No, Easter Is Not Derived From an Ancient Pagan Holiday

Townhall.com ^ | April 10, 2020 | Ashley Herzog

[campaignPete R-CT]

In Old English, I doubt there was a word that was a good translation of pesach. Even “Passover” is not exact.

It’s optional. Don’t use the word “Easter” if you prefer not to.

[piasa]

Since the term ‘easter’ is used by English and German speakers ...while elsewhere in the world it called by derivations of the Hebrew word for passover, psach ... it would not be derived from “Ishtar” as has been claimed by the wicca and neopagan revisionists and really makes no sense. It would have to be derived from the German or English languages [and English is Germanic]... neither of which had anything to do with Ishtar.

Most likely it comes from the German words ‘Ost’, ‘Ostern,’ or ‘Ostlichen.’ The women discovered the stone rolled away from the tomb in the early morning when the sun was rising...in the Osten.

[piasa]

Funny how no one ever asks where the old pagan goddess of spring got the name.

Could it be from the word for the direction from which the sun rises?

That doesn’t mean that terms that sprang from the earliest word derived from each other, or that all spring celebrations have the same origin.

Or that a 2000 year old Middle Eastern religion sprang from a younger pagan culture in Europe.

[piasa]

People vastly overestimate the age of European pagan festivals.

[Redwood71]

Lot of theories out there.

rwood

[BillyBoy]

>> Christians would be doing the right thing if they focused a lot less on “Easter” and a lot more on Passover. Like Jesus did. <<

Maybe they should focus on forbidding pork, having a baby bris, and burning animal sacrifices in the temple then.

[Terry L Smith]

According to the texts, and from what I was once told by a famous tv evangelist from Louisiana, generations were counted as either 40 year or 70 year spans. Since Christianity was not cemented, until the events over Passover weekend, when he was counted as being 33, then if one of the text authors would qualify as a generation later, using the 40 year count.
Romans were very good record keepers.
Where are the Roman contemporary records of Jesus? He was put on trial, yet no legal of that time record exists, unless it is locked away in the basement in Rome. Thanks to a bunch of guys getting together 300 years after the events and witnesses are dead and gone, what other evidence and testimonies were thrown away. And yet, the writings of a man called delusional, were allowed to remain. Fyi, it is Catholics that call him delusional.
I consider this whole thing Rome’s “Area 51”, with plausible deniability et al.

[Da_Shrimp]

Interestingly, the connexion between Easter and Ēostre comes from a Christian source, the Venerable Bede, in the 7th century.

[lasereye]

Since Christianity was not cemented, until the events over Passover weekend, when he was counted as being 33, then if one of the text authors would qualify as a generation later, using the 40 year count.

What do generations have to do with when the New Testament accounts were written?

He was put on trial, yet no legal of that time record exists, unless it is locked away in the basement in Rome.

We know that lots of people were crucified by the Romans. Probably thousands. Are you actually saying that there are thousands of records of ancient Roman trials in existence today, but Jesus isn't there? If you think that you're delusional.

Thanks to a bunch of guys getting together 300 years after the events and witnesses are dead and gone, what other evidence and testimonies were thrown away.

I have no idea what you're referring to. Please explain. Are you talking about a historical event or making something up? It sounds like you're making something up, but you don't say what exactly you're talking about.

And yet, the writings of a man called delusional, were allowed to remain. Fyi, it is Catholics that call him delusional.

I have no idea what you're referring to. Call who delusional? You have a weird way of saying things, where you keep talking about someone or something, but don't say who or what it is.

[Cronos]

Easter is the term only in English and German for the Pascal celebration.

In other languages it is a derived from passover, Pascal, pasqua etc.

Even in English and German it originated after the reformation when local languages were used.

Where does it come from?
There is now widespread consensus that the word derives from the Christian designation of Easter week as in albis, a Latin phrase that was understood as the plural of alba (“dawn”) and became eostarum in Old High German, the precursor of the modern German and English term. The Latin and Greek Pascha (“Passover”) provides the root for Pâques, the French word for Easter

[Cronos]

Because English and German are far fewer than the gospel narratives.

The correct liturgical term is Passover or Pascal

[Cronos]

You get 3 days and 3 nights if you understand that for 2nd temple Israel the day started from sunset.

The word we are looking for is “onah.” It describes an indefinate period of time. In relation to the average day, though, it meant the period of day vs. night. A day began at sunset, or with the night onah. The last half of the day, during daylight, was the day onah. Even though day and night last for different durations throughout the year, they still equal one onah. (9 hours of sun in winter, or 13 hours of sun in summer is the same onah.)

So, Jesus was “dead” during the Friday “day onah” - Saturday “night onah” - Saturday “day onah” - Sunday “night onah” and Sunday “day onah” since it was dawn when He rose. One could look at it as 3 periods of day and night onahs. To the Jews, when Jesus died about 3pm Friday, by sunset Friday he was dead two days. By sunset Saturday, he was dead three days. If he arises Sunday morning, he arises on the third day.

Also remember that to the Jewish mind back then, it took 3 days for the spirit to leave the body before it was considered undeniably dead. This is why Jesus waited until the third day before visiting Lazarus; so that all there would know Lazarus was dead and that He was raised from the dead, rather than simply “healed” by Jesus were He to have raised him before three days expired.

[Cronos]

Eostre is only mentioned by Bede. And this was 300 years after paganism died out.

There are no writing about this Eostre anywhere else.

You have writing about thor, freyja etc but no Eostte.

There was no pagan goddess called Eostre

[Cronos]

There was no such goddess.

If someone writes a guess 300 years after paganism died out and no one else mentioned it, that was a false guess

[Cronos]

Eggs and rabbits are from the 19th century.

[Redwood71]

“And this was 300 years after paganism died out.”

Paganism dried out? Today, Paganism, is mostly referring to, the neopagan religious movements that are taking place currently in the West. Some examples of such movements are, Wicca, Odinism, Adonism, Druidism and so on. It still is active.

“There are no writing about this Eostre anywhere else. There was no pagan goddess called Eostre”

Here are a number of sites where they mention her:

https://www.thefield.co.uk/country-house/easter-eostre-24035

http://www.religioustolerance.org/easter1.htm

https://www.manygods.org.uk/articles/essays/Eostre.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/23/easter-pagan-roots

https://www.saintsfeastfamily.com/copy-of-ostara-or-eostre-2

And there are many more.

rwood

[Cronos]

Paganism had been dead 300 years in England when Bede wrote.

Wiccan etc are reconstructions based on fiction. No one has any clear idea how druids etc worshipped.

The links you give claim bede and those who derive from bede. There are no contemporary writings or idols or carvings or tunes for Eostre. And she is not mentioned by any other writer before Bede or indeed after him until the brothers Grimm in the 18th century

[Cronos]

The last link is the funniest and the most if a oie.

“Pagan traditions “?! What pagan traditions kept a fictional goddess? None.

[Redwood71]

Some. These just from Wicca that still exists today:

Akhilandeshvari — Hindu Goddess Never-Not-Broken
Amaterasu — Japanese sun Goddess
Annapurna — Hindu Goddess of Food and Nourishment
Aphrodite / Venus — Greek Goddess of love and beauty
Artemis / Diana — Greek/Roman Goddess of the hunt, virginity, and childbirth, twin sister of Apollo, and an Olympian, often associated with the moon
Astarte — Phoenician Goddess of fertility, sexuality, and war
Athena — Greek Goddess of wisdom, defensive and strategic wars
Bast — Egyptian solar and war Goddess (in the form of a cat)
Baubo — Greek Goddess of mirth, jests, and bawdy humour. A bawdy body goddess, sexuality and play (in an adult sense) and ribald humour, the power of life (in a manifest sense) and procreation and enjoying — even flaunting — flirtation and sexuality. Also the one who teasingly, laughingly tempted Amaterasu out of her cave — ie, brings us out of intellect and isolation into our physical selves and connection. (At least, this is how I understand her.) The Goddess of Having A Good Time!
Brighid — Celtic Goddess of poetry, healing, and crafts (especially smith-work), holy wells and eternal flames
Cerridwen — Celtic Goddess of transformation, of the cauldron of inspiration, of prophecy
Cybele — Greek Earth Mother
Danu — Irish Mother Goddess
Demeter — Greek Goddess of the harvest and of grain, mother of Persephone
Durga — Hindu Great Goddess, Divine Mother
Eos — Greek Goddess of the dawn
Ereshkigal — Mesopotamian Goddess of Darkness, Death, and Gloom
Flora — Roman Goddess of flowers
Fortuna — Roman Goddess of fortune
Freya or Freyja — Norse Goddess of fertility, sexual liberty, abundance, and war
Frigg — Norse Goddess of marriage, household management, and love, Queen of Heaven, and wife of Odin
Gaia / Earth Mother — The Greek Goddess Gaia is the primordial Goddess of earth, mother and grandmother of the first generation of Titans
Hathor — Egyptian Goddess of the Milky Way, Mother Goddess, Goddess of childbirth and death
Hecate — Greek Goddess of witchcraft and magick, crossroads, and the harvest moon
Hestia — Greek Goddess of the hearth and domestic life
Hel — Norse Goddess daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, Queen of the Dead
Hera — Roman Goddess of the Hearth, of women, and of marriage
Inanna — Sumerian Goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare
Isis — Egyptian Mother Goddess, matron of nature and magick, Goddess of creativity and the underdog
Ishtar — Mesopotamian Goddess of sexual love, fertility, and war
Juno — Roman Queen of the Gods and Goddess of matrimony
Kali — Hindu Goddess of Time and Death, slayer of demons, protectress (as Kali Ma: Divine Mother Goddess)
Kore — Greek Maiden Goddess of bountiful Earth (See also Persephone)
Kuan Yin , Kwan Yin Ma , Quan Yin — Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion
Lakshmi — Hindu Goddess of Wealth and Fertility (Goddess as Mother/Sustainer)
Lalita — Hindu Goddess of Beauty
Luna — Roman Goddess of the Moon
Ma’at — Egyptian Goddess, personified concept of truth, balance, justice, and order
Mary — Mother Goddess, Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Femininity
Maya — Hindu Goddess of Illusion and Mystery
Minerva — Roman Goddess of wisdom and war
Morrigan — Celtic war Goddess
Nut — Egyptian Goddess of heaven and the sky and all celestial bodies
Parvati — Hindu Divine Mother, the embodiment of the total energy in the universe, Goddess of Power and Might
Pele — Hawai’ian volcano Goddess, Destroyer and Creatrix
Persephone — Greek Goddess daughter of Demeter, Queen of the Underworld, also a grain-Goddess, Maiden Goddess
Radha — Hindu Divine Mother
Rhiannon — Celtic Goddess of the moon
Rosmurta — Celtic/Roman Goddess of abundance. She is also the Goddess of Business Success.
Saraswati — Hindu Goddess of Knowledge, the Arts, Mathematics, Education, and cosmic Wisdom (Creatrix)
Sedna — Inuit Goddess of the Sea and Queen of the Underworld
Selene — Greek Goddess of Moon
Shakti — Hindu primordial cosmic energy, Great Divine Mother
Shekina — Hebrew Goddess of compassion in its purest form (feminine aspect of God)
Sita — Hindu Goddess representing perfect womanhood
Sol — Norse Sun Goddess
Sophia — Greek Goddess of wisdom
Spider Woman — Teotihuacan Great Goddess (Creatrix)
Tara — Hindu, Mother Goddess, the absolute, unquenchable hunger that propels all life.
Tara, Green — Buddhist female Buddha, Tibetan Buddhism of compassion, liberation, success. Compassionate Buddha of enlightened activity
Tara, White — Buddhist Goddess known for compassion, long life, healing and serenity; also known as The Wish-fulfilling Wheel, or Cintachakra
Tara, Red — fierceness, magnetizing all good things
Tara, Black — power
Tara, Yellow — wealth and prosperity
Tara, Blue — transmutation of anger
Tiamat — Mesopotamian dragon Goddess, embodiment of primordial chaos (the Velvet Dark)
Uma — Hindu Goddess of power, the personification of light and beauty, embodying great beauty and divine wisdom
Vesta — Roman Goddess of the hearth
Voluptas — Roman Goddess of pleasure
Yemaya — Yoruban Mother Goddess, Goddess of the Ocean
White Buffalo Calf Woman — Lakota Goddess
To access info on more Pagan Goddess names from various cultures, see A Small Dictionary of Pagan Gods & Goddesses.

Wiccan Goddesses’ Titles
Many times you’ll hear these used as names of Wiccan Goddesses, but accurately speaking they are more like titles that can be used for multiple Wiccan Goddesses.

Crone Goddess — Title used for Wiccan Goddesses of death, rebirth, and wisdom, such as Cerridwen, and Hecate. Signifying wisdom, mystery, the Gates between the Worlds, etc.
Earth Goddess — Title used for embodiments of the Earth, such as Greek Goddess Gaia, Demeter, Cybele.
Great Mother Goddess — Creatrix existing in most religions, under various names such as Demeter, Gaia, Isis, Parvati (also Great Goddess, Great Mother, Divine Mother).
Moon Goddess — Title used for Goddesses of the Moon, such as Luna, Selene, and Artemis.
Mother Goddess — Title used for the bountiful embodiment of the Earth (see Earth Goddess). Signifying life, procreation, fecundity, abundance, etc.
Maiden Goddess — Title used for Goddesses who personify the youthful energy of spring, such as Kore, Diana (also Virgin Goddess)
Queen of Heaven — Title used for Virgin Mary, Asherah, and possibly other Great Mother Goddesses
Queen of the Underworld — Title used for Ereshkigal, Persephone, and possibly other Death Goddesses
Star Goddess — Primary Goddess, Creatix of All
Triple Goddess — Worshipped since the 7th millennium BC as the Goddess in three aspects — as a young woman, a birth — giving matron, and an old woman (Maiden — Mother — Crone). Passed down through the ages into virtually all religions:
Parvati-Durga-Uma (Kali) in India
Ana-Babd-Macha (the Morrigan), and Brighid in Ireland
Hebe-Hera-Hecate, the three Moerae, the three Gorgons, the three Graeae, and the three Horae in Greece
the Fates or Fortunae in Romans
the Norns to the Vikings
Diana Triformis to the druids

In 2016, a Pew Research Center survey found this about the numbers of Pagan in the US:

Agnosticism: 4.0 million
Atheism: 3.1 million
Judaism: 1.9 million.
islam: 0.9 million,
Buddhism: 0.7 million,
Unitarian-Universalism: 0.62 million.
Hinduism: 0.4 million

There were also more than 1500 books published on Wiccan studies alone in 2016. We just completed the 2020 census but it hasn’t been published yet. Have a good laugh. So long.

rwood

[Verginius Rufus]

I was going by my Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Just checked The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots (revised and edited by Calvert Watkins, Houghton-Mifflin, 1985). It has east, eastern, and Easter all derived from an Indo-European root aus-, "to shine."

This yields the Germanic root *aust- from which comes Old English east (with a long mark over the E), "east" (from "the direction of the sunrise") and the Germanic root *austr- in Old English easterne (with a long mark over the first E), "eastern." (The * indicates it is a reconstructed form, not found in any written text.)

The Germanic *austron- was a dawn-goddess whose holiday was celebrated at the vernal equinox, in Old English eastre (with a long mark over the first E), "Easter."

The same dictionary also has Latin aurora and Greek eos, both meaning "dawn," as deriving from the same Indo-European root aus-.