Eostre ("Easter") and Ostara are the name of a putative Germanic goddess. The Venerable Bede described the worship of Eostre among the Anglo-Saxons as having died out by the time he began writing (in Latin) the first significant history of the Anglo-Saxons. Some historians have suggested that she may have been invented by Bede, as there are no known references to her preceding his work. Jacob Grimm referred to Bede when he introduced a putative Germanic goddess Ostara in his Deutsche Mythologie. Statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture A goddess is a female deity, in contrast with a male deity known as a god. Many cultures have goddesses. ... Bede (IPA: ) (also Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, or (from Latin) Beda (IPA: )), (ca. ... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... The famous parade helmet found at Sutton Hoo, probably belonging to King Raedwald of East Anglia circa 625. ... The Brothers Grimm on a 1000DM banknote. ...

Bede's account of Eostre

According to Bede (c. 672 - 735), writing in De temporum ratione ("On the Reckoning of Time"), Ch. xv, "The English months" [1], the word "Easter" is derived from Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, to whom the month of Eosturmonath, corresponding to our April (Latin: Aprilis), was dedicated: Events April 11 - Adeodatus succeeds Vitalian as Pope. ... Events Abkhazia becomes independent, and will remain such until the 15th century Births Alcuin, missionary and bishop (approximate date) Deaths May 25 - Bede, English Historian and monk Categories: 735 ... De Temporum Ratione is a treatise on the reckoning of time written in Latin by the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon monk Bede. ... Easter, the Feast of the Resurrection, the Sunday of the Resurrection, or Resurrection Day, is the most important religious feast of the Christian liturgical year, observed between late March and late April (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

"15. The English Months.

"In olden time the English people -- for it did not seem fitting to me that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's -- calculated their months according to the course of the moon. Hence after the manner of the Hebrews and the Greeks, [the months] take their name from the moon, for the moon is called mona and the month monath.

"The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; Februrary is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May Thrimilchi;..."

"Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance."

What is secure in Bede's passage is that the lunar month around the month of April in the Julian calendar was called Eostur or similar; In Vita Karoli Magni Einhard tells, that Charlemagne gave the months names in his own language and used 'Ostarmanoth' for April.^[1] The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and came into force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). ... Einhard as scribe Einhard (also Eginhard or Einhart) (born about 775 in the valley of the River Main, died March 14, 840, at Seligenstadt, Germany) was a Frankish historian and a dedicated servant of Charlemagne. ... A portrait of Charlemagne by Albrecht Dürer that was painted several centuries after Charlemagnes death. ...

Those who question Bede's account of a goddess suggest that "the Anglo-Saxon Estor-monath meant simply 'the month of opening' or 'the month of beginnings'." ^[2].

Ostara in Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie

In 1835, Jacob Grimm (1785 - 1863) published Deutsche Mythologie, a collection of German myths and oral histories, including a commentary on a goddess Ostara. ^[3] | Come and take it, slogan of the Texas Revolution 1835 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Brothers Grimm on a 1000DM banknote. ... 1785 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... // For the Derek Sherinian album, see Mythology (Derek Sherinian album). ... Oral history is an account of something passed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. ...

Grimm recalles Bede's account of Eostre and assumes that it was unlikely that the man of the church would simply have invented a pagan goddess. From the Germanic month name (see above), he then concludes the name Ostara. "This Ostarâ, like the AS. Eástre, must in the heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the Christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries." He also notes various accounts of the name of the Easter festival in Old High German, like ôstertagâ or aostortagâ. According to Grimm, these were plural forms of Ostara, since the festival would have been celebrated on two days. The term Old High German (OHG, German: Althochdeutsch) refers to the earliest stage of the German language and it conventionally covers the period from around 500 to 1050. ...

As with Bede, there is no ancient textual proof of Grimm's assertions. Unlike Bede, Grimm presents himself not as a recorder of tradition, but as one who is trying to reconstruct it through inference.

Jacob Grimm, as well as his brother, Wilhelm Grimm, see Brothers Grimm, were well-read in 19th-Century Germany and among German etymologists. They had not only published Grimm's Fairy Tales between 1803 and 1825, they had started the edition of the first German etymological dictionary, the Deutsches Wörterbuch. The Brothers Grimm on a 1000DM banknote. ... Wilhelm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right) from an 1855 painting by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann The Brothers Grimm were Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, German professors who were best known for publishing collections of folk tales and fairy tales,[1] and for their work in linguistics, relating to how the sounds in... Frontispiece of first volume of Grimms Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812). ... The Deutsches Wörterbuch was first compiled by the Grimm Brothers. ...

Etymology of Eostre

Many linguists agree^[4] that Eostre and Ostara are derived from the Old Teutonic root 'aew-s', 'illuminate, especially of daybreak' and closely related to (a)wes-ter- 'dawn servant', the dawn star Venus and *austrôn-, meaning "dawn". Proto-Germanic, the proto-language believed by scholars to be the common ancestor of the Germanic languages, includes among its descendants Dutch, Yiddish, German, English, Afrikaans, Norwegian, Old Norse, Swedish, Icelandic and Danish. ... Adjectives: Venusian or (rarely) Cytherean Atmosphere Surface pressure: 9. ...

Similar words, which it has been suggested are variations of Eostre's name, include Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Estre, Ester, Eoster, Eostra, Eastre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron, Aurora, and Ausos. There is no certain parallel to Eostre in Old Norse though Grimm speculates that a "spirit of light" named Austri from the Eddas might be related. Note that Bede appears to have Latinized the name of the second month from English Sun or Sunna to Sol (perhaps for the benefit of his Latin readers). He seems to have done the same sort of thing with the goddess and her fourth month festival (English Estre or Eastre into Eostre/Eostur). Ostara, according to Jakob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie, is the Old High German name for the Easter festival. ... Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan (1850 - 1919), 1895 (Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC): for a Pre-Raphaelite painter, Eos was still the classical pagan equivalent of an angel Eos (dawn) was, in Greek mythology, the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of... Old Norse is the Germanic language spoken by the inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300. ... In Norse mythology, Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western) were four dwarves who each supported one of the four cardinal points. ... The Edda are collections of poetically narrated folk-tales relating to Norse Mythology or Norse heroes. ...

Speculative alternative etymologies

The word oestrogen is sometimes incorrectly believed to have been derived from Eostre. A train of thought to this conclusion might involve the hormone oestrogen, human egg cells, Easter eggs, and fertility. However, oestrogen actually derives directly from the greek word ’οιστρος (Latinized: oestrus), meaning rut or frenzy. See Oestrus. Estriol. ... Estrus (also spelled œstrus) or heat in female mammals is the period of greatest female sexual responsiveness usually coinciding with ovulation. ...

The name Eostre also bears some resemblance to the name Ishtar (variant spelling: Eshtar), a Babylonian goddess. Other variants on Ishtar include Astarte and Ashtoreth. This resemblance has resulted in some Neopagans and Christians opposed to Easter believing that Easter is Ishtar's festival. (Fakelore is often constructed to support such speculative continuities.) There is, however, no evidence that Ishtar was ever worshipped in Europe, nor any strong evidence that the myths of the two goddesses were related. Ishtar is the Assyrian and Babylonian counterpart to the Sumerian Inanna and to the cognate northwest Semitic goddess Astarte. ... Babylonia, named for its capital city, Babylon, was an ancient state in the south part of Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), combining the territories of Sumer and Akkad. ... Astarte on a car with four branches protruding from roof. ... ‘Ashtart, commonly known as Astarte (also Hebrew or Phoenician עשתרת, Ugaritic ‘ttrt (also ‘Attart or ‘Athtart), Akkadian dAs_tar_tú (also Astartu), Greek Αστάρτη (Astártê)), was a major northwest_Semitic goddess, cognate in name, origin, and functions with... Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is any of a heterogeneous group of new religious movements, particularly those influenced by ancient, primarily pre-Christian and sometimes pre-Judaic religions. ... Christians believe that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (see Hebrews 8:6). ... Fakelore is inauthentic, manufactured folklore which is created in the hope that it will be accepted as genuine and/or legitimate. ... This article is very long. ...

The most determined proponents of an Ishtar/Easter connection are within Fundamentalist Christianity. One very notable former advocate, Ralph Woodrow, whose Babylonian Mystery Religion includes the Easter/Ishtar hypothesis and condemns the celebration's trappings as unchristian, has reversed his former position and now does not support this pagan connection. However, there are others who still do and provide a curious example of Christians and neopagans alike supporting theories of a continuity of Goddess worship in the absence of any conclusive evidence. Fundamentalism is a movement to maintain strict adherence to founding principles. ... This article is being considered for deletion for the 2nd time in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Goddess worship is a general description for the veneration of a female Goddess or goddesses. ...

Jacob Grimm noted this similarity in names and speculated on a possible connection based on this and some minor similarities in rites attributed to the two goddesses^{[citation needed]}. It is also sometimes suggested that a link between the two goddesses might have been made through Greek Aphrodite / Roman Venus. In support of this theory some cite that Indo-European '(a)wes-ter' and Semitic 'istrt', roots to which the two names were closely related, both referred to the planet Venus, which of course was also associated with the Roman goddess of the same name. The Birth of Venus, (detail) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 Aphrodite (Greek: Αφροδίτη; Latin: Venus) (IPA: English: , Ancient Greek: , Modern Greek: ) was the Greek goddess of love, lust, and beauty. ... Marble Venus of the Capitoline Venus type, Roman (British Museum) Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love and beauty, the rough equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. ... The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ... 14th century BC diplomatic letter in Akkadian, found in Tell Amarna. ...

Alexander Hislop speculated in his book The Two Babylons that the invading Germanic tribes borrowed the Greek goddess Eos, who eventually became their Eostre. Alexander Hislop (Born at Duns, Berwickshire, 1807; died Arbroath, 13 March 1865) was a Free Church of Scotland minister famous for his outspoken criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Original cover of The Two Babylons, which alleges that many of the Roman Catholic churches doctrines and ceremonies came from ancient Babylonian culture. ... Thor, Germanic thunder god. ... Eos, by Evelyn De Morgan (1850 - 1919), 1895 (Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC): for a Pre-Raphaelite painter, Eos was still the classical pagan equivalent of an angel Eos (dawn) was, in Greek mythology, the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of...

A distracting apparent early reference to 'Easter' in the King James Version of the Bible translation of the New Testament, Acts of the Apostles 12:4, is simply an anachronistic mistranslation of the Greek pascha ("Passover"), in which the committee of James I of England followed such earlier translators as William Tyndale and Myles Coverdale. The Acts passage refers to the seven-day Passover festival (including the Feast of Unleavened Bread); "There is no trace of Easter celebration in the New Testament, though some would see an intimation of it in 1 Corinthians 5:7." (ISBE, Bromley). H:For other uses of King James Version, see King James Version (disambiguation). ... John 21:1 Jesus Appears to His Disciples--Alessandro Mantovani: the Vatican, Rome. ... The Acts of the Apostles (Greek Praxeis Apostolon) is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. ... James VI and I (James Stuart) (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625) was King of Scots, King of England, and King of Ireland. ... William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindale,Tindall or Tyndall) (ca. ... Myles Coverdale (also Miles Coverdale) (c1488 - January 20, 1568) was a 16th-century Bible translator who produced the first complete printed translation of the Bible into English. ...

Beliefs and practices associated with Eostre

Most modern sources describe Eostre's festival as a celebration of the Spring Equinox. Bede, however, never stated this. Eosturmonath is a lunar month, and as it starts with the new moon, can begin on a variety of possible dates.^[5] Since the Spring Equinox falls on a single date in March, Eosturmonath cannot be associated directly with the Spring Equinox. In astronomy, the vernal equinox (spring equinox, March equinox, or northward equinox) is the equinox at the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere: the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. ... In astronomy, the vernal equinox (spring equinox, March equinox, or northward equinox) is the equinox at the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere: the moment when the sun appears to cross the celestial equator, heading northward. ...

Eostre is also worshipped by some neopagans, who associate her with various aspects related to the renewal of life: spring, fertility and the hare (allegedly for its rapid and prolific reproduction). Modern worshippers and writers describe Eostre as a "Goddess of dawn" based on the etymological relationship between her name and the Anglo-Saxon word for 'dawn'. For other uses, see Life (disambiguation), Lives (disambiguation) or Living (disambiguation), Living Things (disambiguation). ... Spring is one of the four seasons of temperate zones, the transition from winter into summer. ... Fertility is a measure of reproduction: the number of children born per couple, person or population. ... Jack rabbit and Jackrabbit redirect here. ...

The association of Eostre with the Spring Equinox is important in Wiccan belief as part of the Wheel of the Year. Wiccan celebrations of the Equinoxes involve goddesses and various other eclectic elements from distant and diverse cultures. The pentagram within a circle, a symbol of faith used by many Wiccans, sometimes called a pentacle. ... In Neopaganism, the Wheel of the Year is the natural cycle of the seasons, commemorated by the eight Sabbats. ... A goddess, a female deity, contrasts with male deities, known as gods. A great many cultures have their own goddesses, sometimes alone, but more often as part of a larger pantheon that includes both of the conventional genders and in some cases even hermaphroditic deities. ...

The belief that Eostre had hare's ears or a hare's head may well derive from Nigel Pennick's Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition in which an image of the Saxon moon god Mona from A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence^[6] is shown, with the accompanying text describing Mani both as a goddess and as 'Eostre in her spring guise'.^[7] This article does not cite its references or sources. ... In Norse mythology, Mani was the god of the moon and a son of Mundilfari and Glaur. ...

Popular culture

Eostre plays a role in the novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman. American Gods is a novel by Neil Gaiman. ... Neil Richard Gaiman () (born November 10, 1960, Portchester, Hampshire) is an English author of numerous science fiction and fantasy works, including many graphic novels. ...

Notes

References

• Bede, The Reckoning of Time, translated with introduction, notes and commentary by Faith Wallis. Liverpool University Press, 1988; 2nd ed. 2004. Translated Texts for Historians vol. 29.
• International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia Geoffrey Bromley, ed.: 'Easter'