Pagan Easter Goddess????????

From: bjm10_at_cornell.edu
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 1999 12:28:30 -0500 (EST)

PAGAN EASTER GODDESS??????? WHAT IS THIS TRIPE!?!?!?!?!?!?!? The ONLY verifiable mention of ANY "goddess" associated with Easter is a SPECULATION on the part of St. Bede the Venerable that the Saxon month of Eostre, for which the feast of Holy Pascha was renamed among those folk, may have been named for a "goddess" named "Eostre". HOWEVER, there has been NO OTHER EVIDENCE for the existence of ANY such "goddess". Indeed, it seems that the word "Eostre" may have actually been an alternate word for the season we now call "spring". Bede was indulging in fantasy philology.

Don't pull out the "Ishtar" nonsense on me, either. If "Easter" is named for "Ishtar", explain away the fact that Easter ONLY occurs in English and in areas missionized by English speakers. In EVERY territory between Mesopotamia and Britain, some variation of "Pascha" or "Pesach" is used. (The Irish "Caisc" is actually one such variant, due to the P->C shift in Insular Celtic tongues).

Eggs? Older than missionizing the Saxons. Rabbits? Likewise.
Pagan Spring festival? Dudes, there already was a DIFFERENT "spring festival" upon which Holy Pascha is based--it's called "Passover", and it's Jewish.

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