Here in the UK, you wouldn’t think that Spring is just round the corner as we’ve recently had snow and hail in different parts of the country, as well as what has been described as the coldest night of the year. But indeed, Spring is just around the corner, with the Equinox coming up in just a few weeks. As the Equinox approaches, I found myself recently down a rabbit hole once more, researching the Saxon goddess Eostre. The reason being is that around the Equinox and around Easter, there is a lot of misinformation posted about the goddess and the holiday, which is what I’ll be discussing today.
Who is Eostre?
Eostre is a Saxon goddess who we know of through the writings of Bede. He doesn’t mention much about her beyond saying that April is named for her (North, 2017; Shaw, 2011; Orchard, 1997; Simek, 2007; Wallis, 1999) although it has been proposed that Bede might backformed this month name in order to replicate how the Romans named some of their months (North, 2017). Bede is our only primary source on Eostre, but he offers very little about her, beyond that April is her month and when she was honoured:
The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; March Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath
Reckoning of Time, Bede (Wallis translation, 1999)
Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month. Now they designate that Paschal season by her name, calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honoured name of the old observance.
Reckoning of Time, Bede (Wallis translation, 1999)
Beyond this, we know little of Eostre, and have no mythology or other texts to turn to in order to get an understanding of her or her nature. There are modern myths of Eostre, such as this one written by Sigrún, but to try find more information about Eostre, the etymology of her name might bear more fruit.
Eostre’s Etymology
Ingwine goes into much better detail regarding this in his Eostre article. Eostre is etymologically linked to the word East (Shaw, 2011), which has cognate in most, if not all, of the Germanic languages. Eostre’s name also links to that of the Matrones Austriahenae (North, 2017; Shaw, 2011), as well as the Latin Aurora (Simek, 2007), and the Old High German Ōstrūn (North, 2017). Ultimately, Eostre’s name derives from Austrǭ, which itself comes from the PIE root of h₂ews-meaning “dawn” or “east” (Kroonen, 2013).
Eostre’s Festivals and Traditions
Now, as seen above, Bede made mention of feasts being held in honour of Eostre throughout April. Much like the goddess herself, we have no information about the feasts that are claimed to have been held in her honour. There is a consensus in modern Heathenry and paganism that Ostara, named for the alleged continental form of Eostre, is the festival of Eostre, typically falling on the Spring Equinox (which here in the northern hemisphere falls in March as opposed to April), but the Ostara festival itself is a modern creation.
There have also been attempts to claim various Easter customs and traditions as being pagan survivals of celebrations of Eostre, from the traditional Easter Egg Hunts (which more likely originated in the 16th century) to the baking of the hot cross buns, though these either originated with the Greeks in the 6th century or in England as early as the 12th century.
Theonyms?
There are a sparse number of locations that might be named for Eostre, but they’re still worth noting. These are Eastrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, Eastrea in Cambridgeshire, and Eastry in Kent.
Whilst it is possible these may be named for Eostre, it is more likely that these towns are named for their geographical locations. All three of these towns exist in the Eastern sections of England, or at least in an Eastern direction. Eastry in Kent, being the most Eastern of the three.
Pascha or Easter?
Pascha is the earliest name for Easter, coming from the transliteration of the Aramaic word for Passover. This ties into the Resurrection as it is believed Passover is when Jesus was crucified. Latin adopted Pascha as the name, and it spread throughout Europe as the name for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, with the notable exceptions of English, German, and the Slavic languages (Davies, 1998). English obviously uses Easter, whereas German uses Ostern. Slavic languages uses a variety of different names.
So, how did Easter become the name for Passover in English? The name Eostre was invoked during in conversion in an effort to include the Saxon Heathens of England in Christian ideology, likely beginning in Northumbria, and eventually spreading to the rest of England (North, 2017). The German word for Easter, Ostern, likely came about due to the influence of English missionary work in Germany (Shaw, 2011).
Does Easter Coincide With Eostre?
Early Christianity adopted the lunar calendar for Easter or Pascha, agreeing that the resurrection must be celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. Under the Julian calendar, Equinox took place on 25th March. It wasn’t until the Council of Nicea in 325 that the Spring Equinox was nominally fixed to 21st March (North, 2017). Bede mentions in his De temporum rationae that Easter at its earliest fell on 22nd March, which meant that the Resurrection Sunday either fell in late March or more often in April, which he names as Eosturmonath. Shaw (2011) also states that the name Easter likely derives from the month that the celebration fell most often.
At the time of Bede’s writing, there were two different churches in England. The Celtic Church from Ireland, which was more active in Northumbria, and the Roman Catholic Church in the rest of England but also active in Northumbria. The two churches viewed the dating calculation for Easter differently, resolving this at the Synod of Whitby. It was decided that the Roman Church was right as they had the authority of St. Peter. This brought the Roman calculation of Easter into Northumbria and brought Northumbria and the entirety of the English Church into closer contact with that of the continent.
Spring Goddess or Personification of the Dawn?
We have nothing in the one primary source we have that states Eostre as a dawn or Spring goddess or as a personification of either. Simek (2007) argues that a spring-like fertility goddess would have to be assumed, instead of a goddess of the sunrise as the “Germanic goddesses (and matrons) are mostly connected with prosperity and growth”, although this isn’t a view shared by everyone.. In his Teutonic Mythology, Grimm states that Eostre must have been a goddess of the radiant dawn, although Shaw (2011) finds this view to be problematic. Even in popular media, such as Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, Eostre is portrayed as a spring goddess. But in truth, we don’t know what Eostre’s domain of influence was, and we can only speculate.
Final Thoughts
It appears more likely that Eostre is simply a goddess lost to time. One who is veiled in the shadows of mystery who can we can only speculate about. As evidenced, her name being used for the Christian Spring festival was more about being inclusive of the Heathens missionaries were converting at the time rather than an attempt to steal anything Pagan or Heathen.
To as whether Eostre is a spring, fertility, or dawn goddess for certain will likely always be a matter of debate and speculation, but viewing her as having any of these functions today is still a valid way of viewing her. After all, the relationships we have with the gods are, in my opinion, more important than the domains they influence over, and as our practices evolve and develop over time, whether individually or in groups, the way we see different gods will also change.
For me, whilst Eostre isn’t a deity I venerate, I see her as being more associated with the eastern directions, and as the North Sea resides east of me, by association, I see Eostre as being connected to it.
Sources and References
The Reckoning Of Time, Bede (Translated by Faith Wallis, 1999)
Eostre the goddess and the Free Standing Posts of Yeavering, Richard North, 2017
Pagan Goddesses In The Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda, and the Cult of Matrons, Philip Shaw, 2011
Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend, Andy Orchard, 1997
Dictionary of Northern Mythology, Rudolf Simek (Translated by Angela Hall), 2007
https://ingwine.neocities.org/gield/wihta/eastre
Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Guus Kroonen, 2013
https://meltchocolates.com/history-of-easter-tradition/
https://web.archive.org/web/20180316214718/https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/news/archive/2014/the-city-of-st-albans-claims-the-original-hot-cross-bun
Europe: A History, Norman Davies, 1998
https://www.manygods.org.uk/articles/essays/Eostre.shtml
https://www.britannica.com/event/Synod-of-Whitby
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey/history-and-stories/easter-and-the-synod-of-whitby/
Lay of the North Sea 
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