The Saxon goddess Eastre, rabbits and eggs!

Its interesting to see the intertwining of religions, many parents march the kids off for the church Easter egg hunt to honor the fertility goddess Eastre and her sidekick the rabbit, its amazing how many things people do and never question them, how about dragging a live tree into the living room for a while? I am all for it, gives people something to do and keeps them out of trouble. The Roman empires expansion into the barbarian lands created a strange mix of tradition and the church was quite creative, instead of trying to wipe out pagan traditions they included them to placate the converted, making the new religion more acceptable, if they resisted outright they would just put them to the sword six thousand at a crack, the really bad ones they would put a pointy hat on them [thus the witch's hat] in the shape of a church steeple thought to cleanse their soul just before lighting them on fire, thats why pagans were portrayed with a pointy hat, but in reality this was put on them just before a very hot education.
Have you ever wondered where the celebration of the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ acquired its unusual name and odd symbols of colored eggs and rabbits?
The answer lies in the ingenious way that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices. After discovering that people were more reluctant to give up their holidays and festivals than their gods, they simply incorporated Pagan practices into Christian festivals. As recounted by the Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer, clever clerics copied Pagan practices and by doing so, made Christianity more palatable to pagan folk reluctant to give up their festivals for somber Christian practices.
In second century Europe, the predominate spring festival was a raucous Saxon fertility celebration in honor of the Saxon Goddess Eastre (Ostara), whose sacred animal was a hare.
The colored eggs associated with the bunny are of another, even more ancient origin. The eggs associated with this and other Vernal festivals have been symbols of rebirth and fertility for so long the precise roots of the tradition are unknown, and may date to the beginning of human civilization. Ancient Romans and Greeks used eggs as symbols of fertility, rebirth, and abundance- eggs were solar symbols, and figured in the festivals of numerous resurrected gods.
Pagan fertility festivals at the time of the Spring equinox were common- it was believed that at this time, when day and night were of equal length, male and female energies were also in balance. The hare is often associated with moon goddesses; the egg and the hare together represent the god and the goddess, respectively.
Moving forward fifteen hundred years, we find ourselves in Germany, where children await the arrival of Oschter Haws, a rabbit who will lay colored eggs in nests to the delight of children who discover them Easter morning. It was this German tradition that popularized the 'Easter bunny' in America, when introduced into the American cultural fabric by German settlers in Pennsylvania.
Many modern practitioners of Neo-pagan and earth-based religions have embraced these symbols as part of their religious practice, identifying with the life-affirming aspects of the spring holiday. (The Neopagan holiday of Ostara is descended from the Saxon festival.) Ironically, some Christian groups have used the presence of these symbols to denounce the celebration of the Easter holiday, and many churches have recently abandoned the Pagan moniker with more Christian oriented titles like 'Resurrection Sunday.'
The Roman pagan Saturnalian [worship of Saturn] incidentally Saturn is prominent in many free-masonic lodges, the winter solstice was incorporated into Roman Catholicism as well, the Christe masse, people would run around naked and drink, kiss under mistletoe, exchange gifts and feast for 12 days, [12 days of Christ-masse] put candles in the window, so the neighbors would know they were "partying", in modern times christmas lights. They would often hang slaves and animals from a yule tree, an Oak as a sacrifice, and throw people, sometimes the local criminal on the "yule log". In 16th century England it was banned for sometime because it got out of hand, murders, drinking and riots, sex in the streets, but that's a long story for another posting. People are touchy about "sacred" holidays stiffling debate on their origins, that's OK, it would not be the first can of worms I opened, "can of worms" hey, where did that term originate? In the early twentieth century people would buy worms for fishing in a small tin can with a little handle then dump them on the riverbank, they would squirm all over the place uncontrollable, kind of like opening "pandora's box", hey! where did that term come from? maybe Pandora is a two dollar whore from Tim Buk Two with the crabs? I don't know, OK I'll shut up now... -Citizen