Ah, the memories come flooding back.

I remember looking forward to the Royal Easter Show
in Sydney where I grew up. Seeing all the animals and events
was very special.

Easter meant pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.
It meant traditional foods, not only Easter eggs.
It was a very lovely time of the year. Going to
Confession and then Sunday Mass. Watching religious
movies was part and parcel of this season. Films
like - The Greatest Story Ever Told, Jesus of Nazareth,
Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, The Robe,
And even The Passion of the Christ. All were memorable
and left an impression.

Events and festivals this year may not happen. One of
my brothers who lives in Byron Bay - tells me they're
in lockdown because of Covid. He feels very strongly
about those negligent nurses who brought Covid into
Byron from Brisbane and infected the entire area and
nearby towns. They came and partied without being
tested. Not a thought for the well being of anyone
else. We can only hope that things will get better.
At the moment things in Byron are looking grim -
especially for the tourist trade.

Paul,

What you've said is now outdated thinking. It is generally accepted these days among scholars on these issues that Jesus died and it all happened within a day or so. Bear in mind that Jesus's execution wasn't the usual Roman crucifixion. He had been previously been beaten by his Jewish accusers prior to being given to the Romans so he was already weakened.

Remember also that the Romans killed him reluctantly. Pilate tried hard to avoid it and only agreed to it to keep the peace with the Jewish leadership. As such your assertions about wanting to prolong the agony don't apply. Indeed its likely they wanted to get it over with quickly to avoid problems with Jesus's followers. Hence the spear to the side and letting the followers have the body.

" is most likely pure theatre concocted by St Paul and his followers some time later to establish the religion of Christianity. "

Well, you see, there's no evidence of that. Indeed very much the opposite. There is plenty of contemporary evidence that what they said was correct and literally no contemporary evidence to the contrary. What you say is just people who don't want it to be true declaring, without evidence, that it isn't true.
(in Paul's case its the equivalent of saying I don't want it to be true that Stalin killed millions, therefore he didn't).

Finally the claim of Paul bribing James to come around to the 'fabrication' was/is an assertion that is again based on little evidence and a rather jaundiced reading of what evidence there is. Indeed it's clear that within a decade or so of the death, Paul and James were completely on the same page although somewhat at odds over spreading the story to non-Jews.

Remember, I'm not a Christian and don't argue all this leads to salvation etc. But I am a student of the ancient world and how the truth is determined in the ancient scripts. The stories written about the death of Jesus are established in current scholarship as highly reliable.

Foxy,

I wasn't talking about the purposes to which many (most?) people put the current holiday period. I was talking about the reason for the holidays ie why is the Easter egg hunt held this weekend rather than June or August or the 12th of Never.

The reason for the holiday is that a Jewish bloke died 1990 or so years ago. We ought to be at least cognoscente of that fact.

Hi mhaze,

I did explain about the importance of Sunday Mass
about religious films, and everything else
associated with my childhood memories of Easter, including
the comment that my Greek friend made regarding that only
God can rise from the dea. So I would have thought that the reason
for why Easter is celebrated by so many is self evident.

You may want to also broaden this discussion and tell us what
do Jews do for Easter? ( Nothing, they celebrate Passover?).
Just to mix things up a bit. Make it more interesting.

cont'd ...

After all Jesus was a Jew as you pointed out
and what does the Last supper really symbolize?
Seder?

Dear mhaze,

Well not quite I'm afraid.

The reason for the season is because of the pagan celebration of the Spring equinox in the Northern hemisphere. That is why we still retain the symbols of fertility such as rabbits and eggs.

“In Anglo-Saxon England, her springtime festival gave its name to a month (Ēosturmōnaþ, West Saxon Eastermonað), the equivalent of April, then to the Christian feast of Easter that eventually displaced it. “
Wikipedia

It was celebrated on the first full moon after the equinox which made sense as those engaged in festivities could do so under an illuminating moon. The Christians then added a further parameter in the first Sunday after the full moon.

And what better way to carry form the theme of being reborn or raised from the dead than to incorporate it in such a pagan festival. Those early Christians certainly had good marketing awareness.

Our own indigenous folk also were aware of the equinoxes and would likely have marked them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurdi_Youang