Who is Easter?
Who? I know what you're wondering, "Isn't Easter the DAY Jesus rose from the grave?" Well, no, it isn't. The day our Savior actually rose from the grave is in relation to the Feast of Firstfruits. You can find it in the bible in Leviticus 23. The apostle Paul also refers to Messiah as our 'firstfruits' in 1 Corinthians 15.
Easter isn't a day, but rather, one of many names of an ancient fertility goddess. (1)
Though arguments abound as to whether or not the Teutonic goddess Eostre, where the name Easter is derived from, is linguistically related to some other well know pagan idols, there is absolutely no question as to what Easter is not - the day our Savior conquered death.
Eostre (also called Ostara), which is where our English word "Easter" comes from, was a Teutonic (German) goddess of the dawn and fertility. The word 'Eostre' comes from an Indo-European root "aws" meaning, 'illumination, especially at dawn'. Eostre - 'eos-aster' therefore means: "dawn star". Its festival was held in the early spring, around the month we know as April. (2)
April comes from the Greek, Aphro which is short for Aphrodite. Basically, April means "Aphrodite's Month". Interestingly enough, Aphrodite was considered a fertility goddess by many Greeks.
Jacob Grimm, of the Brothers Grimm fame, was a noted scholar and historian who lived from 1785 to 1863. He found evidence of the goddess in oral traditions throughout certain parts of Germany and recorded his findings in his work "Deutsche Mythologie" in 1835. (3)
He noted,
"We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ ... it is mostly found in the plural, because two days ... were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries." (4)
His works on Eostre brought confirmation to what was found several hundred years earlier by another noted historian, Bede. (5) Gaining the title of "The Father of English History", Bede's work on Eostre showed clearly the customs associated with this goddess as well as the month in which it was celebrated. Bede noted in his work "Temporum Ratione" that the month of April was known as Eostremonath - Eostre month, because of the feasts honoring the goddess at this time of year. (6)
Throughout pagan circles, Ostara is associated with the spring equinox even to this day as it was in the time of Bede.
Here is what Bede wrote:
"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."
- De Ratione Temporum 15. (The Reckoning of Time, tr. Faith Wallis, Liverpool University Press 1988, pp.53-54)
Paschal, by the way, means 'Passover'. The Germans who were converted to christianity and celebrating the death and resurrection of the Christ were still calling the season by its pagan name, Eostre. (7) How can that be? The Roman catholic church at that time was given over to blending customs and traditions in order to make conversions out of paganism over to christianity easier. However, Yahweh stated throughout His Word never to do that (Jeremiah 10:2).
Goddesses of fertility, such as Eostre, Ashtaroth to the Hebrews, Aphrodite to the Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, and Isis to the Egyptians, were highly revered among the people because fertility (both in child bearing and crops) meant life. (8) These false images were worshipped in similar ways and Easter was no different. The ancient peoples of its cult were given over to their worship of the creation rather than the Creator and thus rejoiced in the beginning of spring giving honor to a false idol that represented that
time of year.
Notably, Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex, is the counterpart to all other fertility goddesses including Eostre (Easter). Ishtar's cult involved sacred prostitution, and her city of Uruk (Erech) was known as the "town of the sacred courtesans". Erech was a city of Nimrod as listed in Genesis 10:10. Courtesans, or royal prostitutes, were prominent in the religious worship of this fertility goddess who herself was known as the "courtesan of the gods". (9) Ishtar was the ultimate whore. In Babylonian myth she was associated with the planet Venus. Venus was the Roman's fertility goddess. Ishtar, most likely coming from the queen of Babylon, Semiramis (who was supposedly Nimrod's wife), appears to have been the precursor to all other fertility goddesses...including Easter.
Today, when looking through stores and ads what do we see during this season but the name "Easter" along with colorful eggs, bunnies, and baskets full of unclean foods and symbols? What was an ancient German festival has now been uplifted by the adversary into a world holiday. It is ironic and utterly diabolical that he used the professing church to do this very thing. Notice I say professing church. When a person or entity is not submitted to the truth of the Scriptures, including Yah's Torah, they will not only be mislead, but also used by the enemy and fooled by their own flesh.
Yahweh calls His people to not only abstain from practices that He detests but for us to expose them for the darkness they represent.
“And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.” Exodus 23:13
“For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more.” Hosea 2:17
“’It shall be in that day’, says Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.’” Zechariah 13:2
Notice that Yahweh identifies the names of idols with the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit. It is the names of these false "gods" that Yahweh's people are not to mention, but He gives His name nearly 7,000 times throughout His Word.
Sources:
(1) Barnhart, Robert K. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1995)
(2) pasch, n. (2). Oxford English Dictionary.
(3) Deutsche Mythologie
(4) Grimm (1882:289).
(5) Grimm (1882:290)
(6) De ratione temporum 15. (The reckoning of time, tr. Faith Wallis, Liverpool University Press 1988, pp.53-54)
(7) "Easter" (es'ter). Ostara, or Eastre, was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles ans Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. With the beginnings of Christianity, the old gods were put aside. From then on the festival was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ, but was still known as Easter after the old goddess.
- The Britannica Encyclopedia
(8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fertility_deities#Germanic_mythology
(9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar
Easter isn't a day, but rather, one of many names of an ancient fertility goddess. (1)
Though arguments abound as to whether or not the Teutonic goddess Eostre, where the name Easter is derived from, is linguistically related to some other well know pagan idols, there is absolutely no question as to what Easter is not - the day our Savior conquered death.
Eostre (also called Ostara), which is where our English word "Easter" comes from, was a Teutonic (German) goddess of the dawn and fertility. The word 'Eostre' comes from an Indo-European root "aws" meaning, 'illumination, especially at dawn'. Eostre - 'eos-aster' therefore means: "dawn star". Its festival was held in the early spring, around the month we know as April. (2)
April comes from the Greek, Aphro which is short for Aphrodite. Basically, April means "Aphrodite's Month". Interestingly enough, Aphrodite was considered a fertility goddess by many Greeks.
Jacob Grimm, of the Brothers Grimm fame, was a noted scholar and historian who lived from 1785 to 1863. He found evidence of the goddess in oral traditions throughout certain parts of Germany and recorded his findings in his work "Deutsche Mythologie" in 1835. (3)
He noted,
"We Germans to this day call April ostermonat, and ôstarmânoth is found as early as Eginhart (temp. Car. Mag.). The great christian festival, which usually falls in April or the end of March, bears in the oldest of OHG remains the name ôstarâ ... it is mostly found in the plural, because two days ... were kept at Easter. This Ostarâ, like the [Anglo-Saxon] Eástre, must in heathen religion have denoted a higher being, whose worship was so firmly rooted, that the christian teachers tolerated the name, and applied it to one of their own grandest anniversaries." (4)
His works on Eostre brought confirmation to what was found several hundred years earlier by another noted historian, Bede. (5) Gaining the title of "The Father of English History", Bede's work on Eostre showed clearly the customs associated with this goddess as well as the month in which it was celebrated. Bede noted in his work "Temporum Ratione" that the month of April was known as Eostremonath - Eostre month, because of the feasts honoring the goddess at this time of year. (6)
Throughout pagan circles, Ostara is associated with the spring equinox even to this day as it was in the time of Bede.
Here is what Bede wrote:
"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."
- De Ratione Temporum 15. (The Reckoning of Time, tr. Faith Wallis, Liverpool University Press 1988, pp.53-54)
Paschal, by the way, means 'Passover'. The Germans who were converted to christianity and celebrating the death and resurrection of the Christ were still calling the season by its pagan name, Eostre. (7) How can that be? The Roman catholic church at that time was given over to blending customs and traditions in order to make conversions out of paganism over to christianity easier. However, Yahweh stated throughout His Word never to do that (Jeremiah 10:2).
Goddesses of fertility, such as Eostre, Ashtaroth to the Hebrews, Aphrodite to the Greeks, Ishtar to the Babylonians, and Isis to the Egyptians, were highly revered among the people because fertility (both in child bearing and crops) meant life. (8) These false images were worshipped in similar ways and Easter was no different. The ancient peoples of its cult were given over to their worship of the creation rather than the Creator and thus rejoiced in the beginning of spring giving honor to a false idol that represented that
time of year.
Notably, Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex, is the counterpart to all other fertility goddesses including Eostre (Easter). Ishtar's cult involved sacred prostitution, and her city of Uruk (Erech) was known as the "town of the sacred courtesans". Erech was a city of Nimrod as listed in Genesis 10:10. Courtesans, or royal prostitutes, were prominent in the religious worship of this fertility goddess who herself was known as the "courtesan of the gods". (9) Ishtar was the ultimate whore. In Babylonian myth she was associated with the planet Venus. Venus was the Roman's fertility goddess. Ishtar, most likely coming from the queen of Babylon, Semiramis (who was supposedly Nimrod's wife), appears to have been the precursor to all other fertility goddesses...including Easter.
Today, when looking through stores and ads what do we see during this season but the name "Easter" along with colorful eggs, bunnies, and baskets full of unclean foods and symbols? What was an ancient German festival has now been uplifted by the adversary into a world holiday. It is ironic and utterly diabolical that he used the professing church to do this very thing. Notice I say professing church. When a person or entity is not submitted to the truth of the Scriptures, including Yah's Torah, they will not only be mislead, but also used by the enemy and fooled by their own flesh.
Yahweh calls His people to not only abstain from practices that He detests but for us to expose them for the darkness they represent.
“And in all that I have said to you, be circumspect and make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.” Exodus 23:13
“For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, and they shall be remembered by their name no more.” Hosea 2:17
“’It shall be in that day’, says Yahweh of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.’” Zechariah 13:2
Notice that Yahweh identifies the names of idols with the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit. It is the names of these false "gods" that Yahweh's people are not to mention, but He gives His name nearly 7,000 times throughout His Word.
Sources:
(1) Barnhart, Robert K. The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology (1995)
(2) pasch, n. (2). Oxford English Dictionary.
(3) Deutsche Mythologie
(4) Grimm (1882:289).
(5) Grimm (1882:290)
(6) De ratione temporum 15. (The reckoning of time, tr. Faith Wallis, Liverpool University Press 1988, pp.53-54)
(7) "Easter" (es'ter). Ostara, or Eastre, was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles ans Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. With the beginnings of Christianity, the old gods were put aside. From then on the festival was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ, but was still known as Easter after the old goddess.
- The Britannica Encyclopedia
(8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fertility_deities#Germanic_mythology
(9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar