History
of Easter
by Julie Ann
The story of
"Easter" is really a very small part of a much
larger picture of the social history of our ancestors
for at least the last 5000 years and beyond, and should
therefore be studied within this context.
The
word "Oestre" and it's variations was the old
Teutonic word for dawn/sunrise. This word is one of the
roots of our word "east", and also the name
of the female hormone "oestrogen".
The
Teutonic peoples came from Jutland, a peninsular that
extends into both Denmark and West Germany. It is known
that some of them migrated further into Scandinavia, also
Hungary and Austria.
Oestre
became the personification of the rising sun. In that
capacity, a fertility goddess associated with Spring.
The
"bunny" the "egg" and Spring chicks:
The hare was a fertility symbol used by many peoples dating
back many thousands of years, as was the egg.
The
Spring festival celebrated by Teutonic peoples and dedicated
to the goddess Eastre, was also that of a lunar one. People
at this time used the moon cycle to measure time, the
first full moon after the Vernal Equinox was the start
of their new year. It was thought that if an image of
a hare could been seen on the disc of this full moon,
it was a good omen indicating a good harvest to come.
The
egg as a fertility symbol, was also important too, and
as people started to keep domestic fowl, such as chickens,
the observation of hen's eggs hatching bringing forth
yellow coloured chicks was interpreted into their celebrations
as the "sun" being re-born.
As
the festival and it's imagery was passed from one generation
to another, fanciful stories were woven around the original.
One of which is that the goddess Eastre/Ostara transformed
her pet bird into a hare, but the change was incomplete,
the hare still laid eggs. The story was further embellished,
by adding that these eggs were brightly coloured.
In
more recent times, the hare was replaced by it's cousin
the rabbit, probably because the rabbit became more prevalent
than the hare.
Hot
Cross buns: The two equinoxes were known as cross quarter
days, as Spring was the start of their new year, they
marked loaves with a cross (plus) sign to represent the
four seasons of the year that were about to new cycle
with their festivals. The Roman Church was unhappy about
this as it wanted absolute control over the subjects of
the "Holy Roman Empire". Instead it decided
to "Christianise" all the old festivals. Easter
became a celebration of the resurection of Jesus. People
didn't immediately take to this as they, associated the
festival with the feminine. In reaction to this,
they created "Lady Day" 25th March, as a day
to celebrate the anouncement by the angel Gabriel that
Mary was to bring forth a new mesiah. So that people had
"Mary" to replace "Oestre".
The
Roman Church was unable to obliterate the old customs
though, as even today, although many people think of these
festivals such as Easter and Christmas as being Christian,
all the symbolism associated with them predates Christianity by thousands of years!
The
Jewish festival of the Passover (Pesach) is thought to
have no connection with that of the Teautonic "Oestre".
The Passover, although observed at Spring, marks the escape
from Egypt of the enslaved Jews, led by Moses. Passover
begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan.
It is observed for 8 days starting at sundown.
source:
Julie Ann more info at: http://www.wiccaweb.org.uk/eastre.html
