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Due to these latter developments, she is generally accepted as a genuine pagan goddess among modern scholars. Ēostre and Ostara are sometimes referenced in modern popular culture and are venerated in some forms of Germanic neopaganism .
Many Christians are uncomfortable in acknowledging the Easter holiday’s pagan name. Others are taking a more philosophical approach and making a valiant effort to rebrand it.
Eostre, also called Ostara or Eastre, is a Germanic goddess associated with spring and the dawn. She is particularly known in Anglo-Saxon and Old High German traditions and is believed to be the namesake for the Christian holiday of Easter.
Although Easter has become known as a Christian holiday around the world, celebrating the sacred death and rebirth of Jesus, the true pagan Easter and its symbols is a clear testament to the historical melting pot of cultures and traditions that make Easter what is today.
While Easter, as we know it today, was never a pagan festival, its roots and many of its traditions have associations with ancient pagan customs and beliefs. According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary: “The word Easter is of Saxon origin, Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honour sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year.
One popular story you might have seen recently involves the origin of the Easter Bunny. Essentially, the tale is that Ostara, the ancient Germanic goddess of the spring, transformed a bird into a hare, and the hare responded by laying colored eggs for her festival.
In modern pagan and Wiccan tradition, Ostara is the time when the maiden Goddess meets her reborn consort in the form of Pan or the Horned God. Feasting and merriment are part of celebrations of Ostara as the energy of spring rises up.
Eostre is the Germanic goddess of dawn who is celebrated during the Spring Equinox. On the old Germanic calendar, the equivalent month to April was called “Ōstarmānod” – or Easter-month. As a holiday, Easter predates Christianity and was originally the name for Spring Equinox celebrations.
In addition to celebrating the vernal equinox, the ancient pagans also celebrated the goddess Eostre, who was associated with the dawn and fertility. She was the goddess of spring, and her name is believed to be the source of the name “Easter”. How Did Pagan Traditions Influence Easter?
In ancient Roman legends, Attis, the consort of Cybele, was born via a virgin birth and resurrected in the spring. The Venerable Bede claimed Eostre was the Saxon version of a Germanic goddess called Ostara. Many modern Pagans mark Ostara, the vernal equinox, as a time of renewal and rebirth.