Easter: Is It Pagan?

Rating:
Summary: The Absolute WORST Book I have EVER Read
Review: I picked up this book looking for a good Pagan read, since I've been trying to find anything on the subject for months. Anyone who wants an intelligent, fact-based, proven study of Pagan traditions versus Xtian ones, DO NOT GET THIS BOOK! I borrowed this book from a friend and I am exceptionally glad I didn't waste my or my parents' money trying to find it and buy it. This book, if it's possible, depicts Paganism in a more fluffy, Hollywood-like version than Silver RavenWolf herself.

Rating:
Summary: Factual History?
Review: While Mr. Woodrow demonstrates a great deal of enthusiasm for his work, he should increase his knowledge base to topics beyond the contents of the King James version of the Bible. First of all, the author touts Bede as the primary source connecting Eostre (an Anglo-Saxon Goddess) to the spring ritual of Easter. He then goes on to discredit Bede because Snorri Sturlson (from around 400 years later and in a completely different country) doesn't mention this in his overview of NORSE religion. This is problematic for Mr. Woodrow as he is so ill informed, that he conflates the Norse and Anglo-Saxon (Pagan) religions. Not only are these two systems separate, but Bede is the PRIMARY source for knowledge about the Anglo-Saxon language (also known as Old English)and peoples. Not only is Bede familiar with the meanings of Anglo-Saxon words, he was a Christian scholar who was familiar with contemporary church practice. When a source such as Bede states that Easter is a Pagan ritual it will take a solid scholarly argument to disprove it. Mr. Woodrow does not provide that argument. He conveniently omits the implications of Pope Gregory's (the Great) statement that, "they should let them drink milk before they have meat" in his policy toward conversion of Anglo-Saxon Pagan peoples to Christianity. It was Gregory's plan to allow non-Christian festivals to continue, but to alter them to provide more Christian content. This is not to say that Christians shouldn't particpate in Easter celebrations, even the Pagans were celebrating the resurrection of the land (Springtime). Afterall, each person will experience the holiday based on their own interpretation of the symbology. Unfortunately, all Mr. Woodrow wants to do is slander Pagan religions (claiming that they are SOOO evil) and that any of their symbols would, thus, be evil too. By slight of hand, he sanitizes the holiday, thus, making it safe for the unthinking masses. As he states on the back cover "Mythology is not a substitute for factual history", that goes for Christian mythology as well. If he would actually research his topics beyond the confines of his Bible, he might learn something about how facts are determined in historical scholarship. As for his unfounded remarks on the concepts of Pagan religions, apparently he missed the passage in the Bible that states "Thou shalt not bear false witness..." In short, it is an unscholarly work by a peddler of religious stereotypes; not worth the paper or ink it was printed with.