When "Baldur the Good," the beneficent god, descended into hell, Hela (Death) said to Hermod (who mourned for Baldur): "If all things in the world, both living and lifeless, weep for him, then shall he return to the Æsir (the gods)." Upon hearing this, messengers were dispatched throughout the world to beg everything to weep in order that Baldur might be delivered from hell. All things everywhere willingly complied with this request, both men and every other living being, so that wailing was heard in all quarters.[225:1]
Thus we see the same myth among the northern nations. As Bunsen says:
"The tragedy of the murdered and risen god is familiar to us from the days of ancient Egypt: must it not be of equally primeval origin here?" [In Teutonic tradition.]
The ancient Scandinavians also worshiped a god called Frey, who was put to death, and rose again from the dead.[225:2]
The ancient Druids celebrated, in the British Isles, in heathen times, the rites of the resurrected Bacchus, and other ceremonies, similar to the Greeks and Romans.[225:3]
Quetzalcoatle, the Mexican crucified Saviour, after being put to death, rose from the dead. His resurrection was represented in Mexican hieroglyphics, and may be seen in the Codex Borgianus.[225:4]
The Jews in Palestine celebrated their Passover on the same day that the Pagans celebrated the resurrection of their gods.
Besides the resurrected gods mentioned in this chapter, who were believed in for centuries before the time assigned for the birth of Christ Jesus, many others might be named, as we shall see in our chapter on "[Explanation]." In the words of Dunbar T. Heath:
"We find men taught everywhere, from Southern Arabia to Greece, by hundreds of symbolisms, the birth, death, and resurrection of deities, and a resurrection too, apparently after the second day, i. e., on the third."[225:5]
And now, to conclude all, another god is said to have been born on the same day[225:6] as these Pagan deities; he is crucified and buried, and on the same day[225:7] rises again from the dead. Christians of Europe and America celebrate annually the resurrection of their Saviour in almost the identical manner in which the Pagans celebrated the resurrection of their Saviours, centuries before the God of the Christians is said to have been born. In Roman Catholic churches, in Catholic countries, the body of a young man is laid on a bier, and placed before the altar; the wound in his side is to be seen, and his death is bewailed in mournful dirges, and the verse, Gloria Patri, is discontinued in the mass. All the images in the churches and the altar are covered with black, and the priest and attendants are robed in black; nearly all lights are put out, and the windows are darkened. This is the "Agonie," the "Miserere," the "Good Friday" mass. On Easter Sunday[226:1] all the drapery has disappeared; the church is illuminated, and rejoicing, in place of sorrow, is manifest. The Easter hymns partake of the following expression: