Debunking Myths about Ostara & Easter
In the 725 AD, a Churchman named Bede wrote about a supposed European goddess named "Eostre"--well after the Christianization of the area.
A Northumbrian monk, he wrote, "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".
That's it. Nothing about her symbols, her stories, or who she was, what she was goddess of, or anything of the kind...She wasn't even called Ostara--But then came the Brother's Grimm.
Ostara & the Brother's Grimm
Folklorist, anthropologist, lexicographer, and academic, Jacob Grimm wrote of 'Ostara' in 1835, 'Deutsche Mythologie'. In Deutsche Mythologie, Grimm took Bede's word for law & expanded on her with no evidence but etymological suspicions. "We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart. The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ ... it is mostly found in the plural, because two days ... were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in 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"After the publication of Deutsche Mythologie, stories of Ostara began to pop up.
One of the most common facets of the myth relies on the idea that Ostara's symbol was a hare...In 1874, Adolf Holtzman published his own Deutsche Mythologie with a developed narrative about Ostara and her hares:"The Easter Hare is inexplicable to to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara; just as there is a hare on the statue of [the Celtic goddess] Abnoba.”And seven years later, "Wackernagel...already had a specific story in which Ostara “rode over the fields in the spring in a wagon drawn by hares.” Stephen Winick, PHD folklorist who published research on Ostara and the Hare, points out that no single discussion of Ostara and rabbits predate Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, but less than 30 years later, people were publishing articles that cited this story as ancient without any provedance or evidence. An Egg At Easter: A Folklore Study concludes, "The Hare, on grounds that are not clearly established, was said to be sacred to her. In fact, we know virtually nothing of this goddess."
In the 1960's, Aidan Kelly decided the equinoxes needed names...The celebration of the equinoxes did not begin within Wiccan circles until the time of the initiation of Doreen Valiente, with some scholars asserting that her joining gave pretense to Wiccans to begin their celebrations (she lied to her family & claimed to be a Druid & they did celebrate these days). Indeed, he held out on giving the equinoxes full status and equal observation as celebratory days until 1958.In San Fransisco in the late 1960s, an American named Aidan Kelly gave name to the equinoxes. In a calendar of their creation in 1974 the spring equinox became Ostara. He is also responsible for Mabon (which was previously a Welsh mythological figure). Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, had no part in this due to his death in 1964, but the names were quickly absorbed into the Wiccan community. "By the opening of the 1980s, most Wiccans, let alone Pagans outside the Wiccan tradition, had lost any realisation that the pattern concerned had been established in the 1950s. It was, rather, accepted as an intrinsic feature of what was regarded by many, following Gardner's claims, as a surviving ancient faith."For many, the celebration of the spring equinox continued under the name Ostara, but traditions are often given a false history to fabricate a history of Ostara as a holiday; falling prey to the fallacy that things must be old to valid or worthwhile. Quickly, the lie spread that Ostara was the origin of Easter and that Easter had stolen all of its traditions from the celebrations of Ostara.
The myths surrounding Ostara rely heavily on the idea that Easter must be stolen from pagans. This Eurocentric worldview completely ignores the fact that we know for a fact that Easter is correlated to the Jewish Passover; the dates are inherently linked.We also know that Easter has been celebrated consistently throughout history; far before there was any evidence of Ostara. There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Easter was stolen from a other holiday rather than created by early Christians: largely drawing from Jewish origins hence the fact that the majority of the world refers to the holiday with a ‘P’ word relating to Pesach (Passover). Even Bede references the Paschal month when discussing the naming of Ostermonat. Even Aidan Kelly, the person who named the holiday Ostara, acknowledges this--, "Easter,” which, almost everywhere else, is called something like “Pasch,” derived, of course, from Pesach."Certain Easter traditions have their roots in paganism; but that doesn't mean that the entirety of the holiday was plucked from paganism. For example, Ukrainian pysanky, pre-dates Christianity but is now associated with Easter by many as the tradition lived on through assimilation. This idea is to erase how groups kept their traditions alive through syncretism.The idea that the holiday must have been stolen from European pagans presents an extremely Euro-centric worldview that sees Western European pagans as the only originators.
But aren't Easter Eggs stolen from Paganism? Eggs don't just belong to pagans. Jews have been eating eggs at Passover for thousands of years. There are theories that the first eggs were eaten at Easter because of the tradition of Jews eating eggs at Passover (one egg being ceremonially included on the Passover Seder plate). The notion that eggs must have been stolen from pagan tradition relies on stereotypes and misinformation. For a short history of eggs & Christianity: by the first century A.D, the phoenix egg had become a Christian symbol with St. Clement mentioning the legend in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. Ostrich eggs were placed in early Christian graves to represent resurrection. In 1662, ostrich eggs were documented hanging directly above the Sepulchre. Ostrich egg shells also house the relics of multiple saints. St. Rupertus who died in 718 had a basket of eggs on his emblem. Eggs are also associated with Lent. In During the reign of Pope Gregory the Great, eggs were included in forbidden foods for Lent; in Germany, it was outlawed to even sell eggs at this time. There is also a history of egg tithes across the Christian world which were given at Easter. Naturally, after the end of Lent, eggs became an important part of Easter celebrations; with references to coloured Easter eggs as early as 1290.For centuries, an antisemitic mythos that Jews ate eggs as a celebration of the murder of Christ fueled the idea that it was righteous to eat eggs. Not to mention multiple antisemitic mythos such as Jews pelting Jesus on the cross with eggs, Mary attempting to bribe the evil Jews torturing Jesus with eggs onto which his red blood ran, etc.
But aren't rabbits stolen from Paganism?
The European Brown Hare has a rather miraculous feature: it can be pregnant with two litters at once; giving them the appearance of being capable of virgin births. For this reason, they became associated with the Virgin Mary. They also represent lust in traditional Christian art. Imagery of Mother Mary/the Virgin Mary/The Madonna with rabbits dates back to the middle ages, honoring her virgin birth and triumph over lust. One very popular painting is that of the 1530's Madonna of the Rabbits by Titian.
Predating any mention of Ostara & the Hare, in 1682 we have the first textual evidence of rabbits and Easter in Georg Franck von Franckenau's De ovis paschalibus published nearly two hundred years before any mention of Ostara and hares.
There are also traditional rabbit hunts celebrated around Easter, not to mention several traditions around creating and eating rabbit dishes.
Why is this Lie so Harmful?
Who does it hurt to perpetuate this misinformation?
In 1905, former monk Joself Adolf Lanz founded the right-wing magazine Ostara, which published antisemitic, racist, esoteric, and 'Aryanist' theories. Believed to have been read by Hitler, "Many of the ideas contained in Ostara formed the basis of later Nazi ideology." From 1933-1945, a local folk tradition in the town of Lügde involved the "rededication" of an Easter custom to Ostara--"As night falls, six enormous oak wheels (Osterräder) are filled with straw, set ablaze, and rolled down the slopes of the Osterberg or “Easter-mountain.” Each wheel has a unique Christian message carved into the rim" but in order to rededicate it to Ostara, the Nazis "carried slogans in praise of the Reich, while torchbearers formed a huge blazing swastika on the slopes of the Osterberg." The locals opposed this desecration of their tradition.
This lie upsets so many marginalized groups because what you are doing is erasing the real history which we know to create a false victimhood. Rather than getting up in arms every year about this false history, rather focus on the genuine harm that has been caused by appropriation by the church.
For centuries, Easter has been a time of extreme violence against Jews by Christians. Rather than create infographics about Ostara's supposed theft, combat genuine bigotry or talk about actual history.
Misinformation that sounds cool or serves your rhetoric is still harmful. Full stop.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-hares-superconception/hares-can-be-permanently-pregnant-german-study-idUSTRE68L20R20100922
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2016/04/ostara-and-the-hare/
An Egg At Easter: A Folklore Study, Venetia Newall
From Easter to Ostara: the Reinvention of a Pagan Goddess? Richard Sermon
Modern Pagan Festivals: A Study in the Nature of Tradition Author(s): Ronald Hutton Source: Folklore, Vol. 119, No. 3 (December 2008), pp. 251-273
