The Origins of the Name "Easter".

Up front, before all is said, I value the most Holiest of Christian holidays, and believe in the Christian’s right to celebrate Easter. I honor their reasons for celebrating Easter. I’m a strong believer in tradition, as you may well know.

Now, I thought that I would give you some history on the origins of “Easter”. For millennia, before Christ was born, people celebrated the seasons, and followed the seasonal changes. The summer and winter solstice were celebrated, and also the fall and spring equinox were celebrated. The celebrations pre-date recorded history, so no one really knows how far back the seasons were honored as such.

The Catholic Church, joined the pagan and Christian holidays together, with the hopes of converting the pagan and non-believer into Christian. So, the pagans lost some of their most honored holidays to the Church, and the reason for the seasonal festival was muddied beyond recognition. I have even been told that as a non-believer, that I shouldn’t be celebrating Easter. With all due respect, it was our holiday before the “Newcomer Christians” showed up.

So, “Happy Eostre, or Eastre, if you prefer.

I copied the following from religioustolrance.org :

Origins of the name "Easter":
The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 AD.) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." 1 Her name was derived from the ancient word for spring: "eastre." Similar Goddesses were known by other names in ancient cultures around the Mediterranean, and were celebrated in the springtime. Some were:
Aphrodite from ancient Cyprus
Ashtoreth from ancient Israel
Astarté from ancient Greece
Demeter from Mycenae
Hathor from ancient Egypt
Ishtar from Assyria
Kali, from India
Ostara a Norse Goddess of fertility.
An alternative explanation has been suggested. The name given by the Frankish church to Jesus' resurrection festival included the Latin word "alba" which means "white." (This was a reference to the white robes that were worn during the festival.) "Alba" also has a second meaning: "sunrise." When the name of the festival was translated into German, the "sunrise" meaning was selected in error. This became "ostern" in German. Ostern has been proposed as the origin of the word "Easter". 2
There are two popular beliefs about the origin of the English word "Sunday."
It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun Goddess Sunna (a.k.a. Sunne, Frau Sonne). 5,6
It is derived from "Sol," the Roman God of the Sun." Their phrase "Dies Solis" means "day of the Sun." The Christian saint Jerome (d. 420) commented "If it is called the day of the sun by the pagans, we willingly accept this name, for on this day the Light of the world arose, on this day the Sun of Justice shone forth."

P.S. Bunny's don't lay eggs, but then, that's another story!

HAPPY EASTER!