Holly B’s question is particularly interesting because recent years have seen a backlash against these stories, and modern authors seem eager to claim they are very recent indeed. As a holiday, Easter predates Christianity and was originally the name for the spring Equinox. This suggestion was made by a Scottish minister named Alexander Hislop in an 1853 anti-Catholic tract called The Two Babylons. She is also associated with rabbits and hares. Stéphanie, I have in the meantime found several stories that pheasants and partridges sometimes acually choose a hares form to lay their eggs in. In 1990, she incorporated the article’s content in Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions: Reviving Victorian Family Celebrations of Comfort & Joy. Kristin Chenowethâs Easter may seem to be all about fluffy bunny rabbits and pretty dresses and flowers everywhere, but underneath it all is the ancient Germanic goddess Ostara â and she is a lot spikier than youâd think. Ostara. Ready to start the year by getting your finances under control? Even if *Ostara was a goddess worshiped in Germany, and even if she was descended from a goddess *Hâewsá¹s worshiped by proto-Indo-Europeans, she would not be related to Ishtar or Inanna, whose names are not Indo-European. âReligions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves youâeven, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, ⦠Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. Wednesday makes a point of referring to her as Ostara during his visit, and she re-embraces her role as Ostara of the Dawn when she rebels against the New Gods and takes away the Spring. On the eve of war, Mr. Wednesday must recruit one more Old God: Ostara, ne Easter, Goddess of the Dawn, but winning her over will require making a good impression, and that is where Mr. Nancy comes in. Drama 2017. Thenceforward the hare, the emblem of fertility, was known as the friend and messenger of the spring goddess; and in memory of her former existence as a bird, the hare once a year, at Easter, lays the gaily colored eggs that are the symbol of the awakening of earth and the renewal of life. This is the mythological explanation of the connection of Easter eggs and bunnies, but there are many other stories telling why the sportive hare is responsible for the bright-hued eggs at this spring festival. This curious idea is thus explained: The hare was originally a bird, and was changed into a quadruped by the goddess Ostara; in gratitude to Ostara or Eastre, the hare exercises its original bird function to lay eggs for the goddess on her festal day. However, some have speculated that he was making this up (or at least embellishing the truth). Artistic depictions of Ostara show her as a woman of childbearing age, wreathed in flowers and greenery or carrying blossoms. This version of the goddess appeared in Vermont’s Windham County Reformer, April 8, 1887. As in English, the German sentence CAN mean that an individual hare used to be an individual bird—or in other words that a bird was transformed into a hare. Thanks for your comments, Stéphanie. It’s interesting to note the clear debt that many of the more popular stories owe to the versions first published in academic books and journals. The Horned God, sometimes envisioned as the god Pan, symbolizes the festive enjoyment of nature through hunting and dancing. In other words, there is no confirmed existence for the goddess name “Ostara” in any language. Pretty Legend Which Connects the Hare With the Symbol of the Awakening of Life. However, there is no evidence of any connection between her and Easter. According to Teutonic Tradition Bunny Was Once a Bird. Please read our Depending on how we define the New Age movement, it may itself not be that new. Thank you so much for researching this so thoroughly. It’s hard to recommend books because as far as I know few reputable books have taken the claim seriously enough to argue against it. I love the story of Easter and Her bunny and was dismayed when I came across articles proclaiming it as a hoax. Spoilers ahead for American Gods. Jacob Grimm, the brilliant linguist and folklorist, is one of many scholars who took Bede at his word, and in his 1835 book Deutsche Mythologie, he proposed that Eostre must have been a local version of a more widespread Germanic goddess, whom he named Ostara. As Wikipedia notes: “Because Hislop’s claims have no linguistics foundation, his claims were rejected, but the Two Babylons would go on to have some influence in popular culture. In the book she tells Mr Wednesday: âIâm doing fine. First thing that popped in my mind is the Chinese zodiac which you will notice the rooster/bird with eggs is opposite the hare. For this reason the hare in grateful recognition of its former quality as a bird and swift messenger of the Spring Goddess is able to lay eggs on her festival at Easter time. Bede may have been right that there was such a goddess, or he may have been spreading the received wisdom of his era, and scholars have debated this point for years. For example, Michigan’s Crawford Avalanche of April 12, 1900, tells us that the story is “one of the oldest in mythology,” despite the fact that it was then less than twenty years old: ORIGIN OF EASTER RABBITS In the finale of American Godsâ first season, Mr. Wednesday finally let the new gods of globalization, ... Ostara has enough strength to ⦠On my festival days they still feast on eggs and rabbits, on candy and on flesh, to represent rebirth and copulation. the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to First, a very similar report to the one in American Notes and Queries appeared as a note by H. Krebs in the first volume of the English journal Folk-Lore in 1883, but this time with a citation: Easter-Eggs and the Hare .âSome time ago the question was raised how it came that, according to South German still prevailing folk-lore, the ⦠Wackernagel, by 1882, already had a specific story in which Ostara “rode over the fields in the spring in a wagon drawn by hares.” So it’s not too surprising that, seven years later, someone would have come up with a more developed narrative. For this reason the Hare, in grateful recollection of its former quality as bird and swift messenger of the Spring-Goddess, is able to lay eggs on her festival at Easter-time (r. Oberle’s Ueberreste germanischen Heidentums im Christentum, 8vo, Baden-Baden, 1883, p. Get your gears turning with hundreds of puzzles, with new ones added each week - and enjoy a seven day free trial! Originally, it appears, the rabbit was a bird, which the ancient Teutonic goddess Ostara–goddess of the east or of spring–transformed into a quadruped. The search for several lost souls â dead or otherwise â is on in American Gods season 3, episode 3, âAshes and Demons.â. American Gods - Season 1×08, I dedicate these deaths to Ostara So whom should you believe? Hares are nocturnal animals, but will appear in the day in Spring to mate. She awakens the sun in the morning, just as she awakens the spring from the dead Winter. The 1896 article in Popular Science Monthly, and the newspaper account from 1922, both use the word “quadruped,” first used in the very first English-language version from Folk-Lore in 1883, itself a translation of the German “vierfüssiges Tier” from Oberle’s account. Comment and Posting Policy. Oberle used the word “Ãberreste,” “remains,” but he meant much the same thing as we call (or used to call) “survivals” in English folkloristics. The caption on this illustration from the April 3, 1898 Richmond Dispatch says: “The 1898 Goddess of Easter Quite Eclipses Conventional Ostara.”. One popular story you might have seen recently involves the origin of the Easter Bunny. American Gods. I also enjoyed the comments from everyone. Whether Ostara was worshipped as a goddess or not, by the 19th century she had become part of German mythology. As we have seen, Holtzmann’s speculation seems to be the first direct connection between hares and Ostara, so the story, in a form that includes Ostara, cannot predate Holtzmann (1874). She was described in literature and added in to paintings, which is all it takes for a god to exist in Neil Gaimanâs fantasy world where belief alone can solidify a god into flesh and blood. Thank you in advance! It just so happens to be Easter weekend when Mr Wednesday and Shadow arrive, and this old goddess is in her element, hosting a lavish party with a bunch of Jesuses (Mexican Jesus, white Jesus, Asian Jesusâ¦) as her guests of honour. But in any case the tradition turns up in Europe first in Germany, and in America among German Americans, so it seems to be an indigenous German tradition, not an English one. In former days, when the dawn of civilization was just beginning to break, that time of the year when winter was passing away and summer approaching, was made a period of festivity. ... American Gods is available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, with new episodes added every week. They also nest on the surface, which might contribute to the depiction of a bird-like nest. On the eve of war, Mr. Wednesday must recruit one more Old God: Ostara, né Easter, Goddess of the Dawn But winning her over will require making a good impression, and that is where Mr. Nancy comes in. Your article was by far the most thorough expose on the topic. If you’re curious about modern holiday beliefs and calendar customs, you might be reading or doing research about them online. Every year however, at the coming of spring the hare remembers, and in commemoration of its original bird nature lays eggs as an offering to Spring and Youth it symbolizes. Quite early, the story began to be prefaced by statements about how very ancient it was. They do it in my name.â, But as the episode reveals, the idea of letting Jesus take over her festival rankles more than she is willing to admitâ¦. While it does say that historical linguists trace the name from proto-Indo-European, it also notes, “In his 1835 Deutsche Mythologie, Jacob Grimm cites comparative evidence to reconstruct a potential continental Germanic goddess whose name would have been preserved in the Old High German name of Easter, *Ostara. Of course, now the holiday focuses on Jesusâ resurrection story â but many Germanic Easter customs survive. Inspector General | Legal | Accessibility | External Link Disclaimer | USA.gov, The resulting story can be viewed at this link, a note by H. Krebs in the first volume of the English journal, in the comments to this previous blog post, Voices of Civil Rights Project collection. The goddess finding her winged messenger was not fitted to endure all toils and climates, transformed her into a brisk, quick-footed little quadruped with long ears, a warm furry coat, and no tail to speak of, ready and able to summon belated spring from wherever she might be lingering, and to guide her safely, even among the icebergs of the frozen north. Now I’m able to report some more definitive sources. I have a conjecture of my own to make: That the changing of the easter hare into a rabbit happened around the time of industrialisation, when masses of people hardly ever left the cities and many probably couldnt tell the difference between a hare and a rabbit (which is sadly still true in many cases). I would love to hear your opinion, and I hope I may refer my own students in Wicca and paganism to your articles by placing a link on my own blog (which is in Dutch as I live in the Netherlands) Whether the Easter bunny is male or female is an interesting question. More purchase options. Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk. In fact, given its origin in 1883, and the fact that it was recounted in Popular Science Monthly (a Victorian magazine, albeit an American one with academic leanings), her story seems quite plausible. They wear flowers in their bonnets and they give each other flowers. Season 3. Watch with Prime. Her story begins with Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess who is not documented from pagan sources at all, and turns up in only one early Christian source, the writings of the English churchman Bede. As for Eostre, there’s no evidence of her worship except in Bede’s book, and possibly in place names (which could, however, just mean “east”). So it may not be ancient, but it’s not that new either. The children are told that this Osh’ter Has laid the Easter eggs. It could even be possible that a hare might chase a bird out of its form that had just laid an egg there, thus creating a situation where one might find a hare “sitting” on an egg…. Let me back up a moment to set the scene. You're now subscribed to our newsletter. When I was in India and as I researched Hindu myths for my book on stories from different religions, I was struck by the many versions of every myth. In response to Holly B, and contrary to Family Christmas Online, a few weeks ago I traced versions of the story back to the June 8, 1889 issue of the journal American Notes and Queries, page 64: The Hare and Easter –Whence comes the legend of the Hare in connection with Easter? By entering your details, you are agreeing to Radio Times privacy policy. To conclude because of the association that she must have been a fertility goddess would be purely circular reasoning. On American Gods, Chenowethâs Easter (née Ostara) is the pagan goddess of spring and fertility, one of the old gods who came to America from the Old World and . You write, “He likely did this because his book was specifically intended to argue for survivals of paganism in Christian Germany…” Should that be “… for the survival of …”? Season 1. Bilquis played the game, as did St. Nick, mentioned in the episode, and Ostara cut a deal to stay alive. The Ostara story is mostly popular in Neopagan communities, which usually hold themselves distinct from New Age thought. Nick Romano recaps the American Gods Season 1 finale "Come to Jesus," where Mr. Wednesday reveals his identity, ⦠unless clearly stated otherwise. Bundle up, folks. Directed by Floria Sigismondi. The comments are thoughtful. There seem to be two versions of the story of Eostre and the hare: that she found a bird with frozen wings and saved it by transforming it into a rabbit, which retained the ability to lay eggs; and that a bird who laid beautiful eggs was so proud that Eostre was irked and turned it into a rabbit, but she was so moved by the rabbit’s despair that she allowed it to lay beautiful eggs once a year. American Gods is a TV series based on a novel by Neil Gaiman.It was developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for Starz, and premiered on April 30, 2017.The first season adapts the first third of the book, following Shadow Moon (portrayed by Ricky Whittle) and Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane) on their journey across America.The ⦠Myths are not hoaxes, they’re a rich hodge-podge of what people are taught and need to believe. Read our Those are intriguing connections between hares and eggs that might well account for some aspects of the “Easter hare” story! “As the Germanic languages descend from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), historical linguists have traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *Hâewsá¹s (â *Ausá¹s), from which descends the Common Germanic divinity from whom Äostre and Ostara are held to descend.” -Wikipedia, Although you’ve quoted Wikipedia at the end of your comment, Wikipedia does not agree with most of the assertions you have made. This is a purely linguistic exercise, and only shows that the name Grimm proposed was historically plausible–that is, if the Germans worshiped such a goddess it is likely she was called by a name similar to *Ostara. Others, such as Family Christmas Online, say it was invented in the 1980s. But the overly empathetic Son of God would be crushed to know that Ostara harbors some deeply buried resentment over the issue. American Gods mythology guide | Who is Bilquis, Queen of Sheba and goddess of love? This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. This has to do with a shift either in seasons or night to day would be my guess? Ostara is portrayed by Kristin Chenoweth in the TV series American Gods based on the novel of the same name. Ostara, otherwise known as Äostre, is the Germanic goddess of spring and dawn. The evidence does support an association between hares and eggs (without Ostara) going back to the seventeenth century at least. Left adrift by the recent death of his wife, Shadow is hired as Mr. Wednesdayâs bodyguard. I think it’s really all because eggs and bunnies are fertility symbols also typical of fairly early spring, and I suggest that Ostara is a fertility goddess. I learned alot that I can pass on to my students. Shadow's attempt to break away from Mr. Wednesday and the brewing war is thwarted by the secrets of the Gods â both Old and New. 104.). I’ve traced the story back to the late 19th century. On the eve of war, Mr. Wednesday attempts to recruit the Old God Ostara, but needs Mr. Nancy's help in making a good impression and winning her over. The above was a just a brief rundown of early versions I turned up in books, magazines, and especially newspapers. Are you aware of how the rabit has been associated with virgin Mary since the 1500’s? There is no shred of evidence for an English tradition of a hare or rabbit associated with Easter until relatively modern times. This blog does not represent official Library of Congress communications. Appreciate someone who tries to get at the truth. [3] Whether the story can be considered “New Age,” as Family Christmas Online suggests, is another question. This very bipartisan illustration of the goddess with her hare appeared in both the Ohio Democrat and the Republican News Item (Laporte, Pennsylvania), in 1898. remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Although many define New Age proper as having begun in the 1970s, it clearly has roots in the blend of Western esotericism and Eastern religion that emerged in the nineteenth century. The Warren, Minnesota, Sheaf of April 13, 1911 ran the following version with a new detail about Ostara’s chariot, drawn from the already growing (and already fanciful) literature about the goddess: The Easter bunny is said to have been the bird which at one time drew the chariot of the Goddess of Spring and was turned into a hare. With Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley. Fertility and the Spring season are certainly parts of that association, but other comments here have pointed out other interesting connections, too! [2] He likely did this because his book was specifically intended to argue for survivals of paganism in Christian Germany, and giving the Easter Hare a definitively pagan origin served this scholarly agenda. Season 1. But itâs a hard sell: unlike many of the other gods, Easter is getting along okay in America because of the arrival of Christianity. In the comments section of the first of these posts, reader Holly B. asked about the story of Ostara and the hare. Chances are, you come across some stories that the presenters claim are ancient, and reach into the pre-Christian past. To understand this one has to have a holistic perspective, one has to read alot of different myths and see how they intertwine. Thanks again: I will look for that thread on alt.gothic! For example in the painting “Madonna of the Rabbit” by Titian. American Gods. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and Shortly after these stories began to appear in academic venues, they were imported into popular books, newspapers, and magazines. As you will see from reading this post and the previous ones on Easter, the “Easter bunny” is first recorded as a hare, not a rabbit, so that would not be a bar to an English origin. I do have one question for Stéphanie Sheen; you mentioned a noted change in a hares behavior moving into Spring. American Gods' first season ended on June 18, 2017. I haven’t come across a version in which the bird was transformed as a punishment for pride, which is one of the stories recounted by Holly B., That may indeed have a more recent origin. You can unsubscribe at any time. In England the festival became known as “Easter” from the goddess Eostre, and in the eggs so widely looked upon as typical of Easter is a mark of the old legend of a bird that was changed into a hare in the spring. One thing is clear, however: while the story of Ostara turning a bird into a hare is not ancient, it’s also not new. Series Info American Gods. The Easternstar/morningstar can also bee seen as Aphrodite, Lucifer, Lucia, Prometheus and ishtar. Originally the hare seems to have been a bird which the ancient Teutonic goddess Ostara (the Anglo-Saxon Eàstre or Eostre, as Bede calls her) transformed into a quadruped. Episodes air on US channel Starz on Sunday nights, This article was originally published in June 2017, Get a dinner set, plus wine glasses, for just £65.58, Upgrade your at-home dining experience with this exclusive deal. Grimm also wrote that the white maiden of Osterrode was said to appear with a bunch of keys on Easter morning, when she would stride to the brook to collect water â because water drawn on Easter morning is holy and healing. Probably the association is to fertility, with no actual sorry ever told of any such transformation. Sign up to the Radio Times Energy Club by 16 February to take advantage of a cheap exclusive energy deal. Ishtar was worshiped by speakers of Akkadian, a Semitic (Afro-Asiatic) language, and Ostara, if her cult existed at all, was worshiped by speakers of Germanic (Indo-European) languages. He finds himself in a hidden world where magic is real, where the Old Gods fear irrelevance and the growing power of the New Gods. I miss two things however; The resemblance between the names is a coincidence. 1. [1] As a reader of the previous posts pointed out, local shrines in Germany have turned up with the somewhat similar name “Matronae Austriahenae,” but again since both “Eostre” and “Austriahenae” are etymologically related to “east,” it’s impossible to tell if there’s any relationship or if we have several goddesses understood as in some sense eastern. As a spring goddess she oversees the budding plants and burgeoning fertility of the earth. This simple statement seems to be Oberle’s source for the idea that the goddess Ostara changed a bird into a hare. 2: that the hare undergoes a striking change of behaviour during march making it a much more obvious candidate for being a mascott to spring festivities than any other mammal. The interview gave me an incentive to organize my thoughts on the matter and publish two blog posts, which you can view here and here. Some online sources, such as Goddess Gift, claim this story is very old indeed. Piecing together the legends and stories of the emerging German nation, Jacob Grimm wrote in his 1835 Teutonic Mythology: âOstara, Eástre seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily adapted by the resurrection-day of the Christianâs God.â, He dismissed the idea that Bede could have invented Ostara, writing of these ancient Teutonic goddesses: âthere is nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them is justified by clear traces in the vocabularies of Germanic tribes.â. $12.99 Buy full season HD. The content of all comments is released into the public domain The November 1896 issue of Popular Science Monthly carried an article by Walter James Hoffman called “Popular Superstitions,” which stated: The association of the hare with eggs is curious and the explanation is found in the belief that originally the hare seems to have been a bird which the ancient Teutonic goddess Ostara turned into a quadruped. Stories about the goddess Ostara were popular in newspapers at the turn of the twentieth century. A story in the Richmond (Virginia) Times from March 30, 1902, claims the story reflects the blind and barbarous nature of the heathen Saxons: Strange as it may seem, Eastertide, like Christmas, is a relic of pagan days. On the old Germanic calendar, the equivalent month to April was called âÅstarmÄnodâ â or Easter-month. I truly appreciate all the effort that went into this article. Ostara, otherwise known as Äostre, is the Germanic goddess of spring and dawn. [International Release] When Shadow Moon is released from prison, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and a storm begins to brew. Ostara, or Eostra, is an Anglo-Saxon goddess who represents dawn. Created by Bryan Fuller, Michael Green. They tell whichever version they prefer and nobody complains that it isn’t accurate, because it all amounts to the same thing: life is a mystery, let’s explain it with stories! As we can see, Krebs was reporting a new explanation citing a German book by K. A. Oberle, which was at the time brand new. The burden of proof rests with the person making the claim, not the person who disbelieves it. Nevertheless, Already have an account with us? It doesn’t prove whether they did in fact worship any such goddess. American Gods is an American fantasy drama television series based on Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel of the same name and developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green for the premium cable network Starz.Produced by Fremantle USA and distributed by Lionsgate Television, the first season premiered on April 30, 2017. ⦠Buy HD £2.49. The resulting story can be viewed at this link. Good articlde, thank you. Unfortunately, this reference was given as an answer to someone’s question, with no source cited. Is there truth in that? Maybe even eclipses? Searching the Library’s Chronicling America collection for more versions of the story might fill in even more details. (Emphasis mine.)”. Looking back at Holtzmann, I found the following sentence: Uebrigens ist doch der Hase ein Vogel gewesen, da er Eier legt…. She is the goddess of spring, of Life, light and love. But there is overlap among all these ideas. The claim is another product of 19th-century speculative scholars which has not stood the test of time. In the season one finale of American Gods, Mr Wednesday and Shadow get suited up and smartened up by Mr Nancy before they (spoiler alert) head over to Easterâs mansion.
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