Easter isn't Stolen
White Supremacy, Misinformation, and the Internet's Obsession with Ostara
This is a text version of a post originally made to Instagram in collaboration with Anneke Katharina Auguste. You can listen to our podcast on this same topic here or whether you listen!
Origins of Ostara In the 725 AD, a Churchman named Bede wrote about a supposed European goddess named ‘Eostre,’ well after the Christianization of the area.
Bede, a Northumbrian monk, 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 honor 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...
Folklorist, anthropologist, lexicographer, & academic, Jacob Grimm wrote about ‘Ostara' in 1835, 'Deutsche Mythologie'.
In ‘Deutsche Mythologie,’ Grimm expanded on Bede’s claims about Ostara with no evidence beyond etymological suspicions. "We Germans call April ‘Ostermonat,’ and ‘Ôstarmânoth’ is found as early as [the 9th century.] The great Christian festival, which usually falls in April or March, bears in the oldest of Old High German remains in 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.
Ostara as a Holiday In the 1960's, Aidan Kelly decided the equinoxes needed names...
The celebration of the equinoxes did not begin within Wiccan circles until Doreen Valiente’s initiation; some scholars assert that her initiation gave pretense to Wiccans to include these celebrations. In reality, she lied & claimed to be a Druid, but her family did not celebrate these days. Gerald Gardner held out on giving the equinoxes full status & equal observation as celebratory days until 1958. In San Francisco in the late 1960s, an American named Aidan Kelly gave name to the equinoxes. He created a calendar in 1974, in which the spring equinox became Ostara. He is also responsible for naming the autumn equinox “Mabon” (named after a Welsh mythological figure, which has caused extensive confusion). Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, had no part in these names due to his death in 1964, but the names were quickly absorbed into the Wiccan community. "By the 1980s, most Wiccans, let alone Pagans outside the Wiccan tradition, had lost any realization 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 & that Easter had stolen all of its traditions from the celebrations of Ostara. Aidan Kelly is still publishing works online.
Ostara & the Hare: 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 & 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.” This story of Ostara in a wagon/sleigh being drawn by rabbits is a staple in online pagan spheres, nearly all of which cite this as an ancient myth, despite its origins in the late 1800s. In North Germany, this association is tied to Frau Harke, a folklore figure reminiscent of Frau Holle and Frau Perchta. Stephen Winick, PHD folklorist who published research on Ostara & the Hare, points out that no single discussion of Ostara & rabbits predate Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, but less than 30 years later, people were publishing articles that cited this story as ancient without any 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."
Easter Rabbits
So, rabbits aren’t stolen from Paganism?
No. 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/Virgin Mary/The Madonna with rabbits dates back to the Middle Ages, honoring her virgin birth & famed 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 & Easter in Georg Franck von Franckenau's “De Ovis Paschalibus” which was 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 practices around creating and eating rabbit dishes during the time. Christianity has numerous associations with rabbits. Saint Melangell (or, Monacella) is the patron saint of hares, who was believed to live around the 7th-8th century. She was believed to have saved a hare from a hunt & was thus granted land, upon which is a superstition that forbids the hunting of rabbits.
Christian Eggs:But aren't Easter Eggs stolen from Paganism?
Eggs don't exclusively 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 European pagan tradition relies on stereotypes, misinformation, & European exceptionalism. 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. 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 colored Easter eggs as early as 1290. For centuries, an antisemitic mythos that Jews ate eggs to 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. The tradition of ‘red eggs’ at Easter has multiple explanations, a number of which are antisemitic, and some are apotropaic.
Easter Isn’t Pagan: 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 as either a goddess or holiday. 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). The German word for Easter is believed to be etymologically related to ‘east.’ Even Bede references the Paschal month when discussing the naming of Ostermonat. 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-date Christianity but are 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.
The Nazi Revival
Your ‘Ostara is Stolen!’ post is promoting Nazi misinformation.
In 1905, former monk Adolf Josef Lanz (aka Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels) founded the magazine ‘Ostara,’ which published antisemitic, racist, esoteric, & 'Aryanist' theories. Believed to have been read by Hitler, "Many of the ideas contained in ‘Ostara’ formed the basis of later Nazi ideology." “’Ostara, Newsletter of the Blonde & Masculists’ was a German nationalist magazine founded in 1905 by Lanz in Vienna, in which he published antisemitic & Völkisch theories. Lanz derived the name of the publication from the reconstructed Old High German goddess name “Ôstarâ.” Lanz claimed that the Ostrogoths & the nation of Austria [German: Österreich] were matronymically named after this goddess. In his study of Lanz, the Austrian psychologist Wilfried Daim states that "most likely this is even greater nonsense." Published within these horrific magazines was much of the same rhetoric we see today when talking about Ostara, but with more blatantly antisemitic, white supremacist overtones. Like many pagans & occultists, Lanz also believed that Ostara was the origin for Easter--not because of the renaming (which would come later), but because he believed that “Aryans” were the originators. In fact, he saw Ostara as a Patroness of the “Aryan race,” stating that, “Ostara is indeed the progenitor of the noble blond Aryan heroic race, vagina gentium!” To those who disagreed, Lanz said, “Some philosemitic Germanists have tried to deny the existence of the goddess Ostara. But we follow Bede & Jakob Grimm, who are closer to us in race.” 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.
Why is this lie so harmful? Who does it hurt to perpetuate this misinformation?
This lie upsets so many marginalized communities because you are erasing the real history to create a false victimhood. Rather than getting up in arms every year about this false history, focus on the genuine harm that has been caused to minority communities by the Christian Church through overt violence & other means. For example, 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 the actual history which is available at your fingertips. The history of Ostara being used to promote, enable, and disseminate white supremacy should be widely discussed. Instead, this history is lost in the mire of people insisting that the goddess, holiday, and/or pagans who celebrate are the ‘true victims’ of history. Misinformation that sounds cool or serves your rhetorical goals is still harmful. Full stop.
Citations Unlike many Ostara posts you see online, we have academic citations to back up our claims...
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 Modern Pagan Festivals: A Study in the Nature of Tradition; Ronald Hutton Source: Folklore, Vol. 119, No. 3 (December 2008), pp. 251-273 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40646468 Pagan Goddesses In The Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult of Matrons; Philip A Shaw https://www.patheos.com/blogs/aidankelly/2017/05/naming-ostara-litha-mabon/ https://sittingbetweentworivers.wordpress.com/2016/03/15/a-brief-history-of-ostara/#f11 https://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/2018/04/why-we-believe-in-untrue-things/ https://dbpedia.org/page/Ostara_(magazine) https://ia904701.us.archive.org/0/items/UnknownOstara152ndSeries/Ostara_01.pdf
https://www3.nd.edu/
~pantsakl/Archive/dateofeaster.pdf Bede’s a Reckoning on Time Jacob Grimm, Teutonic Mythology Wolzogen, Wegweiser zu deutschern Galubern, 16, 29. ISTOR, page 786: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43965085?seq=27 Pennant, Thomas (1810). Tours in Wales. Vol. 3. Wilkie and Robinson