So although I had traced it back over a century, I still didn’t know where it came from with any certainty. You are fully As a practicing neo-pagan I often come across wild claims concerning the origins of stories, names, customs and practices. The search for several lost souls – dead or otherwise – is on in American Gods season 3, episode 3, “Ashes and Demons.”. 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. Myths are not hoaxes, they’re a rich hodge-podge of what people are taught and need to believe. It’s also interesting that Family Christmas Online dismisses Sarah Ban Breathnach’s claim, made in the book Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions, that she found her source material in Victorian magazines. In the book she tells Mr Wednesday: “I’m doing fine. Wow, great article! 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. What is the mythology behind Ostara, goddess of spring? Ostara. The Bone Orchard. In the comments section of the first of these posts, reader Holly B. asked about the story of Ostara and the hare. About | Press | Jobs | Donate –RWH PHILADELPHIA PA. With Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Crispin Glover, Bruce Langley. In 1874, in another book also titled Deutsche Mythologie, Adolf Holtzmann speculated about the already-popular German tradition of the “Easter hare” (the tradition from which our Easter bunny derives) by associating it with the goddess, thus claiming for the first time a connection between Ostara and the hare: The Easter Hare is inexplicable to to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara; just as there is a hare on the statue of [the Celtic goddess] Abnoba.” [My translation from German.]. Looking at that book, we see that Krebs’s passage is a word-for-word translation of a sentence by Oberle: Der Hase scheint vorerst ein Vogel gewesen zu sein, den die Göttin in ein vierfüssiges Tier verwandelte; darum kann er in dankbarer Erinnerung an seine frühere Eigenschaft als Vogel am Feste der Göttin Eier legen. Family Christmas Online goes on to describe their belief as to the origin of the story: As far as I can tell the Eostre bird-bunny story dates back to an article published in a K-12 school resource by feel-good writer and frequent Oprah guest Sarah Ban Breathnach. But it can also mean that the role of the hare in the story used to be occupied by a bird. 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. The burden of proof rests with the person making the claim, not the person who disbelieves it. 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 – because water drawn on Easter morning is holy and healing. 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.—Some time ago the question was raised how it came that, according to South German still prevailing folk-lore, the Hare is believed by children to lay the Easter-eggs. I’ve come across her in modern interest in feminine theology. Posted in: Animals, Easter, Jacob Grimm, Legends, Myths, Narratives, Religion, Uncategorized, Right before the excerpt from the Warren, MN Sheaf, it says, “As time went on, the story was sometimes blended with other tales or beliefs about Ostara, none of them older than Grimm’s 1935 book.” I think that should read “1835.”. She awakens the sun in the morning, just as she awakens the spring from the dead Winter. Was Ostara worshipped long before Jesus (or multiple different Jesuses) arrived on the scene? I like to get thigs straight however and can really appreciate the work you’ve done here. 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. 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 This version of the goddess appeared in Vermont’s Windham County Reformer, April 8, 1887. Thank you for the excellent article and historical research. 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) Do you have any indication as to who the illustrators of any of these are? I’ll continue to look for a more definitive source. They also nest on the surface, which might contribute to the depiction of a bird-like nest. Pretty Legend Which Connects the Hare With the Symbol of the Awakening of Life. $12.99 Buy full season HD. Fertility and the Spring season are certainly parts of that association, but other comments here have pointed out other interesting connections, too! There is no obvious information attached to any of the illustrations. ‘Ishtar'(Easter) needs to be researched far more deeply I read about this 7 yrs ago & by responses from others in reply I find it comes from the East, poss mythology, but as you know rabbits were not original of UK they were brought to UK by the invading Roman Armies to feed them I could go on but I won’t Hares are indigenous of our Isle only sent this as you state that this ISHTAR is balderdash please explain or books I can obtain to seek truth regarding the matter …thank you. (c) null 2017 FremantleMedia North America Inc. Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences. Good articlde, thank you. The caption on this illustration from the April 3, 1898 Richmond Dispatch says: “The 1898 Goddess of Easter Quite Eclipses Conventional Ostara.”. Season 1. In adding this element, Oberle provided the essence of the current popular stories. Season 2. Please read our The morningstar. American Gods is available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, with new episodes added every week. I venture now to offer a probable answer to it. 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. Already have an account with us? 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. The Crawford Avalanche provided one of each! Buy HD £2.49. The resulting story can be viewed at this link. 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. 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. Shadow's attempt to break away from Mr. Wednesday and the brewing war is thwarted by the secrets of the Gods — both Old and New. American Gods. To understand this one has to have a holistic perspective, one has to read alot of different myths and see how they intertwine. She was described in literature and added in to paintings, which is all it takes for a god to exist in Neil Gaiman’s fantasy world where belief alone can solidify a god into flesh and blood. 1: That the Hare does not burrow but creates a “nest” called a form in tall grass to bear its young. 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. Kristin Chenoweth’s 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 – and she is a lot spikier than you’d think. JoAnn, thanks for your query. The network’s epic new 2017 series American Gods already has its ensemble bursting with deities, but another familiar name has been cast, ... Kristin Chenoweth’s Easter, a.k.a. It’s impossible to tell if Ostara as a goddess ever existed outside Grimm’s proposal. Others, such as Family Christmas Online, say it was invented in the 1980s. For some reason many members of the neo-pagan community feel the need to validate their practices by inventing “ancient” roots. 104.). (Emphasis mine.)”. As time went on, the story was sometimes blended with other tales or beliefs about Ostara, none of them older than Grimm’s 1835 book. This has to do with a shift either in seasons or night to day would be my guess? Drama 2017. There are certainly no ancient stories in which she transforms a bird into a hare. The children are told that this Osh’ter Has laid the Easter eggs. When Christianity pushed its way further and further into the then barbaric world the early missionaries, not wishing to antagonize their prospective converts, took this festival and consecrated its observance to the new form of faith. Probably the association is to fertility, with no actual sorry ever told of any such transformation. Nick Romano recaps the American Gods Season 1 finale "Come to Jesus," where Mr. Wednesday reveals his identity, … 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. remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. American Gods mythology guide | Who is Bilquis, Queen of Sheba and goddess of love? By entering your details, you are agreeing to Radio Times privacy policy. Thank you in advance! Links to external Internet sites on Library of Congress Web pages do not constitute the Library's endorsement of the content of their Web sites or of their policies or products. 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…. Thanks for your comments, Stéphanie. 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. Sometimes the story grew even more in the telling. A recently released ex-convict named Shadow meets a mysterious man who calls himself "Wednesday" and who knows more than he first seems to about Shadow's life and past. I love the story of Easter and Her bunny and was dismayed when I came across articles proclaiming it as a hoax. Unfortunately, this reference was given as an answer to someone’s question, with no source cited. Finally, there is no documented association between Ostara and bunnies or eggs until the nineteenth century when such an association was suggested by Holtzmann. Even if *Ostara was a goddess worshiped in Germany, and even if she was descended from a goddess *H₂ewsṓs worshiped by proto-Indo-Europeans, she would not be related to Ishtar or Inanna, whose names are not Indo-European. Nevertheless, I expressed my “best guess”: If I had to guess, I would say it probably came from a German scholar writing in the wake of Grimm. 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”). There is no shred of evidence for an English tradition of a hare or rabbit associated with Easter until relatively modern times. Thanks! 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. Ostara, otherwise known as Ēostre, is the Germanic goddess of spring and dawn. [3] It is, like most things about Ostara, a 19th century German idea affected by the Romantic Nationalist movement. The claim is another product of 19th-century speculative scholars which has not stood the test of time. The evidence for Ostara as an actual goddess people worshipped is sketchy. We can pin her down in the writings of 8th century monk Venerable Bede, who reported that pagan Anglo-Saxons in medieval Northumbria held festivals in Ostara’s honour during the month of Eostremonath (April). ... 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. Thanks again: I will look for that thread on alt.gothic! Watch with Prime. If you plan to watch American Gods without first reading the Neil Gaiman book that it’s based on, you’re probably going to have a lot of questions. 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). 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. … Your article was by far the most thorough expose on the topic. Venus. By the way, the hare must once have been a bird, because it lays eggs…. Watch with Prime. 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. These stories are attributed to Anglo-Saxon folklore, and so it makes sense for it to appear in Pennsylvania Dutch tradition, but I can find no sources for either story, modern or otherwise. 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. Quite early, the story began to be prefaced by statements about how very ancient it was. Ishtar, Inanna, Venus, Aphrodite, Ostara and Freyja are all the same fertillity goddess. Watch with STARZ. Thank you in advance, your work is very valuable! Ostara is Oestre, Easter which is the Eastern star. Maybe even eclipses? American Gods' first season ended on June 18, 2017. One of the quaint and interesting features of our modern Easter carnival is the appearance in shop windows, side by side with the emblematic colored egg, of a pert tall-eared rabbit, and those who cannot understand why bunny should have a place in our Easter decorations shrug their shoulders and think it a trick to please the children. [2] Many thanks to my Library of Congress colleague Sybille Jagusch for helping me understand the German texts. American Gods (4K UHD) Season 1. Directed by Floria Sigismondi. Since the story arises from the work of Jacob Grimm, it’s also interesting as an example of folklore that arose from the work of folklorists. 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. ... 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. This blog does not represent official Library of Congress communications. Bonus (1) Bonus: American Gods Season 1 - Trailer. 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. This article and the comments have been helpful. This simple statement seems to be Oberle’s source for the idea that the goddess Ostara changed a bird into a hare. On Easter Sunday 2016, I had the pleasure of appearing on CBS Sunday Morning as a folklore expert in a segment on the Easter Bunny. 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. As it turns out, neither one! Season 3. 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. 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. “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 *H₂ewsṓs (→ *Ausṓs), from which descends the Common Germanic divinity from whom Ēostre 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. On the old Germanic calendar, the equivalent month to April was called “Ōstarmānod” – or Easter-month. Stéphanie, I have in the meantime found several stories that pheasants and partridges sometimes acually choose a hares form to lay their eggs in. I’m writing a sermon on Easter, and wanted to investigate some of this Easter Bunny background. [3] Whether the story can be considered “New Age,” as Family Christmas Online suggests, is another question. I also enjoyed the comments from everyone. The Easternstar/morningstar can also bee seen as Aphrodite, Lucifer, Lucia, Prometheus and ishtar. But there is overlap among all these ideas. The Ostara story is mostly popular in Neopagan communities, which usually hold themselves distinct from New Age thought. Mr Wednesday is on a mission to recruit Easter to his cause. the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to Bilquis played the game, as did St. Nick, mentioned in the episode, and Ostara cut a deal to stay alive. Tylor suggested that elements of then-current culture might be “survivals” of previous, more primitive phases of culture. As a holiday, Easter predates Christianity and was originally the name for the spring Equinox. As you’ll read in that post, there’s no contemporary evidence that Eostre was such a goddess, and no contemporary evidence of belief in any goddess called “Ostara” at all. Get your gears turning with hundreds of puzzles, with new ones added each week - and enjoy a seven day free trial! It’s a rather different take inspired by then-current efforts by certain fundamentalist Christian to try to rid the observations of besides of paganism. 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 … According to Teutonic Tradition Bunny Was Once a Bird. I learned alot that I can pass on to my students. Series Info American Gods. [International Release] When Shadow Moon is released from prison, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and a storm begins to brew. Created by Bryan Fuller, Michael Green. One popular story you might have seen recently involves the origin of the Easter Bunny. 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. But the legend of the Easter rabbit is one of the oldest in mythology, and is mentioned in the early folk lore of South Germany. Of course, now the holiday focuses on Jesus’ resurrection story – but many Germanic Easter customs survive. It is a theoretical suggestion of one historical linguist, and as the discipline developed, further historical linguists traced that theorized name to the equally conjectural Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *H₂ewsṓs. 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. With Ricky Whittle, Emily Browning, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley. Is there truth in that? Thanks for the suggestion, Mark, but I did mean “survivals.” This was a particular theory popular in folklore studies at the time, most associated with the English scholar Edward Burnett Tylor. I read Neil Gaiman's book "American Gods" many years ago. Chances are, you come across some stories that the presenters claim are ancient, and reach into the pre-Christian past. People are perfectly happy with that. First thing that popped in my mind is the Chinese zodiac which you will notice the rooster/bird with eggs is opposite the hare. It’s become a common meme on the internet in the last few years, but it has no basis in archaeology or mythology. Stories about the goddess Ostara were popular in newspapers at the turn of the twentieth century. Over time, all legends and myths change, and this is likely true with Ostara and the hare. 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. You can unsubscribe at any time. The people in their blind fashion thanked the unseen beings who ruled the world for the breaking up of the frost-time and prayed for plenteous harvests and fruitful flocks and herds. Clearly, some form of the “fertility goddess” explanation was in Holtzmann’s mind when he suggested such an association, so the modern speculation that she was a fertility goddess is the source of the association between her, hares, and eggs. Ostara, or Eostra, is an Anglo-Saxon goddess who represents dawn. Also, to clarify, no one would say that “Ishtar” is “balderdash.” Ishtar is a Mesopotamian goddess. Spoilers ahead for American Gods. What is it exactly, is it a due to mating? The new and old gods finally fired the starting pistol on their epic war, with Odin being revealed and Ostara wiping the land of vegetation to ignite humanity’s prayers to the almighty once again. [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. The resemblance between the names is a coincidence. Whether the Easter bunny is male or female is an interesting question.
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