Spring reminds us of new beginnings and plans for the year ahead.
With it comes the imagery of chicks and bunnies, eggs and flowers, which
heralds the start of Easter. These images, which embody ideas of
rebirth, are not just attached to the Christian festivities of Easter;
they are formed from ancient beliefs and mythology, including the
celebration of the pagan goddess Eostre.
The name Eostre derives from Northumberland Old English and was first
identified in Bede’s work, De temporum ratione, written in the 8th
century AD. The mythology goes back much further to pre-Christian times
and, aside from the similarities in name, the themes of Easter can also
be traced to these pagan beliefs.
Eostre was regarded as a goddess of fertility and has been associated
with the Northern European Saxons, though there are variations of her
name as she was adopted by different pagan civilisations. Today, Wiccans
and Neo-pagans recognise Eostre in the form of Ostara, from Old German,
and they celebrate Ostara, the start of the zodiacal year, as one of
their eight annual Sabbats. Ostara occurs at the spring equinox, which
falls around the same time as Christian Easter festivities, and
celebrates the planting of seeds and the return of fertility to the land
after the darkness of winter...read more>>>...