Hello?

Rubrick?

Anyone home?

[from A.S. Eastre, name of a spring goddess]

Unfair Faldage!!! I know I put in the reference above to the spring goddess but I was just interested to know to which religion she belonged! I have never heard of her before. Okay, I could look it up in an instant but I am still interested to know why that particular goddess was chosen over all the others.

Sounds like a fertility thing - the goddess of Eastre - gen?

The Easter eggs are the eggs laid by the Goddess when She coupled with the World Serpent. These are symbolic of the Egg from which hatched the Universe. They are painted red because red is the color of the Goddess in her aspect as Mother. This is shown us by the red rising full moon. The Easter Bunny is the Hare we see in the pattern of the full moon.

Uh huh, Faldage. Now pull the other one.

Now pull the other one.

You want me to pull your finger?

Sounds like a fertility thing - the goddess of Eastre - gen?

Oh, Rhube, I see. Her religion was birth control pills. Now it all makes sense. Thanks very much, pal. I owe you. Mean it. Really. Honestly. Right.

Dear CK: estrogens induce nubility, but are no barrier to conception that I know of.

...estrogens induce nubility, but are no barrier to conception that I know of.

Um, what? Remind me again why we prescribe pregnant mares urine?

Just had a horrible thought that I'm missing something clever, funny or important. Am I?

Just had another horrible thought - that Dr Bill knows something about conception that I don't.

inconceivable.

Well, he has waxed eloquently on the subject of virgins. Maybe he ... nah!

Her religion was birth control pills.

Makes a lot more sense than the method prescribed by many religions, that of praying that you don't get pregnant.

inconceivable
unbearable and insurmountable

Not to mention inscrutable.

Your logic is as impregnable as your wit is fertile.
(and your laughter infectious)

Dear doc_comfort: Will your patients really drink pregnant mare's urine for birth control?

Dear MaxQ: Some parental admonishments fail tragically. To wit, the mother who repeatedly told her daughter that she must not let the boyfriend get on top of her, "because Mother would worry." So when daughter came home, Mother demanded "Did you let him get on top of you?" Daughter replied: "No, I got on top of him and now his mother can worry!"

Eastre was an Anglo-Saxon goddess whose festival happened to be celebrated at more or less the time the Christians who converted them celebrated Easter. I think I'm right in saying most other languages use cognates of the English Paschal, which ultimately derive from the Hebrew word for Passover.

Bingley

A little late to be re-entering the fray but since I apparently started it with my tale of 35-years-ago naivete, let me clarify that when I thought PreMarIn was a contraceptive, I was MISTAKEN !

It isn't. Not processed or natural. Never was promoted as such. It just keeps some of the more annoying symptoms of menopause at bay. Less expensive generic equivalent is just as effective, by the way.

I think I'm right in saying most other languages use cognates of the English Paschal

On the only two I know you only score 50%

German: das Ostern >very close to the English in structure in that the root, OST = east.

French: les Pâques. Which is close, but Paschal actually translates to "pascal"

Pasqua in Italian.

Spanish: pascua
Portuguese: pâscoa

Dutch pasen
Indonesian paskal

Bingley

The land mass now known as the state of Florida got it's name because a ship of Spaniards "found" it(I didn't know it was lost!) on Easter Sunday. In Spanish, this is known by the term "Pascua Florida". Florida means flowery or adorned.

And the Indonesian island of Flores got its name from the Portuguese word for flowers.

Bingley