....so ....muslims don't celebrate easter

....let us grab a coffee and engage our minds ....rather than just reacting ....go on
so... new on facebook today I see that someone has informed us....
"If muslims don't celebrate easter, why does cadbury (sic) easter eggs need halal certification"

.....let the muslim bashing begin! "it's an outrage! those bloody Muslims making us change our Christian Easter Eggs to fit with their religion!" etc etc as you can imagine.

Just think for a minute. Could it be that Muslims really don't mind one way or another whether Cadbury's Easter Eggs are halal or not. Could it be that Cadbury's have thought how can we sell more Easter Eggs? Oh I know, let's get them halal approved then Muslim's can buy them as well. Could it be that the money grabbing company rather than the Muslim community have decided to do this to our Christian Easter Eggs without any request from any religion!?

The egg is a pagan symbol of new life signifying spring. It has been used by the Christian Church to symbolise new life in Christ, and that is fine, but it is not uniquely a Christian symbol. I wonder as well how many Chocolate Easter Egg buyers, Cadbury's or otherwise, will actually worship at a church during the Christian festival of Easter?

The Cadbury's Easter Egg is not a religious symbol. Commercialism has made such symbolic traditions devoid of any meaning. So it matters not one iota whether it's halal, kosher, gluten free, vegetarian, vegan or whatever. Muslim's don't celebrate Easter but I bet it's very difficult for Muslim parents to persuade their children not to want the brightly coloured tempting Easter Eggs, in much the same way Christian parents have problems convincing their children Christmas is not just about Father Christmas and presents under the tree. So, Cadbury's see an opportunity to make more money...

That's probably nearer the truth of the situation.....


This (below) is a really interesting read from www.missionislam.com on the origins of the Easter festival

While holidays like Christmas, New Year?s Day, and Valentine?s Day have names which indicate either the holiday's origin or its significance, Easter stands out. Most people have no idea what the name Easter means. It turns out that Easter is a corruption of Austre, the name of the ancient pagan Scandanavian goddess of life and fertility.

As noted above, many holidays celebrated today represent a synthesis between Christian doctrine and pagan ritual. The basis for most of these "holy" days revolve around natural phenomena such as the autumnal equinox, vernal equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice. With regards to the spring season and the vernal equinox, pagans, especially the pagans of cold, northern Europe, celebrated the renewal of life, as was demonstrated by the budding of the leaves, blooming of the flowers, return of the birds, and the re-emergence of many mammals previously in hibernation. These celebrations often utilized symbols of fertility and life such as the egg, the baby chick, and the rabbit.

The use of these same symbols in present day celebrations of Easter is quite obvious. Decorating eggs, Easter egg hunts, and the Easter bunny are all familiar icons. These things have carried over from pagan traditions via a synthesis with Christian doctrine. In particular, the worship of the sun god has been incorporated into the once monotheistic Christian teachings. The vernal equinox represents a time in which the hours of daylight equal the hours of night. The days following the vernal equinox mark an increase in the number of hours of daylight over the night. This time, then became viewed as the time of sol invictus or the unconquerable sun, demonstrating its supremacy by conquering the night.

The synthesis with Christian ideas was simple. Just as the sun conquered the night, the son conquered death. Thus, the pagan holidays of fertility and life were replaced with the Christian concept of the resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him).

The Church adopted spring equinox celebrations as Easter. As this time had already been one of celebrating the sun?s resurrection and return to prominence, celebrating the resurrection of the son of God required no great change in understanding. In fact, the Easter celebrations were so similar to earlier celebrations - particularly those which recognized the resurrection of the Babylonian Adonis, the Greek Apollo, and the Roman Attis - that a bitter controversy arose with pagans claiming that the Christian Easter celebration was a spurious imitation of the ancient traditions. Vernal equinox bonfires, originally prohibited by the Church, found their way as Easter fires into the official liturgy of Rome by the ninth century. Fertility symbols associated with spring, such as the egg and the incredibly prolific rabbit, survived as well. (Ellerbe p.148)

In fact, the very symbol of the cross is derived from pagan fertility practices. It is known by many that the symbol of the cross was utilized by many civilizations prior to the emergence of Christianity. The ancient Egyptian symbol of the ankh, then, deserves mentioning for its connection to fertility. The ankh is a symbol which resembles the Christian cross, except that it has a loop at the top. Some sources indicate that this symbol derives its shape from ancient Egyptian studies of human anatomy. The loop, it is said, represents the gravid (pregnant) uterus, while the arms of the cross represent the Fallopian tubes. And the base of the cross serves as the vaginal canal. The ankh, then, serves as the ultimate fertility symbol. In support of this theory of the derivation of the ankh, the fertility dolls of many African peoples, in particular the Ashanti, are shaped like the ankh. The animated graphic to the right illustrates the similarities.