Freethought & Rationalism Archive

spin · 09-29-2004, 06:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magdlyn

Thanks, spin. What about the Ostara goddess? Or Oestra, related to the word for egg (os, estrus), not "east?" Eos does not sound like Easter, missing the T you mention. Or are east and easter related to both dawn and egg, as symbols of new life?

I don't know anything about Wicca for whom Ostara is important, but I would think it is another form of Easter, Eastre, Eostra, etc.

I found this on a Wiccan site:

Easter gets its name from the Teutonic goddess of spring and the dawn, whose name is spelled Oestre or Eastre (the origin of the word "east" comes from various Germanic, Austro-Hungarian words for dawn that share the root for the word "aurora" which means " to shine"). Modern pagans have generally accepted the spelling "Ostara" which honors this goddess as our word for the Vernal Equinox. The 1974 edition of Webster's New World Dictionary defines Easter thus: "orig., name of pagan vernal festival almost coincident in date with paschal festival of the church; Eastre, dawn goddess; 1. An annual Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, held on the first Sunday after the date of the first full moon that occurs on or after March 21." The Vernal Equinox usually falls somewhere between March 19th and 22nd (note that the dictionary only mentions March 21st, as opposed to the date of the actual Equinox), and depending upon when the first full moon on or after the Equinox occurs, Easter falls sometime between late-March and mid-April. here

Other such sites seem to concur.

spin

Mosor · 09-29-2004, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMez

Russian for Easter is Pasxha, now I know why. Thanks Magdlyn!

Also,

Dutch= Pasen
French= Pâques
Italian= pasqua
Spanish= pascua

Latin = Pascha

Most countries seem to use the Latin/Greek/Hebrew derivation for easter. Only countries directly influenced by the German peoples seem to use a derivation from the word Eostre.

rick_write_taiwan · 10-01-2004, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougP

A searched for threads about this but couldnt find quite was I was looking for. Anyway, I am looking for historical events that show links between Christianity and paganism. If possible, to be more specific, Im looking not for information such as "Eostre/Easter Connection" but historical evidence that the holiday(or other holidays/traditions/biblical things) were purposely based on pagan beliefs. Ive been researching this and any help would be great,thanks.

Well, there's an interesting source but I don't know whether it's worthy of any credence whatsoever.

Author:Fideler.
Title: Jesus Christ Sun of God.

I don't see how he expects anyone to believe his claims, but he connects Jesus to Apollo and Hermes.

It could be sheer nonsense. I'm really not qualified to judge without a lot more info.

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