Thank you for this. As a witch, I have can appreciate that which is symbolically true. As Starhawk once said, "We belong to the oldest tradition there is, the tradition of making stuff up." But as a scholar—and an unreformed pedant—it irritates me when myth is presented as fact.
Perhaps the simplest way for neo pagans to celebrate seasonal festivals, is to ponder what is occurring in nature and somehow attune with that energy. Associating festivals with named gods and goddesses has always felt awkward for me, your podcast eloquantly explains why! Thank you.
A nicely argued piece, thank you. Quite a few holdouts insist that place name evidence such as Austerfield near Doncaster (notable as the probable site of a major church synod in 702 or 703 convened by King Aldfrith of Northumbria) and Good Easter and High Easter in Essex all point to places where pre-Christian festivals might have been held for the mythical eponymous fertility goddess but a quick check in the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names suggests that these names are derived from eowestre, the Old English word for a sheepfold with the modern English word “ewe” as its root.
Interesting too that only modern English and German have eostre derived words for Easter whereas European languages derived from Old Frankish (Dutch, Flemish, Frisian and Afrikaans) and from Old Norse (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic) all have Easter names derived via Latin paschalis from the Aramaic word for the Passover.
I think you might be being a bit tough on poor old Jacob Grimm. Apart from being a nationalistic spinner of fairy stories, he is also regarded as a polymath, being the academic founder of comparative philology in German and he was also influential in the development of the history of law.
Anyway enough of this frivolity. I’m off to eat my own weight in chocolate eggs.
Another sure-footed and forensic exploration of history. Florence doesn't stop with the Google search result but digs deep into the records, tracking story roots down to the source. A perfect antidote to the superficial 3-minute culture of TikTok.
As Florence says, "Only through carefully surveying the evidence can we do true justice to the lost cultural practices of the past".
Love this post and totally agree. It’s interesting that this notion has taken hold and is now an accepted ‘fact’ by so many, now ending up as cute little infographics on Instagram and TikTok about Eostre!
I love the idea of creating our own spring celebrations in the modern day, but am glad to see someone else talking about this as it’s important not to spread misinformation. I made a video on YouTube about Ostara recently and mentioned this very thing as I hadn’t seen many others mention it (I also just relish any opportunity to talk about Bede!)
Be mindful of your pronunciation. “Paschal” is pronounced as /paskəl/, not /paʃəl/ as you have it. There is a clear distinction between German ”-sch-” (/ʃ/) and Latin-derived “-sch-” (/sχ/) (probably ultimately from Greek).
Interesting. I have heard both 'pask(ə)l' and 'pæʃ(ə)l' and use them interchangeably. The OED has them both as accepted pronunciations, but the latter as a US-specific pronunciation!
Thank you for this. I think that one of the reasons that some pagans are so adamant about claiming historical connections that don't exist is because of an unconscious bias that something needs to be old / tied to antiquity for it to be valid.
There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that there *might* have been a springtime deity worshiped in pre-Christian Europe and that she has been re-imagined through modern folklorists. But then you run into the Ship of Theseus paradox on a theological and metaphysical level.
Out of curiosity did you find any evidence as to why Easter is called Easter (if we believe it to be a Christian festival)? Or what motivation does Bede have to invent this name? I'm indifferent either way to be honest, but I recently did some research and wrote something myself about pagan festivals and goddesses in this time of the year: https://medium.com/@thorntonandy/%C4%93ostre-939d8bc15772
The English word "East" derives from a root meaning "dawn" and the month that Easter occurs in was known as Eosturmonath to the Anglo-Saxons. Eosturmonath appears to have been seen as a time when crops "dawned" and its name was presumably transferred to the Christian festival because of the month it occurs in.
Concerning the etymology of the word Easter, this is accurate: (Simeks Germanic Mythology Lexicon). Its from Bede who calculated in great detail the days Easter falls on. From German mythology there is nothing besides the claim by Grimm, which is just an exaggeration and embellishing of Bede. Other germanic deities are documented, but about Oestre theres nothing. Its unclear how Bede would be savvy to germanic pagan religion. Grimm was interested in forging a German national identity at the time, which the French and English had, but in comparison, Germany was really a bunch of separate principalities with a language in common (kind of). Grimm also distorted medieval law in German language like Sachsenspiegel into something emerging from oral traditions of germanic tribes, the Ding assemblies, of which there is no written evidence. In reality, medieval German language law is based on Roman law, but this wasn’t helpful to the nationalist project of the 19th century. Grimm just made stuff up and changed the fairy tales to make them more marketable after the 1st edition.
Urban myth?! I’ve got my mind set on something of a send up of other supposed go-tos in the folklore cannon - setting myself via a nice little invitation to ‘rewrite Anglo-Saxon history’. Some coincidences are a little too cozy!
Thank you for this. As a witch, I have can appreciate that which is symbolically true. As Starhawk once said, "We belong to the oldest tradition there is, the tradition of making stuff up." But as a scholar—and an unreformed pedant—it irritates me when myth is presented as fact.
Perhaps the simplest way for neo pagans to celebrate seasonal festivals, is to ponder what is occurring in nature and somehow attune with that energy. Associating festivals with named gods and goddesses has always felt awkward for me, your podcast eloquantly explains why! Thank you.
A nicely argued piece, thank you. Quite a few holdouts insist that place name evidence such as Austerfield near Doncaster (notable as the probable site of a major church synod in 702 or 703 convened by King Aldfrith of Northumbria) and Good Easter and High Easter in Essex all point to places where pre-Christian festivals might have been held for the mythical eponymous fertility goddess but a quick check in the Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names suggests that these names are derived from eowestre, the Old English word for a sheepfold with the modern English word “ewe” as its root.
Interesting too that only modern English and German have eostre derived words for Easter whereas European languages derived from Old Frankish (Dutch, Flemish, Frisian and Afrikaans) and from Old Norse (Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic) all have Easter names derived via Latin paschalis from the Aramaic word for the Passover.
I think you might be being a bit tough on poor old Jacob Grimm. Apart from being a nationalistic spinner of fairy stories, he is also regarded as a polymath, being the academic founder of comparative philology in German and he was also influential in the development of the history of law.
Anyway enough of this frivolity. I’m off to eat my own weight in chocolate eggs.
Another sure-footed and forensic exploration of history. Florence doesn't stop with the Google search result but digs deep into the records, tracking story roots down to the source. A perfect antidote to the superficial 3-minute culture of TikTok.
As Florence says, "Only through carefully surveying the evidence can we do true justice to the lost cultural practices of the past".
Love this post and totally agree. It’s interesting that this notion has taken hold and is now an accepted ‘fact’ by so many, now ending up as cute little infographics on Instagram and TikTok about Eostre!
I love the idea of creating our own spring celebrations in the modern day, but am glad to see someone else talking about this as it’s important not to spread misinformation. I made a video on YouTube about Ostara recently and mentioned this very thing as I hadn’t seen many others mention it (I also just relish any opportunity to talk about Bede!)
Thanks Florence, I enjoyed this. Fascinating to see the layers of several centuries of retrofitting of histories and traditions so skilfully unpicked.
Be mindful of your pronunciation. “Paschal” is pronounced as /paskəl/, not /paʃəl/ as you have it. There is a clear distinction between German ”-sch-” (/ʃ/) and Latin-derived “-sch-” (/sχ/) (probably ultimately from Greek).
Interesting. I have heard both 'pask(ə)l' and 'pæʃ(ə)l' and use them interchangeably. The OED has them both as accepted pronunciations, but the latter as a US-specific pronunciation!
Wow, this is fascinating! I’m impressed by how clearly and gracefully you untangled these (pseudo)historical knots.
Thank you for this. I think that one of the reasons that some pagans are so adamant about claiming historical connections that don't exist is because of an unconscious bias that something needs to be old / tied to antiquity for it to be valid.
There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that there *might* have been a springtime deity worshiped in pre-Christian Europe and that she has been re-imagined through modern folklorists. But then you run into the Ship of Theseus paradox on a theological and metaphysical level.
Out of curiosity did you find any evidence as to why Easter is called Easter (if we believe it to be a Christian festival)? Or what motivation does Bede have to invent this name? I'm indifferent either way to be honest, but I recently did some research and wrote something myself about pagan festivals and goddesses in this time of the year: https://medium.com/@thorntonandy/%C4%93ostre-939d8bc15772
The English word "East" derives from a root meaning "dawn" and the month that Easter occurs in was known as Eosturmonath to the Anglo-Saxons. Eosturmonath appears to have been seen as a time when crops "dawned" and its name was presumably transferred to the Christian festival because of the month it occurs in.
Similar motivations as now - publishing is an industry.
Unfortunately that still doesn't explain why Easter is called Easter. Pre- or post-Christianisation.
Sorry that was a bit of a tangent. I’ve been mid house move. Should try to find out! It’s the etymology you’re interested in right?!
I knew it was the Romantics! Even when it was the Old English I knew it was the Romantics.
Concerning the etymology of the word Easter, this is accurate: (Simeks Germanic Mythology Lexicon). Its from Bede who calculated in great detail the days Easter falls on. From German mythology there is nothing besides the claim by Grimm, which is just an exaggeration and embellishing of Bede. Other germanic deities are documented, but about Oestre theres nothing. Its unclear how Bede would be savvy to germanic pagan religion. Grimm was interested in forging a German national identity at the time, which the French and English had, but in comparison, Germany was really a bunch of separate principalities with a language in common (kind of). Grimm also distorted medieval law in German language like Sachsenspiegel into something emerging from oral traditions of germanic tribes, the Ding assemblies, of which there is no written evidence. In reality, medieval German language law is based on Roman law, but this wasn’t helpful to the nationalist project of the 19th century. Grimm just made stuff up and changed the fairy tales to make them more marketable after the 1st edition.
Thank you so much. As an historian (and a pagan), it comes as a relief to me to read your work.
Urban myth?! I’ve got my mind set on something of a send up of other supposed go-tos in the folklore cannon - setting myself via a nice little invitation to ‘rewrite Anglo-Saxon history’. Some coincidences are a little too cozy!
Complete fabrication probably!
https://open.substack.com/pub/gregorypettys/p/he-is-risen?r=f1gey&utm_medium=ios