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> I find it odd how Easter, a pre-Christian Pagan festival (worshipping goddess of fertility: Eostre) has become seemingly-arbitrarily connected to the purporte

> I find it odd how Easter, a pre-Christian Pagan festival (worshipping goddess of fertility: Eostre) has become seemingly-arbitrarily connected to the purported events at the end of Jesus' life.. The Eostre connection is unconvincing. Eostre is a Saxon goddess with earliest sources about her cult from 8th century and: - Easter has been celebrated before 8th century. - And it has been celebrated by people that have never heard of Saxons or their gods.

pkphilip 1y ago
The connection goes further back to Asheroth - the Cannanite goddess of fertility.
- rolandog 1y ago
  The world was not ready for such religions then [0]: > There are several reasons why the worship of Baal and Asherah was such a problem for Israel. First, the worship of Baal and Asherah held the allure of illicit sex, since the religion involved ritual prostitution. [...] The Asherahs/Ashtoreths probably needed better branding. [0]: https://www.gotquestions.org/Baal-and-Asherah.html https://www.gotquestions.org/Baal-and-Asherah.html
  - krapp 1y ago
    "the world?" Ritual prostitution was common in many ancient religions, and Baal and Asherah were commonly worshipped at the time. It only seems aberrant in hindsight because we live in a world formed from the strict patriarchy and sexual taboos of one specific Semitic religion, and a narrative of history written by its adherents. That said as far as I know the whole Easter/Eostre connection has been discredited by the actual evidence. Which is unfortunate because it would be such an enjoyable thing to annoy Christians with if it were true.
- anon291 1y ago
  No it does not. Asheroth is a Canaanite language term. Easter comes from the Proto-Indo-European for dawn of east, the direction of the sunrise. A very fitting name for the rising of the Son of Man. The direct cognates to Easter are Usas (Indic languages), East, or Aurora.
  - eitland 1y ago
    Remember, Easter is only called Easter (or something similar) in a few languages, I'm only aware of English and German (Oster).
teunispeters 1y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre covers a lot of ground and has references (thankfully)
tptacek 1y ago
The whole thing is super weird, because "Easter" isn't the canonical term for the day to begin with.

pkphilip 1y ago

The connection goes further back to Asheroth - the Cannanite goddess of fertility.

rolandog 1y ago
The world was not ready for such religions then [0]: > There are several reasons why the worship of Baal and Asherah was such a problem for Israel. First, the worship of Baal and Asherah held the allure of illicit sex, since the religion involved ritual prostitution. [...] The Asherahs/Ashtoreths probably needed better branding. [0]: https://www.gotquestions.org/Baal-and-Asherah.html https://www.gotquestions.org/Baal-and-Asherah.html
- krapp 1y ago
  "the world?" Ritual prostitution was common in many ancient religions, and Baal and Asherah were commonly worshipped at the time. It only seems aberrant in hindsight because we live in a world formed from the strict patriarchy and sexual taboos of one specific Semitic religion, and a narrative of history written by its adherents. That said as far as I know the whole Easter/Eostre connection has been discredited by the actual evidence. Which is unfortunate because it would be such an enjoyable thing to annoy Christians with if it were true.
anon291 1y ago
No it does not. Asheroth is a Canaanite language term. Easter comes from the Proto-Indo-European for dawn of east, the direction of the sunrise. A very fitting name for the rising of the Son of Man. The direct cognates to Easter are Usas (Indic languages), East, or Aurora.
- eitland 1y ago
  Remember, Easter is only called Easter (or something similar) in a few languages, I'm only aware of English and German (Oster).

teunispeters 1y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre covers a lot of ground and has references (thankfully)

tptacek 1y ago

The whole thing is super weird, because "Easter" isn't the canonical term for the day to begin with.