As an unreligious person, I was rather confused the other day when I heard a very persuasive Fred Meyer ham commercial on the radio. I was only partially listening until there was mention of a “crispy brown sugar crust” after which was point, I was rapt, attentive to the description of tender, spiral-cut meat and all of the reasons why buying your ham from Fred Meyer was more convenient than running across town to the ham store. Long lines at the ham store? I wasn’t sure why there was a sudden mad rush for ham, but it seemed to make sense: ham is delicious.
It also occurred to me that Easter is this weekend, but that only partially explains the ham mania. Lamb is an Easter tradition that kind of goes along with the whole spring and rebirth thing (though you are eating a recently birthed, spring animal, so who knows). But what does ham have to do with Easter, spring or the resurrection of Jesus? Wasn’t Jesus Jewish and since when is ham Kosher? I’ve investigated the internet with the best of my intern abilities and here is a smattering of ideas that may shed light on the Easter ham tradition:
1. People like ham.
2. Curing ham takes quite a while. So ham that begins to cure when the pig was originally slaughtered (in the autumn months) is done around Easter time.
3. It has been historically convenient to eat pigs since they feed many people, multiple quickly, mature in one season and will pretty much eat anything. Plus they are prevalent in many parts of the Christian world, including at Fred Meyer.
4. Christians know how to compromise: in the midst of converting masses of people who already ate pig, they often felt it unnecessary to enforce the dietary restrictions in Leviticus in order to appeal to more people. These are, indeed, the strong Christian values upon which this country was founded.
5. It actually has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with Pagan rituals, which have devilishly infiltrated Christian tradition! Briefly: there was a pretty important guy descended from a false Pagan god who hunted pigs and then got killed by a pig while hunting them. In his honor, people didn’t eat meat during the time period known as Lent and then slaughtered a pig (to get back at all pigs) on the Sunday after the first full moon in the spring equinox. Pagan ham eaters, all of you!
Why do Christians eat ham for Easter?
For one reason: to show they’re not Jewish.
Ham is vile, there is no other plausible reason.
But ham makes bacon, and bacon is gooooood.
And bacon makes a nice, warm blanket.
I eat bunnies for Easter. That’s the tradition, right?
Bunny meat is not kosher, either. Christianity is pagan. Christians are merely followers of a man-made religion called Christianity. They are not followers of the Jewish Messiah, Yashua, or they would be Torah-observant. Their Christ is an idol fashioned in their own image. One of the biggest lies in Christianity claims that the “New Testament” says “the first day of the week”, but the Greek literally states “on one of the Sabbaths”. Since there were 2 Sabbaths that week, 1st Khag HaMatsa and the weekly Sabbath, we know Yashua arose on the weekly Sabbath (i.e. “saturday”) after 3 days and 3 nights. True believers ought to come out of the “Church” and identify with Israel’s Elohim, the congregation of Israel (the true bride), and the Torah of Truth.
What if it’s just a little bunny?
wow, bearer-of-good-news. Where do you get your ideas from? And that is what your comment is, man made ideas. First, there is nothing man made about Christianity. This was God’s idea, not man’s. And to address another comment made above, the slaying of Jesus was God’s doing, not the Jews. One must understand the early prophets so you can realize the the sacrifice of Jesus was ordained hundres of years before His actual dieing. God knew, and still does, that only Jesus was good enough, sinless, to suffice as an atonement for all of our sins. why we insist in picking apart the exact day of Jesus’ death and ignore the fact that He rose for the dead for all our sakes. People wilt little knowledge of the bible are like fans at a NASCAR race complaining about a driver and yet they have no knowledge of what it is like to be in that race and making split second decisions. For those of you that condemn the Jews, do you know what the term “Jew” means? It simply means “One who worships God”. Another tidbit is that yes, Jesus was a Jew and He came for the Jew, not the gentile. His words, not mine. I personally do not what to be Torah observant as no one, and I mean no one can follow the Torah. It is called the “Law” and Jesus came to free us from the impossibility of keeping it. Do you research before you post something to the web that is not correct. I sure hope you can understand that the more that you look into our Christian history, the more you will understand. Do your own research, don’t take anothers word for anything.
Re: “Easter Ham Mystery”
wow, bearer-of-good-news. Where do you get your ideas from? And that is what your comment is, man made ideas. First, there is nothing man made about Christianity. This was God’s idea, not man’s. And to address another comment made above, the slaying of Jesus was God’s doing, not the Jews. One must understand the early prophets so you can realize the the sacrifice of Jesus was ordained hundres of years before His actual dieing. God knew, and still does, that only Jesus was good enough, sinless, to suffice as an atonement for all of our sins. why we insist in picking apart the exact day of Jesus’ death and ignore the fact that He rose for the dead for all our sakes. People wilt little knowledge of the bible are like fans at a NASCAR race complaining about a driver and yet they have no knowledge of what it is like to be in that race and making split second decisions. For those of you that condemn the Jews, do you know what the term “Jew” means? It simply means “One who worships God”. Another tidbit is that yes, Jesus was a Jew and He came for the Jew, not the gentile. His words, not mine. I personally do not what to be Torah observant as no one, and I mean no one can follow the Torah. It is called the “Law” and Jesus came to free us from the impossibility of keeping it. Do you research before you post something to the web that is not correct. I sure hope you can understand that the more that you look into our Christian history, the more you will understand. Do your own research, don’t take anothers word for anything.
Guided, if by “means” you’re referring to the etymology, then Jew simply means someone from Judea. Do your research before you post something to the web that is not correct. Your closing sentence is a bit ironic, don’t you think?
Sorry KAMALA, this country was not founded on strong Christian values. That little bit of revisionist history has been shoved down our throats for centuries by the church. The Christian right in Texas is even rewriting history and changing text books in schools to perpetuate that lie and their revisionist agenda. This is child abuse, but that’s okay with the church and the Republican party which has been hijacked by the Christian right. As ordained clergy in the Christian faith and a former Republican, I can tell you most Christians could care less about the traditions and faith of Christ. Eating ham on Christmas Day or on Easter are two good examples. They have reinvented the faith and traditions of Jesus and have allowed the moneychangers to take over our fathers house.
I’ve heard that back in the day, Phillip of Spain decreed that everyone eat ham to celebrate easter as a way to force Jews out of hiding. If they didn’t eat ham — WHY didn’t they? The answer was apparently obvious.