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I-R-William

The pleasure was all ours, IRW.

posted by johnmacnab on March 29, 2005 at 9:38 AM | link to this | reply

Thanks for all the new info everybody. I learn something new every day.
Peace

posted by I-R-William on March 27, 2005 at 8:44 AM | link to this | reply

word

I'm beginning to doubt it myself, word, with nobody else having heard of it.  Perhaps it was just something my parents thought up to keep me quiet - as if it would.

Happy Easter to you too, word.  If you speak to Wiley before I do, tell him I bought an egg plant for him.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 7:14 PM | link to this | reply

John I never heard of the rolling away of the stone

explanation for the Easter egg. Thanks for starting this discussion.  Wiley and yourself cracked me up with the egg jokes by the way.

Happy Easter to you, John!  It's A Smiley! 





posted by word.smith on March 25, 2005 at 7:06 PM | link to this | reply

Taps
The next time you're offered the dish, eat it and then give us a critique.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 4:43 PM | link to this | reply

Inns and Tapsel

You're both incorrigible. I showed Ell your comment about the ducks, Taps and she shrugged and said.  "A bit like Prairie Oysters."

"What are Prairie Oysters,"  I made the mistake of asking.

"Bull's Balls. They take the balls from the young castrated bulls and fry them.  It's a delicacy."

Both of you can imagine my predicament.  I'm sitting here with a towel in my mouth trying not to barf up my dinner when I think of the Balut, and at the same time I have my legs tightly crossed as I think of the Bull's Balls. 

And to think I only wanted to know about Easter eggs.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 4:38 PM | link to this | reply

Ariala
It makes a lot of sense when you consider it - hence Mother Earth as well.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 4:32 PM | link to this | reply

Inns

I'm with you with the speeeeeeww. Inns

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 4:31 PM | link to this | reply

Tapsel

Taps, it isn't that I didn't believe you, but I didn't believe you.  I had to look up Balut before I was sick.  Have you tried one of these horrible snacks?

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 3:21 PM | link to this | reply

Tapsel....
oh, you are bad...hilarious...but bad.

posted by theinnkeepersdaughter on March 25, 2005 at 3:17 PM | link to this | reply

INNs, if you had planned ahead you could have had a pretty basketful for MIL for Easter.   LOL

posted by TAPS. on March 25, 2005 at 3:12 PM | link to this | reply

Tapsel...
this dish was featured on that show Fear Factor...that should tell you something.

posted by theinnkeepersdaughter on March 25, 2005 at 3:09 PM | link to this | reply

LMAO, INNs.   I have to admit that I've never eaten one, although I have been offered.   It is a filipino dish.

posted by TAPS. on March 25, 2005 at 3:08 PM | link to this | reply

John, well, I can tell you that goddess worship has been around long
before Christianity has.  Ishtar is known as Diana in Greece, as Isis in Egypt and then came Mary worship in Catholicism...it's all the same entity with different names.

posted by Ariala on March 25, 2005 at 3:02 PM | link to this | reply

Spewwwwwwwwwww, Tapsel....

posted by theinnkeepersdaughter on March 25, 2005 at 2:59 PM | link to this | reply

 Johnmcnab - in case you don't know what that is balut, baby chicken grown until it fills the egg and then boiled.   Very nutritious, lots of protein.   Yo eat bones, beak feet and all.  Nice and tender and yummy.    LOL

posted by TAPS. on March 25, 2005 at 2:57 PM | link to this | reply

Wow, John, you had balut and spurned it.

posted by TAPS. on March 25, 2005 at 2:39 PM | link to this | reply

littlem
That sounds logical, littlemspickes and it seems that you are completely correct. 

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 2:26 PM | link to this | reply

I always thought that the egg represented new life and birth.
Somehow linking pagan spring festivals with the death and re-birth of Christ...

posted by littlemspickles on March 25, 2005 at 2:08 PM | link to this | reply

Ariala

I read that Ishtar's sacred animal was the lion.  Aren't I grateful to have been born in August.  Thank you again, Ariala.  This is most interesting. 

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 12:55 PM | link to this | reply

Ariala
Thank you very much for the information, Ariala.  I am impressed, and am about to look up more info on Tammuz and Eshtar.  I wonder if different religions have been hijacking others' believes for their own purposes since the beginning of time?

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 12:46 PM | link to this | reply

Apparently, her name is spelled Ishtar...just looked this up:
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html

posted by Ariala on March 25, 2005 at 12:10 PM | link to this | reply

Taps
It was the rolling downhill we liked as well, Taps, but I eventually acquired a taste for hard-boiled eggs - except for the one time when I shelled the egg only to find a hard boiled chicken fetus inside.  That put me off eggs, chickens and hens for a loooong time.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 12:02 PM | link to this | reply

John, the egg and rabbits are all about fertility...the word Easter comes

from the Pagan goddess Eshtar and neither ceremonies and symbolism have anything to do with Christ.  The 40 days of lent are referred to as the 40 days of weeping for Tammuz, a pagan god...son of Eshtar who died and the early Pagans worshipped him and the queen.  The Bible condemned the ceremonial practice or 40 days of weeping for Tammuz.  The early Christian church in an attempt to convert Pagans brought many of their holidays into the church and sprinkled holy water on them, so to speak, to Christianize them.  Same with Christmas...Dec. 25 is actually Tammuz is birthday, not Christ's.

posted by Ariala on March 25, 2005 at 12:02 PM | link to this | reply

Witchflower
Wow!  You got coloured chickens?  That's a new one on me and very unusual.  Thank you Witchflower.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 11:55 AM | link to this | reply

the_loanlady
That's interesting, TL.  We didn't get chicks.  We only got eggs to roll downhill.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 11:54 AM | link to this | reply

Johnmcnab - Never heard that before about the egg symbolizing the boulder and rolling it down the rock.   I would have loved doing that as a kid as I hated eating hardboiled eggs.    After I found myine and put them in a basket I was finished with them.   They don't eggsactly symbolize anything about the resurrection of Christ I don't think.   I was always told that they were a pagan symbol of new life.   I guess somehow that was worked into the Christian message of new life in Christ.

posted by TAPS. on March 25, 2005 at 11:31 AM | link to this | reply

We had those chicks, too.

They were dyed the primary colors.   My grandmother would keep them for us, then when they got bigger, they were donated to a farm friend of hers.  I remember how disappointed I was when the first true-color feathers grew in.  I thought they were really colored that way.   Believe that practice (coloring and selling as pets) is illegal now, at least where I live.  

posted by Witchflower on March 25, 2005 at 10:58 AM | link to this | reply

I love that image of the tomb door rolling, new to me.

I thought we got baby chicks on Easter to drive my Mom crazy. We always ended up with roosters from the pullets ( which are supposed to be hens)

posted by the-loanlady on March 25, 2005 at 10:50 AM | link to this | reply

TIKD
Thanks, Inn and Witchflower.  It's fun to learn of other customs.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 10:36 AM | link to this | reply

john...
great post.  I like learning new stuff.  And thanks Witchflower for providing the answer. 

posted by theinnkeepersdaughter on March 25, 2005 at 10:25 AM | link to this | reply

Witchflower

I think, like you, Witchflower, I have come across the egg rolling as being a pagan symbol.  I think it was more of an 'egg giving' to celebrate the beginning of spring.  I've also read the same thing about rabbits.

Christianity adapted or adopted a lot of celebrations and called them Christian, where they had been going on for thousands of years - so I'm told, that is.  Saint Nicholas, as you say, has got sweet nothing at all to do with the birth of Christ.  It is another pagan festival which has been adapted.

Isn't all quite fascinating.

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 10:21 AM | link to this | reply

Anthony1

Groan.  Your jokes are getting worse, my friend.  'no yolk indeed'   At least your coming out of your shell in eggsactly the proper way, and I can see the whites of your eyes. 

posted by johnmacnab on March 25, 2005 at 10:15 AM | link to this | reply

Interesting.

I have never heard of the egg being a symbol of the door rolling open.  Growing up in the Lutheran faith, eggs were not mentioned as part of the religious Easter story.  The colored eggs were strictly something we did as a fun thing on Easter (after church), like the baskets, a traditional new bunny every year, a special new outfit, a family gathering and dinner, etc. 

Somewhere along the way, I learned that the egg was more of a pagan symbol, recognizing new life, the Spring re-birth, and had been adopted into Christian tradition, much like Santa Claus, who has nothing to do with the birth of Christ, at Christmas.

I like the egg-rolling symbolism.  It's always interesting to learn the customs of others. 

posted by Witchflower on March 25, 2005 at 10:05 AM | link to this | reply

JohnMcnab
Wow, you just taught me more about Easter and eggs than I ever knew hoss. No yolk!!HappyEaster to ya's.

posted by WileyJohn on March 25, 2005 at 9:59 AM | link to this | reply