Easter is pagan. NOT!

HAPPY EASTER!

It may be the Tuesday after Easter but, as Catholics, the Easter Season extends for the next 50 days until the Sunday after Pentecost, which is Trinity Sunday! Over the next 50 days I will be posting a set of posts dealing specifically with Easter. In this post I will debunk certain misconceptions about Easter, in particular, the notion that some people have as to the so-called "pagan origins" of Easter. So enjoy!

Way too many people, especially some Protestants, have falsely and wrongfully accused Roman Catholics of observing the “pagan” holiday/festival of Easter. As far as most of these people are concerned, Easter is proof that Catholicism has its roots in paganism and, therefore, cannot be a true Christian religion. So, in this post I will attempt to disprove and dispel some of these common (and ignorant) misconceptions in order to properly give meaning to the historicity of Easter.

THE ISHTAR = EASTER "CONNECTION"

One of the common, if not THEE most often cited reason as to why Easter has to be pagan is due to the “fact” that it comes from the Springtime pagan festival of the goddess Ishtar. As it is often cited in this erroneous “fact,” many claim that the name for Easter itself comes from the name Ishtar or, from the Greek spelling of Ishtar which is Astarte*. On the surface, it would seem logical to make the assumption that Ishtar/Astarte = Easter.

Facebook memes, the ultimate source of information.

If we assume that Ishtar/Astarte is where we get the word and the celebration of Easter from, we have to recognize that Ishtar was an ancient Babylonian goddess who was worshiped in Mesopotamia in what is currently present day Iraq. So, before we can fully dive into the origin of the word Easter, let’s quickly look at what the "Easter is pagan" individual has come to incorrectly presuppose to be the truth.

According to them, Easter comes to us via the biblical figure Nimrod. Nimrod was Noah’s great-grandson and, according to Scripture, he was “mighty upon the earth” as well as a “mighty hunter.” As Genesis 10:10-12 states, he was king of Babylon, Assyria Babel and, other kingdoms - he was not only a strong ruler but, by all descriptions, he was a godless despot as well; indeed, Ancient Jewish historian Josephus stated that Nimrod was responsible for the Tower of Babel’s construction, this way, if God ever wanted to inundate the world again, he and his people could survive the flood by climbing the tower. Thus giving Nimrod the opportunity to not only avenge his ancestors but, to take revenge upon God if He ever decided to flood the world again.

Nimrod also promised a sweet, hard rockin' guitar solo from
atop the Tower of Babel.

Nimrod apparently was wedded to a woman named Semiramis. He was eventually killed and dismembered by an enemy and his body parts were sent to different parts of his kingdom. Semiramis, being the new ruler, collected all of the body parts but could not find Nimrod’s penis, this becomes somewhat important because, sometime later, Semiramis is found to be with child. She tells her people that Nimrod has ascended into the Sun and has become the Sun god, Baal, and it was through Baal - via the rays of the sun - that she has become pregnant. She then set herself up as a goddess, changes her name to Ishtar and, naturally, forms a new religion. She eventually gives birth to a son named Tammuz and she is then proclaimed to be the Queen of Heaven which does indeed have some biblical references: in Jeremiah 7:18 we see cakes and drinks being offered to her and in Jeremiah 44:17-25, we see that incense is burned in her honor. Since her husband is the sun-god, she becomes the goddess of the moon; she also becomes the goddess of fertility due to the fact that she was able to miraculously conceive. Later on, Queen Ishtar’s story would include the fact that she was born when a giant egg landed into the Euphrates River.

Her son, Tammuz, also is mentioned in the bible; he is mentioned in Ezekiel8:14-16 in which it is told that some women were wrongfully lamenting an idol of Tammuz in the Jewish Temple as they prayed eastward toward the sun. Tammuz grows up and, much like his father, become a mighty hunter who was fond of rabbits. Unfortunately, Tammuz is eventually gorged to death by a wild boar and Queen Ishtar institutes 40 days of morning and fasting in which her son - who was now one with his father - were both to be worshiped. Queen Ishtar also stated that no meat was to be eaten during these 40 days as well.

Queen Ishtar becomes so powerful that she eventually became a medium between her son and his sun-god father, so much so that if one of her subjects wanted to contact or pray to the now deified Tammuz, they could pray through Queen Ishtar.

So, let’s see what we have: a woman, who conceived a child from God…

Hmmmmm, interesting.

…became the Queen-Mother of her son who was a king…

Wait, a minute...

…she had special cakes and drinks offered to her…

I don't like where this is going...

…as well as incense…

Uh, oh...

…her followers made her a mediator between her son after he died…

Gasp!

…and she was made into the moon goddess…

The Blessed Mother with the moon at her feet! Oh no!

This can only mean one thing:

Catholicism = Pagan! NOT!

I’ve just walked you through the path of the ignorant. As it is seen, one could certainly make a hard case for describing a fundamental element of Catholicism, namely the Virgin Mary, as having a pagan origin. Additionally, it can be ascribed that from the Ishtar legend, we also get the reason as to why we use the symbolism of rabbits and eggs; as it was stated earlier, Ishtar was born when an egg fell from the sky and dropped into the Euphrates. This was called Ishtar's egg and this is where we get "Easter egg" from. As for the rabbit symbology, that comes from Ishtar's son, Tammuz, who - as a hunter - was fond of the speedy little critters and this is where the so-called Easter Bunny came from.

Pretty convincing theory, is it not? I mean let's be honest, that REALLY makes a good an compelling argument, it not only borrows facts from the bible, which no Christian can deny but, it also makes use of the mystical and historical religion of Ishtar. I mean, even the name "Ishtar" itself closely resembles the name "Easter"!!! Well, unfortunately, everything that you've just read is not only a lie but, a rather feeble attempt to debase the Catholic Church's Easter tradition. And, it was made mainstream by a Protestant minister named Alexander Hislop.

Hislop got big time notoriety after the 1919 publication of his book, The Two Babylons:Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife.

Alexander Hislop: Anti-Catholic, long winded title author
and, a non-smiling expert.

Hislop's book is pretty much the tome for the entire modern day thought of Easter being pagan, since there literally exists no writing before Hislop that makes the very suspect Ishtar = Easter "connection." By looking backward through history - and through the lens of Protestantism - Hislop detailed in his book his personal view of why Catholicism is of the devil and "true" Christians must never follow Rome or her laws and instead follow the unbiblical notion of using the bible alone through faith alone. The interesting part about Hislop book is that it has been THOROUGHLY DEBUNKED as biased, incorrect and misinformed since it was first published at the beginning of the 20th century.

Honest and scholarly theologian Ralph Woodrow, a Protestant himself, once subscribed to Hislop's hypothesis. After much diligent study, however, Woodrow eventually came to the conclusion that Hislop's methodology was not only unsound but, many times, was found to be fabricated. Woodrow's 1997 book, The Babylon Connection? took Hislop to task and refuted many of Hislop's claim in light of all the new and historical information that has been found since Hislop first put pen to paper. Woodrow demonstrates that the pagan similarities Hislop's argument is based on, whether minute or made up, do not necessary equate Catholicism with paganism, that is, in many of Hislop's cases THERE IS NO CONNECTION.

And, many times, Hislop is grasping at straws. As Woodrow states in regards to Hislop's methodology:

"By this method, one could take virtually anything and do the same - even the "golden arches" at McDonald's! The Encyclopedia Americana (article: "Arch") says the use of arches was known in Babylon as early as 2020 B.C. Since Babylon was called "the golden city" (Isaiah 14:4) can there be any doubt about the origin of the golden arches?"

The truly sad part of this misconception is that it continues to this day among more fundamentalist pastors. Megachurch evangelical pastor John Hagee has already espoused this poison to his congregation, so anti-Catholic is Hagee, that in 2008, he had to issue an apology for hurtful and ignorant slander against the Holy Catholic Church. Passion for Truth Ministries' pastor, Jim Staley, has an 8-part YouTube video series in which he attempts to show how Easter is not Christian but wholly pagan. The interesting thing is that Staley, whether he knows it or not, goes STEP BY STEP through Alexander Hislop's fallacious and discredited treatise. Renown and fervent anti-Catholic, Jack Chick, has several tracks that distinctly make a point of "paganizing" the Roman Catholic Church, such tracts as The Death Cookie and Why Is Mary Crying? heartily and mindlessly affirm Hislop's slop (pun intended) to the naive and uniformed as being the truth behind the Roman Catholic Church. 

What the Ishtar/Astare =  Easter contention boils down to is this:
1) It was invented by an anti-Catholic Protestant in order to: a) paganize the RCC and discredit it and b) set up an entirely false notion that Catholics worship Mary as a goddess and thus, discrediting the RCC.
2) This wrongful hypothesis has - literally - NO documentation of an Ishtar/Astarte = Easter connection prior to Hislop's writing
3) Hislop's writings have been fully shown to be errant as well as misleading,

In other words, to think that Ishtar's mystery religion is the basis for Easter is to not only endorse fiction but, to foolishly assert a lie perpetuated by a direct hatred for the Roman Catholic Church.

EOSTRE/OSTARA = EASTER
A less used but often cited reason for Easter being pagan is due to the train of thought that it is based upon the goddess Eostre, or, in the Old Germanic, Ostara. Eostre is a pagan goddess that hails from the British Isles and was worshipped by the ancient Anglo-Saxons. She was honored during the month of April which was called by the pagan Anglo-Saxons, Eosturmonath.

Very little is known about Eostre because ONLY ONE person EVER wrote anything about Eostre, that one person just so happens to be a Roman Catholic Saint. Venerable Bede (673-735 A.D.), wrote The Reckoning of Time in the late 7th century and, ALL that we know about Eostre is based on the following two sentences that he 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."

Notice that Saint Bede NEVER once mentions anything with regards to the feasts that were held in her honor, nor does he describe the goddess herself, nor do we have any symbology to rabbits or eggs, nor is she mentioned to be worshipped with the Spring Equinox. Indeed, we know nothing about who Eostre was and we have no idea what her followers believed in or did to honor her.

What Bede was doing was trying to describe an ancient calendar that was in use hundreds of years before his time and, more to the point, he was attempting to give reasons behind the names of these ancient English months. Having already gone in length with the Roman and Greek months, Saint Bede - who was English - starts off the 15th chapter of The Reckoning of Time by stating:

"In olden time the English people - for it did not seem fitting to me that I should speak of other nations' observance of the year and yet be silent about my own nation's - calculated their months according to the course of the Moon. Hence, after the manner of the Greeks and the Romans, [the months] take their name from the Moon, for the Moon is called 'mona' and the month 'monath.'

The first month, which the Latins call January, is Giuli; February is called Solmonath; March is Hrethmonath; April, Eosturmonath; May, Thrimilchi; June, Litha; July, also Litha; August, Weodmonath; Semptember, Halegmonath; October, Winterfilleth; November, Blodmonath; December, Giuli, the same name by which January is called. They began the year on the 8th kalends of January [25 December], when we celebrate the birth of the Lord. That night, which we hold so sacred, they used to call by the heathen word 'Modranecht,' that is 'mother's night', because (we suspect) of the ceremonies they enacted all that night."

It is at this point that Bede goes on to give an etymological reason for the names of the months. Basically, he took what he knew about the Old English language and, working backwards, attempted to give meaning to what those months meant using contemporary English words. If we were to continue in Chapter 15 of The Reckoning of Time, we see the following:

"The months of Giuli derive their name from the day when the Sun turns back and begins to increase...Solmonath can be called the "month of cakes," which they offered to their gods in that month. Hrethmonath is named for their goddess Hretha, to whom they sacrificed at this time...Eosturmonath has the name which is now tralsated 'Paschal month,' and which was once called after a goddes of their named Eostre...Thrimilchi was so called because in that month the cattle were milked three times a day...Litha means 'gentle' or 'navigable' because in these months the calm breezes are gentle and they were wont to sail upon the smooth sea. Weodmonath mean 'mont of tares,' for they are very plentiful then. Halegmonath means 'month of sacred rites.' Winterfilleth can be called by the invented composite name 'winter-full.' Blodmonath is 'month of immolations' for then the cattle which were to be slaughtered were consecrated to their gods. Good Jesu, thanks be to thee, who hast turned us away from these vanities and given us [grace] to offer to the the sacrifice of praise."

Easily seen then is that Saint Bede was simply trying to explain where the name for the month of Eostremonath came from. As an Englishman, Saint Bede took the only word - IN ENGLISH - that made sense and attributed it to an ancient and relatively unknown goddess who apparently had a month named after her. The interesting thing here is that NO archaeological records exist for Eostre: no temples, no amulets, no ancient writings, no ancient pictures, no hymns, NOTHING. There are NO Anglo-Saxon records for such a goddess either, this is especially noteworthy considering that these Germanic peoples wrote about other gods, such as Odin, Thor, Frigga, Baldr and, many others. And yet, no mention about a goddess named Eostre! The only historical reference of such a goddess ever existing comes to us exclusively from a Roman Catholic Saint who speculated as to the origin of the name, of one of the months, of an ancient English pagan calendar. It is also interesting to note that Saint Bede finds it necessary to explain to the reader who Eostre was, proving that, nobody had ever heard of this goddess before.

Eostre's story would have been lost had it not been for author, linguist and, German mythologist named Jakob Grimm who, in the early 19th century, re-envisioned this ancient goddess and renamed her Ostara. In his book, Teutonic Mythology,** Grimm states the following in regards to Eostre or, as he has termed her, Ostara:

"Ostara, seems therefore to have been the divinity of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing whose meaning could be easily adapted to the resurrection-day of the christian's God...here also heathen notion seems to have grafted themselves on great christian festivals. Maidens clothed in white, who at Easter, at the season of returning spring, show themselves in clefts of the rock and on mountains, are suggestive of the ancient goddess."

Gimm himself states that pagans, i.e., heathens tie themselves to Christian festivals which could be taken to mean that the "great Christian festivals" might just pre-date Eostre/Ostara worship. Lastly, it must also be stated that Jakob Grim is one-half of the famed Brother's Grimm.

That's right, Jakob and his brother Wilhelm are responsible for such time honored classics as Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and, many other fairy tales; what this basically means is that the second oldest mention of Eostre being a goddess comes from an author of fairy tales, if that doesn't make you wonder at the validity of such a goddess ever existing, then you're simply not taking the facts into consideration.

This is an picture of Ostara, circa 1901. Or, better stated, a picture of a goddess
1,200 years after she was first mentioned and who probably didn't even exist.
Note the symbolism of Easter in the picture added onto Eostre by the 20th century.

So, to recap:
1) Eostre was first mentioned as a goddess because a Roman Catholic Saint from the British Isles was trying to give a reason behind the ancient name of a month.
2) There is absolutely NO historical record for such a goddess to have ever existed
3) Eostre/Ostara = Easter was popularized in the 19th century by the Brother's Grimm, who are renown for their fairy tales.


THE NAME GAME IS NO GAME AT ALL

The final issue that we must address with all of these presumed goddess' is that of their names. The truly ignorant will casually make mention of how Ishtar, Astarte, Eostre, Ostara "look like" and "sound like" the word Easter. This is simply a linguistic and etymological error; In the case of Ishtar we must realize that she was worshiped in ancient Mesopotamia and the language spoken at that time was Akkadian, a Semitic dialect whereas the word "Easter" itself, is an English word that comes from the Germanic language. Roughly stated, THERE IS NO WAY THAT AN ANCIENT AKKADIAN WORD COULD EQUATE AN ENGLISH WORD, there is simply no possible way that the Semitic word Ishtar - which predated the entire English language - could not of traveled over 3,000 miles from ancient Iraq to the British Isle to mean the same thing as a Germanic word before the Germanic language existed to give birth to the English word for Easter.

As for Eostre, as it has already been stated, Bede simply used the English word "Easter" to denote the Old English pagan month for April. Given the fact that by Saint Bede's time Easter was being celebrated by the Christians, it is plausible that this Saint, as venerable as he may be, was wrong in associating a Christian observance with a goddess that may have never existed. Playing the "name game" with any ancient-to-modern words, or vice versa, requires a lot of proof and far too often words get bandied about as having this meaning or that meaning. Therefore, if anyone ever suggests that Easter comes from a pagan goddess' name simply because it "sounds/looks the same," one must be very careful as to not mix fact with fiction and, as I have demonstrated, the Ishtar/Astarte/Eostre/Ostara = Easter arguments, are all rooted in myth and fables that dissolve once they are thoroughly scrutinized.





* Ishtar/Astarte is biblically referred to as Ashtoreth as noted in 1 Kings 11:5, Judges 10:6, and, 1 Samuel 7:4
** See Teutonic Mythology Volume 1, page 291.