Red
Sails Inn
2614 Shelter Island Dr.
San Diego, CA 92106
619-223-3030
Easter is a very special day within the Christian religion, celebrating the Resurrection of Christ. From an earlier era, it was also the traditional time to celebrate the release from winter and the coming of spring.
We here at the Red Sails prepare a special Easter Dinner with Ham and the traditional side dishes, so you can bring your family together at this special time of the year.
As with almost all "Christian" holidays, Easter has been secularized and commercialized. The dichotomous nature of Easter and its symbols, however, is not necessarily a modern fabrication. Since its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter has also had a non-religious side. In fact, Easter was originally a pagan festival.
The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with an uproarious festival commemorating their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eostre. When the second-century Christian missionaries encountered the tribes of the north with their pagan celebrations, they attempted to convert them to Christianity. They did so, however, in a clandestine manner. To save lives, the missionaries cleverly decided to spread their religious message slowly throughout the populations by allowing them to continue to celebrate pagan feasts, but to do so in a Christian manner.
As it happened, the pagan festival of Eostre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eostre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter.