She has her own festival on 21 March, the Spring Equinox, in which bouncing springy behavior is encouraged.

A Germanic goddess, Eostre was very popular with the Anglo-Saxon pagan brigade who worshiped her under the name — and kicked off the whole Easter business without a Jesus in sight. If you ever wondered what eggs and bunnies have to do with crucifixion and resurrection, the answer is: absolutely nothing.

Eostre’s sacred animal is a cute wittle wabbit — an obvious symbol of fertility — and the egg is her symbol of fertile purity. So Easter Egg hunts are actually packed with symbolic meanings of rebirth and renewal. And Elmer Fudd is obviously just a high priest of the Great Easter Bunny.

In case you think we’re being flippant, recent research suggests that Eostre herself may have been invented during a mischievous moment by the Venerable St. Bede. This well-known monk mentioned her in connection with the pagan festival Eosturmonath in a book written in 750 AD — but extensive research has failed to find a trace of her prior to that. Could he possibly have been fibbing?

Rabbits and hares are ubiquitous in mythology. Every culture seems to have a rabbit god — and they’re nearly always trickster spirits. This, we feel, explains a lot. We also have a terrific theory explaining why stage magicians love doing tricks with eggs and rabbits. Was Eostre pulled out of a hat?

Eostre Facts and Figures Name: Eostre

Pronunciation: Coming soon

Alternative names: Eastre, Ēostre, Ostara

Gender: Female

Type: Goddess

Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present

In charge of: Fertility

Area of expertise: Fertility

Good/Evil Rating: Unknown at present

Popularity index: 9338

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Link to this page HTML: To link to this page, just copy and paste the link below into your blog, web page or email. <a href="https://www.godchecker.com/germanic-mythology/EOSTRE/">EOSTRE - the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Fertility (Germanic mythology)</a> BBCODE: To link to this page in a forum post or comment box, just copy and paste the link code below: [url=https://www.godchecker.com/germanic-mythology/EOSTRE/]EOSTRE - the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Fertility (Germanic mythology)[/url]

Cite this article Here's the info you need to cite this page. Just copy the text in the box below. Saunders, Chas, and Peter J. Allen, eds. "EOSTRE (Germanic mythology)" Godchecker. Godchecker.com, May 25, 2019. Web. September 24, 2020.

Article last revised on May 25, 2019 by Rowan Allen.

Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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