Easter and the pagan goddess

[Steve Hayes]

At last I think I have discovered the source of one of the persistent urban
legends about Easter -- the notion that it originated with a goddess called
Eostre or Ostara who was associated with hares and eggs.=20

The only reference I could find to this was the Venerable Bede, who recorded
that the old English name for April was Eostremonath, from which the modern
English word "Easter" comes, and he thought it was named after a goddess
Eostre, about whom nothing more is known.

As one blogger notes, "Jacob Grimm took up this remark of Bede, taking the
German name for the month, Ostara, as the name of a Germanic fertility
goddess. The Icelandic sagas, our primary source for Germanic paganism, make
no mention of such a goddess."

And suddenly things fall into place for me.

Christianity was spread in Germany largely by English missionaries (Boniface,
Willibrord & Co), whose ancestors had migrated from Germany only a few
generations before. At that time the languages had probably not diverged very
much, so the English and German dialects were probably mutually intelligible.
In such circumstances it is quite conceivable that the German Christians took
over the English missionaries=92 word for Pascha, which in German became Ostern.

I=92m rather surprised that Grimm, as a linguist and philologist, didn=92t
apparently think of this. It=92s also interesting that this didn=92t happen to the
Dutch, for whom Pascha became Paas, since they were also largely evangelised
by English missionaries, but they were also closer to the Franks/Gauls, and
were perhaps influenced by them.

Anyone interested in the full story with links can check my blog at:

http://khanya.wordpress.com/2008/03/22/easter-for-some/

--=20
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[Bren]

At last I think I have discovered the source of one of the persistent urba=

n

legends about Easter -- the notion that it originated with a goddess calle=

d

Eostre or Ostara who was associated with hares and eggs.=3D20

B - don't forget Steve that there is also non written oral histories
to contend with about Esotre and Ostara. I know they are harder to
prove and for some reason we take the written word more as solid
"evidence" than oral history....but they are there. Many religions and
ways relied upon non-written teachings pre-Christianity.

Blessings,
B.

[Matthew Johnson]

Post by Bren

At last I think I have discovered the source of one of the persistent urba=

n

legends about Easter -- the notion that it originated with a goddess calle=

d

Eostre or Ostara who was associated with hares and eggs.=3D20

B - don't forget Steve that there is also non written oral histories
to contend with about Esotre and Ostara. I know they are harder to
prove and for some reason we take the written word more as solid
"evidence" than oral history.

And it is for some very _good_ reason. The well-trained bards who were
well-trained at remembering long texts are no longer with us. So any
transmission by "oral tradition" is now even more inaccurate and unreliable than
it was in the past. So you understand the case: it is _very much_ harder to
prove now.

In fact, it was -because- they were disappearing that people started _writing
down_ what had previously been transmitted only orally.

Post by Bren
...but they are there. Many religions and
ways relied upon non-written teachings pre-Christianity.

That they did, but if they still rely on it, then they are opening the door to
widespread corruption of their own teachings.