloriously, and multiplied in the form of flowers, an ear of wheat, or a cornfield.
This king was known as a god on Earth in various cultures and his willing sacrifice was prepared to fertilize the earth. Over the centuries, this integral sacrifice was replaced by periodic bodily mutilations and constant blood offerings for the same purpose. This king-god also represented the sun and married a queen representing the moon or goddess of fertility.
At the beginning of spring, all the stories of the scourged and tortured kings were remembered, where the people cried for their sacrifice, fasting and abstinence were made to praise that noble action and remember their sacrifice for humanity. Those kings after their funeral were resurrected to preserve life, according to the stories of the origin of many peoples with different names: Venus and Adonis in ancient Greece, Isis, and Osiris in Egypt, Tammuz and Ishtar in Mesopotamia, and in the unification of the different ideas in Christianity, all those figures were synthesized in God and the Virgin mother, therefore the resurrection is the foundation of faith.
According to Christian tradition, it is known as Easter, at the end of Holy Week that corresponds to the death and resurrection of Jesus. These events occurred in the month Nisan, or the first Sunday after the full moon, after the spring equinox. It is known that Jesus was of Jewish origin and together with his disciples he celebrated the last supper of his life on the occasion of Passover. The term Passover comes from pashé or pésaj, which means to pass in Hebrew. It refers to the passage that was opened through the Red Sea by which the Jewish people were freed from slavery in Egypt and walked to go to their new nation, an event that occurred long before the birth of Jesus. The event that the Jewish community celebrates to this day.
To learn more about Holy Week and its origin visit: https://culturacolectiva.com/historia/por-que-cambia-de-fecha-la-semana-santa/
In these spring days, the Islamic religion celebrates Ramadan, because more than a thousand years ago, in the month of Nisan, the prophet Mohammed received from God the fundamental teachings of a new and glorious spiritual path. Since then, the Muslim community withdraws from worldly activities, makes a strict daily fast between the months of April and May, where it practices prayer, meditation, and self-discipline are the formation of the teachings of every Muslim person, to remember that God is the most important in this religion and in life.
In Mexico, Holy Week has a syncretic origin. The Spanish priests were also surprised by the amazing analogies that were presented in the original religion and those that they had known since ancient times in other continents. The pre-Hispanic religion lasted even after making the Catholic religion official in America. The regenerative rituals, the blood of the god-king like Quetzalcóatl who descends to the underworld and triumphs over death to save his people. Christ became Xipe Tótec, the flayed god from whose sacrifice nature is reborn in springtime. Hence the roots that these celebrations have and their emotion in Mexico.
An ancient Phoenician goddess of love and fertility had her time of celebration in the months of Nisan and was called Ishtar. It is believed that the name of Easter comes from that powerful divinity, which became a holiday-related to spring and has been widespread in Europe and the United States. These days the eggs are used ritually. Eggs are a fertility symbol containing future new life. It is known that in ancient times migratory birds in spring laid the first eggs that served as food for people while they could collect the first agricultural products. There is a tradition that says that a hare or rabbit, being extremely fertile creatures, provides eggs as a gift. Easter eggs are buried to enhance fertility and are painted in colors as a symbol of flowers.
If you want to know more curious facts about Easter and Easter visit:
https://pijamasurf.com/2011/04/los-origenes-paganos-y-orgiasticos-de-la-celebracion-de-pascua/
We are amazed by the coincidences of the ancient peoples in their explanations about the origin of spring, the resurrection, and the renewal of nature. That wisdom was essential for the preservation of life and the understanding that death is never final, so we also remind you that at Del Pueblo Funeral Home we make the most difficult moments easy.
