If there is one thing that drives me absolutely bananas, it’s people spreading misinformation via social media under the guise of “educating”. I’ve seen this happen in several ways – through infographics that twist data in ways that support a conclusion that is ultimately false, or else through “meaningful” quotes falsely attributed to various celebrities, or by cobbling together a few actual facts with statements that are patently untrue to create something that seems plausible on the surface but is, in fact, full of crap.
Yesterday, the official Facebook page of (noted misogynist and eugenics enthusiast) Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science shared the following image to their 637,000 fans:
Neither Reasonable Nor Scientific
Naturally, their fans lapped this shit up; after all, this is the kind of thing they absolutely live for. Religious people! Being hypocritical! And crazy! And wrong! The 2,000+ comments were chock-full of smug remarks about how naïve and stupid Christians were, accompanied by pats on the back for all the atheists who smart enough to see through all the religious bullshit and understand how the evil church had slyly appropriated all kinds of pagan traditions.
And you know what? That’s fine, I guess. I’m all for questioning religion and examining the sociological, historical and anthropological reasons that help explain the hows and whys of our lives today. I’m actually super fascinated by that kind of stuff, even if I do think that there’s a way to discuss it without making yourself sound smarter and more enlightened than the people around you.
But you guys? The image above is rife with misinformation. RIFE, I say.
Let’s start from the top:
This is Ishtar …
Okay, great. So far things are fairly accurate. The relief pictured here, known as the Burney Relief (also called the Queen of the Night relief) is widely considered to be an Ancient Babylonian representation of Ishtar (although some scholars believe that the woman depicted might be Lilitu or Ereshkigal). This relief is currently housed in the British Museum in London, but originates from southern Iraq and is nearly 4,000 years old.
… pronounced Easter.
Actually, in modern English we pronounce it the way it looks. A case could be made for pronouncing it Eesh-tar, but I have yet to come across a credible source that gives the original pronunciation as Easter.
Easter is originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex.
Ishtar was the goddess of love, war and sex. These days, thanks to Herodotus, she is especially associated with sacred prostitution* (also known as temple prostitution), which, in the religions of the Ancient Near East, allegedly took on the form of every woman having to, at some point in her life, go to the temple of Ishtar and have sex with the first stranger who offered her money. Once a woman entered the temple of Ishtar for the purpose of sacred prostitution, she was not allowed to leave until she’d done the deed. I can’t imagine that sacred prostitution sex was ever very good sex, but hey, what do I know? Probably some people were pretty into it – I mean, if you can imagine it, someone’s made porn about it, right?
Anyway, the point I am trying to make here is that, yes, Ishtar was associated with fertility and sex. However, her symbols were the lion, the gate and the eight-pointed star; I can’t find any evidence of eggs or rabbits symbolically belonging to her. And Easter has nothing to do with her.
Most scholars believe that Easter gets its name from Eostre or Ostara**, a Germanic pagan goddess. English and German are two of the very few languages that use some variation of the word Easter (or, in German, Ostern) as a name for this holiday. Most other European languages use one form or another of the Latin name for Easter, Pascha, which is derived from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning Passover. In French it’s Pâques, in Italian it’s Pasqua, in Dutch it’s Pasen, in Danish it’s Paaske, in Bulgarian it’s Paskha, and so on and so forth.
In the Christian Bible, Jesus returned to Jerusalem from his forty days in the desert just before Passover. In fact, in the Gospel according to John, Jesus was killed on the day before the first night of Passover, at the time when lambs were traditionally slaughtered for the Passover feast (because Jesus was the Lamb of God, etc. – SYMBOLISM, Y’ALL). There are a few differing accounts of when Jesus actually died, but most Christian texts, philosophers and scholars agree that it was around the time of Passover. Easter is still celebrated the week after Passover, which is why it’s a different day each year, because the Jewish calendar is lunar rather than solar.
Her symbols (like the egg and the bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols (or did you actually think eggs and bunnies had anything to do with the resurrection?).
Actually, according to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, which he wrote after journeying across Germany and recording its oral mythological traditions, the idea of resurrection was part and parcel of celebrating the goddess Ostara:
“Ostara, Eástre 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 by the resurrection-day of the christian’s God. Bonfires were lighted at Easter and according to popular belief of long standing, the moment the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps, he dances for joy … Water drawn on the Easter morning is, like that at Christmas, holy and healing … here also heathen notions 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.”
Spring is a sort of resurrection after all, with the land coming back to life after lying dead and bare during the winter months. To say that ancient peoples thought otherwise is foolish, naïve and downright uninformed. Many, many pagan celebrations centre around the return of light and the rebirth of the land; these ideas are not new themes in the slightest.
And yes, rabbits and eggs are fertility symbols, and they are, in fact, associated with Eostre.
Ostara by Johannes Gehrts
After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus.
Hey! Guess what language Constantine, the Roman Emperor, spoke? Not English, that’s for sure! In fact, when he was alive, English didn’t even exist yet. He would have spoken Latin or Ancient Greek, so would likely have referred to Easter as Pascha or Πάσχα.
But at its roots Easter (which is pronounced Ishtar) was all about celebrating fertility and sex.
Look. Here’s the thing. Our Western Easter traditions incorporate a lot of elements from a bunch of different religious backgrounds. You can’t really say that it’s just about resurrection, or just about spring, or just about fertility and sex. You can’t pick one thread out of a tapestry and say, “Hey, now this particular strand is what this tapestry’s really about.” It doesn’t work that way; very few things in life do.
The fact is that the Ancient Romans were smart when it came to conquering. In their pagan days, they would absorb gods and goddesses from every religion they encountered into their own pantheon; when the Roman Empire became Christian, the Roman Catholic Church continued to do the same thing, in a manner of speaking.
And do you know why that worked so well? Because adaptability is a really, really good trait to have in terms of survival of the fittest (something I wish the present-day Catholic Church would remember). Scratch the surface of just about any Christian holiday, and you’ll find pagan elements, if not a downright pagan theme, underneath.
Know what else? Most Christians know this. Or, at least, most of the Christians that I’m friends with (which is, admittedly, a fairly small sampling). They know that Jesus wasn’t really born on December 25th, and they know that there were never any actual snakes in Ireland, and they know that rabbits and eggs are fertility symbols. But they don’t care, because they realize that religions evolve and change and that that’s actually a good thing, not a bad thing. The fact that many Christian saints are just re-imagined pagan gods and goddesses doesn’t alter their faith one iota; because faith isn’t about reason or sense, it’s about belief.
Look, go ahead and debate religion. Go ahead and tell Christians why what they believe is wrong. That’s totally fine and, in fact, I encourage it. A little debate and critical thinking are good for everyone. But do it intelligently. Get to know the Bible, so you actually know what you’re disagreeing with when you form an argument. Brush up on your theology so that you can explain why it’s so wrong. And have some compassion, for Christ’s sake – be polite and respectful when you enter into a debate, even when the person you’re debating with loses their cool. You want to prove that you’re better, more enlightened than Christians? Great, do it by remaining rational and level-headed in the face of someone who’s willing to stoop to personal attacks. To behave otherwise is to be just as bad as the people you’re debating.
Anyway, I hope you guys have a fantastic long weekend, no matter how you spend it. If your holiday involves chocolate, then I hope you enjoy that. If not, just enjoy the extra day or two off work and the (hopefully) warm weather. No matter what you believe in, I think that we can all agree that the end of winter and the rebirth of spring is worth celebrating.
And also? Richard Dawkins? You need to fact-check yourself before you fact-wreck yourself. Spreading this kind of misinformation to your foundation’s 637,000 fans is just plain irresponsible, especially coming from someone like you. Get with the program, buddy.
ETA: The post now seems to be removed from The Richard Dawkins’ Foundation for Science and Reason’s FB page. Thanks Richard!
ETA Part Deux: Oh. It looks like it was deleted from their timeline but not the photo album. Welp.
*It should be noted that the only actual historical evidence that we have of sacred prostitution comes from Herodotus (I’ve included an excerpt from Herodotus’ Histories below) and no one is really sure how accurate it is. Herodotus is known for making shit up, like giant ants for example. But it makes for an amazing story and people still make the association between Ishtar and sacred prostitution, so I decided to mention it here.
The foulest Babylonian custom is that which compels every woman of the land to sit in the temple of Aphrodite and have intercourse with some stranger once in her life. Many women who are rich and proud and disdain to mingle with the rest, drive to the temple in covered carriages drawn by teams, and stand there with a great retinue of attendants. But most sit down in the sacred plot of Aphrodite, with crowns of cord on their heads; there is a great multitude of women coming and going; passages marked by line run every way through the crowd, by which the men pass and make their choice. Once a woman has taken her place there, she does not go away to her home before some stranger has cast money into her lap, and had intercourse with her outside the temple; but while he casts the money, he must say, “I invite you in the name of Mylitta” (that is the Assyrian name for Aphrodite). It does not matter what sum the money is; the woman will never refuse, for that would be a sin, the money being by this act made sacred. So she follows the first man who casts it and rejects no one. After their intercourse, having discharged her sacred duty to the goddess, she goes away to her home; and thereafter there is no bribe however great that will get her. So then the women that are fair and tall are soon free to depart, but the uncomely have long to wait because they cannot fulfil the law; for some of them remain for three years, or four. There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus.
That crack about ugly women was totally unnecessary, Herodotus. I am just saying.
**The first written reference we have for Eostre dates back to the 7th century AD and can be found in Venerable Bede’s Temporum Ratione, in a passage explaining that April was often referred to as Eostremonth:
“Eosturmonath” has a name which is now translated “Paschal month”, and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month.
Jacob Grimm said that he found further evidence of Eostre and her associations with Easter, eggs and rabbits when researching his Deutsches Mythologie, although he was unable to discover any written records about her.
The Belle Jar 
Thank you for this wonderful article! I have spent a great deal of time around professors and scholars of Ancient Near East religion, particularly around the Oriental Institute in Chicago. *NEVER* did I ever hear any one of them ever refer to Ishtar being pronounced as :”Ishtar”, so when this particular FB meme was being spread far and wide through the various groups, it made me absolutely crazy!
Thank you for clearing that up. I have reblogged it on my own blog at http://www.fannyfae.com.
The present day Catholic Church isn’t a political body like Washington DC or ancient Rome. It’s a religious institution meant to reflect universal tenets of faith. Either the beliefs & teachings are true or they aren’t. If there’s a need to reformulate a belief, then why suppose it’s true to begin with? There is room to reform practices, but not essential beliefs. I suspect that you think that the RC Church (of which I am not a member) should become more leftward. It’s kind of a funny contradiction when one wants a religious body to adopt contemporary social/political trends as belief in one regard, yet would likely recriminate it for doing so on the other side of the aisle.
Seems you are as eager to attack the Richard Dawkins page as you claim they are to attack Christianity….something about glass houses springs to mind….at least the photo post from the Dawkins camp is short and to the point….but thanks anyway
Dawkings is a crazy cult leader, he loves attention and squanders money on his little war against Christianity (no other religions), where it could have been used for charity. He is also quick to label all Christians under the same umbrella.Not all Atheists are the same, unless you count all the Atheists under his tent (like the westboro baptist church). I liked Christopher Hitchens more and I’m Christian. I’d say my favorite atheist is Penn Jillette, if my kids where to turn Atheist one day i would rather have them be like him.
HOWLER:
Perhaps the ‘war against Christianity’ is justified—and perhaps there are too many thousands of Gods and profits (sic) so he picks just the local biggie?
Does your kid really stand any chance at all of ‘turning atheist’? Given that most Christians (and Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and other things) are so because of where they were born and how they were brought up (read: indoctrinated) I doubt it …
He pics just the local “biggie”lol. Sir your ill informed Islam is currently the fastest growing religion in the UK. I would hope that when he makes his bully list, he would put them first. Hawking is a Hypocrite, plain and simple I preferred Christopher Hitchens over him. I would let you know i grew up in an atheist house hold, I decided later in my life to accept Jesus. Atheism is rising in the America. But i have bad news for you, Religion is growing in, Asia, Russia, Africa and most of South America are Christians. I also have some other news for you, western society is in a state of decline. The affects of the west will soon not be felt on a economic level maybe even spiritual level worldwide. Also take a closer look at europe, Atheism has out grown the local religions there, but is currently being replaced with mysticism and Islam. My family is Atheist and i have a lot of respect for them, they do not seek to push their beliefs down peoples throats, just like some wacky religious nuts do. Just look at Japan and what successes they have had with an atheist society. I feel that if a culture can be a successful culture and be what ever religion they want to be good for them
i mean Dawkings lol
“if my kids where to turn Atheist one day”
1. It’s were
And
2. I think you should let your child choose their own religious path, do not tell them what to believe when they are young, as they may not understand, and they would not necessarily be Christian because they think it’s right, but only because you told them. They should discover religion for themselves.
I was raised catholic/went to catholic private school, and after some years I found no real evidence of your God, and “converted” to atheism(as i personally don’t see it as a religion, only a belief, not to be pushed on others). I had and still do wish my parents would’ve let me lead mt own religious life(later on in their life they were no longer catholic as they found too many faults in Catholicism and Christiany.
i understand that your children are, well, yours. But you should allow them to find their own spirituality. Thank you.
Reblogged this on The Boar & Bones Inn and commented:
Un articolo interessante. Avevo notato anche io l’immagine da cui parte, ma mi sono astenuto dai commenti (ganixedha…). Ma un reblog costa poco 😀
If you are a Christian, you are as the bible says to ” train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it.” If we should not teach our kids, but leave them to figure it out on their own then we should have no schools to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, science, home economics, etc and let them figure that out too? Should we let them teach themselves to drive a car? Or play with snakes to learn that some bite and are poisonous? What about letting them play on the freeway, so they can learn they could be run over and killed? we have a responsibility to teach our children to be safe and careful and to be good citizens of this earth and to realize this is just a temporary home because as a Christian I believe Heaven will be our permanent home. And don’t get me started on teaching family traditions and skills such as cooking, (favorite family recipes) sewing, quilting, knitting, crochet, auto mechanics, carpentry, gardening, farming, music etc… These things are passed on from generation to generation. Why should we not teach them our religious/moral beliefs which I believe are far more important than all others (since their ultimate salvation depends on how they live/what or whom they believe in).
I believe an applause is deserved.
The word Easter originates from the name of Norwegian goddess Eostre. Quite similar Eastre, on the other hand, was the Norwegian counterpart to Phoenician goddess of earth and fertility, Astarte.
I have traveled widely, and studied a few languages. In all the languages – with no exception – the first rule as in English, British or American Names are never Translated, they may for understandung be Transliterated, but never tanslated. Ishtar and Easter are related by Transliteration, and nothing else. The ideas portrayed in this article do not use references for any language, rules of gramar, any well known Ancient ruins, or facts with references to the opinions. It, instead uses opinions and slick(pardon the use) phrases to try to disuade true research.
I love your writing style; it’s very unique and witty! I enjoyed reading what you had to say… http://www.hope-of-israel.org/easterfr.htm
<3Deme
Thank you!
Great post.
In fairness though, this lack of fact-checking is not something that is unique to the RDFRD group. For example, just today (9th May 2013, at about 0700 GMT) the Facebook page ‘We Fucking Love Atheism’ eagerly posted a photograph of American novelist Anne Lamott alongside one of her quotations: “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
So pleased were they by this image that they proudly slapped their own logo on it. Predictably, this post was immediately followed hundreds of “likes” and comments from group members praising its wisdom and simple rationality. It wasn’t until it was pointed out that Lamott is actually a self-proclaimed born-again Christian that the post was surreptitiously deleted and never mentioned again.
Everyone here is lost & clearly do not read their Bibles! There is one flock & one shepherd! Why do you think only Christians have different denominations & not muslims etc? Because satan knows that Christ is the ONLY TRUE GOD! & what makes it worse is that many people know xmas, easter, sunday etc have pagan backgrounds, but still celebrate them. Not once did Jesus or the apostles do these things & us as Christians shouldnt either! Who are we to change what God says?! Never does the Bible tell us to adapt to the ways of the world, but to endure even til the point of death. So the church or the people who think it’s ok to do so, going against what God commanded us, neither believe in God & cannot be saved!
I rest my case: (ref my first comments up above …)
“I’m a born-again Atheist! I love not-God! He/She(dammit) THEY!!! are the best! The Greatest! All others suck except mine! I don’t have to re-imagine my Gods because I have gone that second mile further!!! And even though the Christians parked their bloody churches atop ancient sacred sites to take them over, and holy springs , the old Gods are still laughing! At them! Old Gods never die!!! They just change their names and absorb the new into the old pantheon!!! And one day Jesus will be sidelined but we Atheists won’t! Because we have the only truth while all you religions people are deluded!!!! The Great Pumpkin Himself told me!!!”
(And I still love chocolate, sue me …)
I make it a rule to not reply on internet stuff, but you are absolutely ridiculous. Nearly every major mythological structure right now, or every major religion just in case I’m unclear with my terminology here, has different sects. Take thirty seconds to do a quick google search and you’ll find that Islam has at least three distinct sects, but I’d be willing to bet it has more than that. So! Continue reading the Bible! Keep the faith. But! Learn about the rest of the world, too. It’s quite wonderful.
If god does not exist, it does NOT follow that ethics do not exist either; they still do.
IA greew ith you..People tend to twist things to suit their thoughts
Atheists& christians alike are guilty of doing just this
THIS IS TOTALLY WRONG!! the egg part come from her saying that she came down from the moon in a lunar egg that came to the eurfates river… and the rabbits is cause her son Tammuz liked them a lot and when he died she made a whole cult base on her and her husband Nimrod (from bible) was also her son and when he died she said he went to the sun! it was all with the help of SATAN he is real ya’ll!!! trust me. i recently change to christianity but i am only following God’s word from the bible some christians are confused… this whole world is being deceived by satan look for illuminatis and aliens come from hell utube video. if you trully want to know the truth look with an open mind and you will find it Jesus wants all of us to be saved and you dont need to be from any religion just beilive in GOD IN JESUS THAT HE IS THE WAY TO SALVATION. in your theory that there is no God doesnt work the scientific explination that this world started making it self out nothing has no sense really!! NOTHING COMES OUT OF NOTHING!! when you study the bible STUDY you can find many answers and they make more sense than all this crazy theories. the devil dont want you to follow GOD so he can keep your soul in pain in jail for eternity with demons bothering you!!! is that how you want to end up. IF YOU ARE REALLY SEEKING FOR THE TRUTH I INVITE YOU TO DO THE RESEARCH ABOUT SATANISM NOW IN THE GOVERMENT ARTIST AND ALL TYPES OF LEADERS TRYING TO DECEIVE YOU! YOU DONT BELIEVE IN GOD CHALLENGE HIM CALL HIM KNEES DOWN WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND ASK HIM TO SHOW YOU HE IS REAL I KNOW HE WILL GIVE YOU A SIGN JUST TRY IT!! also read this about Ishtar… http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html YOU WANT TO DO REASERCH AND LOOK FOR THE TRUTH JESUS IS THE TRUTH LOOK AND YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF WITH THE SAME CONCLUTION I DID JESUS IS REAL AND THE DEVIL IS USING US!!!! HE IS A MASTER DECIEVER GIVE THIS ‘THEORY’ (TRUTH) A CHANCE.
Wow …
Yes!!! You are right. Christianity has been twisted and ployed with so successful that people cannot see truth from deception. I posted the same website on my comment and I just pray to our Saviour that more people will learn the truth.
@the Baptist- you clearly don’t read well! I did not say that the article says Christians don’t understand pagan roots. The use of the word “Also” in my comment implies that my statement is in addition to what the original post said…
So, thanks or playing! Survey says.., X
I found this statement particularly discouraging:
“because faith isn’t about reason or sense, it’s about belief.”
As a Christian, if what I believe isn’t true – factually correct, logically consistent – then I don’t want to believe it. Christian faith is a _reasonable faith_, grounded in history, archaeology, scientific and documentary evidence. Paul, as an author of much of the New Testament says as much when he says that if Christ is not risen from the dead then we are of all men most pitiful.. that if what we believe isn’t true, then just eat drink and be merry because tomorrow we die. Authors of the gospels in particular make reference to rulers, and to contemporary witnesses as an appeal to test their accounts at the very time they were written.
So I beg to differ. Surely I acknowledge that there are many things many people hold as beliefs every day that may not be true, provable by those who believe them, or provable… religious or not, correct or not. But that is not necessarily so, and in my opinion (based in the bible itself) is not what Christians are called to understand as the meanins of “faith” and belief”.
Thanks for listening. And thank you for a thoughtful, respectful, factual, well written article.
“If Christ is not risen, then our faith is in vain.” said Paul. Paul used deliberately ambiguous words to suggest to the gullible that Jesus had miraculously “risen from the dead”, when he well knew that Jesus had been resuscitated from unconsciousness and placed in a cave at Qumran to recuperate. He was not converted on the road to Damascus by a zombie!
The four gospels, Acts and Revelation are not a collection of stories of the supernatural, they are the history of a political movement aimed at restoring the Davidic monarchy in Judea and Samaria, and spreading the philosophy of Judaism throughout the Roman Empire.
Where can someone find evidence on the stuff you posted? It’s very interesting.
People are still circulating this meme, thinking that they’re savants of some sort. I’m starting to believe that individuals should have licenses before they post this stuff.
This article says little to contradict the original premise. It is more details leading to the same conclusion.
“Yesterday, the official Facebook page of (noted misogynist and eugenics enthusiast) Richard Dawkins’”
This is where I stopped reading. You shot your whole wad of credibility right there. Those words, translated from Idiot to English mean “I’ve nothing of value to say on this subject.” Tell, me is he also a lot like Hitler?
He hasn’t exactly been subtle about both his disrespect for women and his enthusiasm for eugenics.
Excellent and tolerant post and then the Baptiste and all the others who preach at you come along, groan…….be tolerant, be tolerant, be tolerant…..groan…
Just remember carol, when a Liberal says something, they mean exactly the opposite. WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.
It all blends in with the leftwing concept of “blackwhite.”
your idea of tolerance is this ” (noted misogynist and eugenics enthusiast) Richard Dawkins “
I’m really confused. Maybe I just didn’t see it, or I don’t understand the blogging protocol, but most of this post seems to be from an article by Megan Mcardle at dailybeast. Or maybe Megan stole it from here? Did I miss the reference? Or is this her original??? There’s no references and her article there is more than half of this post word for word (minus the bit about RDF).
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/03/29/happy-easter-which-is-not-named-after-ishtar-okay.html
She references this article (there is a link), so she heavily borrowed from this article.
Look at he article dates. This one in 2013/03/28 and the one you reference in 2013/03/29. Question answered.
It’s awesome to see someone who does some real research. I truly enjoyed the article, it was very informative.
I totally agree with your findings. Easter has a strong western European influence vs ancient Sumarian. The fact that Easter and Ishtar sound similar is strictly confidential. Even though Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, and Easter’s pagan origins are based on fertility rites, doesn’t necessarily mean that Eastern stemmed from Ishtar ceremonies that had disappeared a couple of thousand years before Easter was introduced. When Xians introduced Easter, all of Europe was already celebrating one sort of Spring/Fertility festival or another. All the Xian church did was absorb it and redirect it’s meaning.
I totally agree with your findings. Easter has a strong western European influence vs ancient Sumarian. The fact that Easter and Ishtar sound similar is strictly coincidental. Even though Ishtar is the goddess of fertility, and Easter’s pagan origins are based on fertility rites, doesn’t necessarily mean that Eastern stemmed from Ishtar ceremonies that had disappeared a couple of thousand years before Easter was introduced. When Xians introduced Easter, all of Europe was already celebrating one sort of Spring/Fertility festival or another. All the Xian church did was absorb it and redirect it’s meaning.
Thank God, you made this! I need this like right now!
ACTUALLY, the association with Eostre and Easter isnt as strong as peopel seem to think either. For example, Epstre was not known to have been associated with Eggs and Rabbits in Antiquity. In fact, we don’t know anythign about her at all, even to the extent of her beign a Fertility goddess. The only mention fo her from the Ancient World is Bede, who says a Month was named after her, which happened to be the Month Pascha fell in thus why the Peopels of Britain call the Holidy Easter.
Bede never called Eostre a Fertility goddess and makes no reference to Eggs or Rbits.
Easter Eggs came from Germany in the 13th Century, and are not a Pagan Tradition. The Easter Bunny is a SPecifically Protestant creation, developed so as to not expose Children to Lent whilst expalinign the eggs. (Because the Coloured Eggs actually tie into Lent, in that they were the eggs laid in Holy Week and where died to honour he Feast of Passcha, in which the prohibition on Meat and airy waas lifted at the Feast on that day.
None of these “Pagan” customs actually tace to Paganism.
As for this Christian Holiday beign originally Pagan, thats wrong too. It developeout of Judiasm, and specificlalythe Passover.
Reblogged this on The Shattered Memory of a Broken Girl and commented:
reblogging because this is a great response to why that image is bullshit [and i keep seeing it being circulated around -_- ]
I wouldn’t compare teaching religion with learning other skills or subjects. Cooking, auto repair, math, sciences, and all of the world’s knowledge serves a purpose. (To ensure the survival of the knowledge holder and pass the information to its offspring) If someday you are able to fix your car or procure a meal by praying, then religion will have a tangible use other than dividing people.
You know, reducing Religion to nothing more than prayer and sayign its useless ignores the fact that Religion is mroe rhan just praying about things, or even beleiving that a god exists. Religion is actally nothign mroe han an active Philosophy. Religion explains the world we live in, how we live in it, what mroakls to hold, and other foundstional aspects of our natures and existence, and covers a ranfe of topics from Ethics to Self Relfecrion.
Whats worse, I’d argue that everyone has a Religion, even thoe who say they have no Religion, or even those ho denounce all Religion as Evil. Religion is the same thign ss “Worldview”, a popular new term.
Thus you’re teachign Religion when you teach how o cook or hwo to fix a car, or how to live.
That, I’d say, is useful. It is, in fact, indespinsable.
Religion is mainly a marvelously sinister means of controlling the behavior of a people….
Say what? lol Religion is belief in something without evidence, much different than a “world-view” based in fact…and certainly not the same as actual knowledge, such as a trade skill. We don’t need religion for ethics and morals, it served it’s purpose back when we were tribal sheep herders but we have a better understanding of why good behavior is preferable, to both an individual and to society, without an invisible sky man to guide us. And I certainly don’t need religion to fix my car or to cook a steak. If nobody told you about religion, your life (and the facts within it) would be the exact same if not MORE accurate without that indoctrination.
Say what? lol Religion is belief in something without evidence, much different than a “world-view” based in fact…and certainly not the same as actual knowledge, such as a trade skill. We don’t need religion for ethics and morals, it served it’s purpose back when we were tribal sheep herders but we have a better understanding of why good behavior is preferable, to both an individual and to society, without an invisible sky man to guide us. And I certainly don’t need religion to fix my car or to cook a steak. If nobody told you about religion, your life (and the facts within it) would be the exact same if not MORE accurate without that indoctrination. As for the article, he may have gotten the wrong goddess, but the rest of the message is pretty accurate; Easter isn’t just about Jesus. In fact there’s no real evidence Jesus ever existed.
In course of time I realised that to acquire knowledge one has to constantly be alert and question and answer and upgrade. Not all people like it and mostly all of people don’t like it. In religion, its relaxing just follow the bull and later shit. How many of us think and question? What answers you get? Does it matter to religious people how things work?
I should say, its a frog in the well story……..If you have that urge to question and look for answer, u have to stop following shit and then bull….
If you ask Jesus now, whata easter is all about….he deffenately replied…Easter what???
I think he’d get it, given that Easter is actually just the English term for Pasover…
Actually, Passover IS already an English word. The traditional word is Pesach.
He would have replied, its not Easter but, ISTHAR………
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html
Hi, I believe in our Creator and the Messiah. I love him with all my heart and I do my best to honor him in all I do. I look for the truth and I hate when people lie about My Creator as well as u do but I feel that a lot of the things now in days Christians do have been highly influenced by the wrong people. That we have been tricked.
You are right about Ishtar’s symbols not being a rabbit nor egg, but Ishtar ,which translates to Easter , has very much to do with both rabbits and eggs. She also has very much to do with the evergreen tree that is used during the Christmas holiday.
Out Saviour’s goodness and love and truth and word has been twisted and ployed with so successfully by the Roman Catholic Church that It is hard to know what is really deception and truth.
I would very much love if you took the time to look at the website I have listed below. Hopefully it can help you.
Let the Saviour bless you.
http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/tracts/tract1.html
CAN I ask you a question? I hear all the Tiem that Ishtar translates to Easter or that it is pronoucned Easter. Well, what’s the soruce for this information? I don’t mean last Trumpet Minitties, I want to know aht actual evidence there is for these claims?
The facts aren’t goign to back you. Ishtar was a goddess in the Near East, not in Britain. Her worship never expanded past the Medeternian. Why woudl the Ancoeitmn inhabitants of England call a Holiday after a goddess they had never heard of?
it’s not like the Holioday is called “Easter” by all Christaisneverywhere. Most call it pascha, or soem varient of Pascha, and only in English is it Easter. In German is it Ostern. Everywhere else its Pascha.
Why woudl British or German peopels name the Holiday after Ishtar?
And what real evidence do you have of the Evergreen connection to Christmas?
Also, didn’t it take too logn for the Christmas Tree to appear to assume it came from Paganism? Its not liek Christmas Trees were used in the Middle Ages. They first began as a Protestant custom in Germany in the 1500’s.
Easter is when Jesus comes out of his cave and sees his shadow..
This post that someone sent me today tells me nothing; no real concrete information, no sources, nothing i.e. “no it does not come from Ishtar, ‘believe me'”. Oh and I know many Christians that are tolerant of the fact that Christianity has adopted paganism, “don’t worry about it, you should too”. Feel sorry for those Christians, be tolerant, cause we have bought all the lies spewed forth from the lying media and we know better. The oligarchy has done an excellent job in dumbing down this humanity.
A post for the lazy (those that will never really do the research), internet pseudo scholarship and people who continue to look for a scapegoat.
EXCEPOT, the claism that Christainity has adopted Paganism are not True. Why dont you look up Easterin the Encyclopedia Britannica?
Ont, would you consider this post ironic, then?
“If there is one thing that drives me absolutely bananas, it’s people spreading misinformation via social media under the guise of ‘educating’”.
Perhaps the author was trying to communicate to people who use misinformation to attack others’ beliefs to have some respect:
“Go ahead and tell Christians why what they believe is wrong. That’s totally fine and, in fact, I encourage it. A little debate and critical thinking are good for everyone. But do it intelligently … and have some compassion, for Christ’s sake – be polite and respectful when you enter into a debate…”
It’s funny when people attempt to fervently debunk something because it “drives them bananas” when people spread misinformation, and then end up doing it themselves… 😉 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/23/easter-pagan-roots
It’s funny when people get so annoyed at the spreading of misinformation and end up doing it themselves: https://bellejar.ca/2013/03/28/easter-is-not-named-after-ishtar-and-other-truths-i-have-to-tell-you/
tbh i don’t know what to believe now but I’ll welcome interesting ideas and rites associated with rebirth if they fit into my own paradigm 🙂 surely that’s the purpose of religion anyway
woops, i meant to post this link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/23/easter-pagan-roots
The word Easter appears once in the King James version of the Bible.Herod has put Peter in prison, “intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people” (Acts 12:4). Yet in the original Greek text the word is not Easter, but Pesach, that is Passover. So why was the name changed? Please read on, and remember Exodus 34:14; For you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous G-d.
“Asherah” the Greek form of this word from the Septuagint is “Astarte”, who is the Babylonian goddess of the sea, sea being symbolic of people, and consort of the god El. She was the mother of several gods, including Ba’al, the Babylonian god of the sun. These deities were soon adopted by the Canaanites when they named these female deities the Asherah or Asherim. These deities were made of wood carved from a type of evergreen tree, or often they were set up in Canaanite homes as full trees cut down from a forest. The Asherim normally were highly acknowledged during two specific occasions. First and foremost, they were the fertility gods of the spring equinox, when the days and nights were approximately the same in length, signifying the beginning of living things growing for the summer season. A very common practice in the Canaanite religion was performed on the first Sunday of the equinox. The families would face east to await the rising of the sun, which was the chief symbol of the sun god, Ba’al. Later on during the day, the children of the Canaanite parents would often go and hunt for eggs, which were symbolic of sex, fertility and new life. It was believed that these eggs came from rabbits, which in the pagan world were symbolic of lust, sexual prowess and reproduction. The Canaanites, however, were not the only ones who worshiped rabbits as deities. The Egyptians and the Persians (Babylon) also held rabbits in high esteem because they believed that rabbits first came from the divine Phoenix birds, who once ruled the ancient skies until they were attacked by other gods in a power struggle. When they were struck down, they reincarnated into rabbits, but kept the ability to produce eggs like the ancient birds to show their origins.
Other stories concerning the egg rose later in the Middle Ages by the Anglo-Saxons, where they believed the origin of the Universe had the earth being hatched out of an enormous egg. Decorating eggs came about to honor their pagan gods and were often presented as gifts to other families to bring them fertility and sexual success during the coming year. And secondly, they were highly worshiped and celebrated during the winter solstice. As according to Jer. 10:1-5; Is. 40:19-20; 41:7 and 44:9-20, the pagans would go out into the forest and do one of two things. Either they chopped down a tree and carved a female deity out of it, or they would simply bring the tree into the house and decorate it with gold and silver ornaments symbolizing the sun and the moon while nailing a stand on the bottom so it would not totter or tip over.
Out of this practice came many other variations of these pagan festivals until the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Asherah worship and named it EASTER around 155 A.D. According to the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, Easter was named after a pagan goddess of the Anglo-Saxons named Eostre, the goddess of the dawn. A great controversy arose between the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in 325 A.D. on whether to celebrate Easter on Sundays or on whatever day the Jewish Passover fell upon. Unfortunately, the Greeks lost a lot of followers and the Catholics contended that keeping Easter on Sundays would stimulate the practices of both the Christian world and the pagan worshipers. Note that the word CATHOLIC means “universal” or “one world” in thought, concept and practice. Hence, since the original practice of Asherah worship we now have in our time the celebration of Easter, a counterfeit holiday to the true Christian festival of the Passover which was instituted in the Bible and completed in the New Testament when Christ died on the cross as our Passover Lamb.
“…For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
You do know that the abive “Information” you have provided us via cut and past lacks nay substantiatign evidence, right?
The name “Easter” is unique in English. While it may be Related to the German ostern, most Languages call the Holiday we call Easter “Pascha”, or some variation on Pascha.
The Holidya is called Easter in English for an unknown Reason. The Pagan Link traces to Bede, but all Bede said was that the aschal Season was reffered to as Easter due to it fallign in the Month of Easter. He says this month was named after a goddess called Eostre.
We have no evidnece that Epstre was a fertility goddess or that anyoen celebrated her aroudn the Tiem Christains do Pascha.
By the way, the Catholic Encycliopedia is a ltte 19th or ealy 20th century volume, written when the “History of Religions’ school fo thoguth was taken as Valid. Its been discredited for 150 Years now.
Asherah is a Caananite Goddess, or the Jewish version of the Caanantie Goddess. (see William Dever). The Bible has a lot of mistranslations, because when it was translated people didn’t understand Hebrew and Greek very well and substituted the old English instead. The King James is rife with it.
In the book The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hislop, we read: “What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, . . . as found by Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar. . . . Such is the history of Easter. The popular observances that still attend the period of its celebration amply confirm the testimony of history as to its Babylonian character. The hot cross buns of Good Friday, and the dyed eggs of Pasch or Easter Sunday, figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now.”—(New York, 1943), pp. 103, 107, 108; compare Jeremiah 7:18.
Hislop made a lot of what he said uop, so do you have any evidence other than him?
Some more contemporary religion scholars also posit a relationship, though a bit more complex: http://awaypoint.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/ancient-sumerian-origins-of-the-easter-story/
What you fail to recognize is that Ostara/Eoster is Ishtar is Astarte is Inanna is Aphrodite is Cybele is Frigga is Hathor. All of the old gods are the same. Their names altered as humans spread around the globe and new languages were formed. But they are all the same.
That cannot be proven. It’s a nice idea but, ultimately, nothing more.
Nor can it be disproved, and it has the ring of truth. Stories change as they travel. It is this very phenomenon which we are all taking part in here.
To my mind, Jay makes a good point here about archetypes. Christianity borrows many of these, and does not deserve more weight than any other god-story.
The ancient peoples were polytheistic. The fact that you think all gods are one does not change the fact that the ancient peoples did not.
Reblogged this on isobelblackthorn and commented:
A pertinent and timely piece.
It’s so cute when you go bananas on little things like this, acknowledge a few of the many things Christians misrepresent/coopt, foam at the mouth about Dawkins, etc….Yet don’t apply anywhere near the same standards with Christianity. “It’s faith y’all “, seems to cover everything for you.
Reblogged this on The Animist's Craft and commented:
It takes a lot for me to reblog something, but this is just perfect. Having watched this meme float about on the internet for a year or two now, I have been frustrated and irritated by it in equal measure. I have a rather soft spot for the goddess Eostre so seeing Easter quite incorrectly attributed to Ishtar is annoying. I don’t suppose Ishtar’s followers are overly impressed either. Imagine my surprise on hearing that the meme had been posted to Dawkins own Facebook page perpetuating the misinformation to thousands, presumably by his own fair hand, without having stopped to think critically about it. Oh the irony. To me this illustrates precisely what is wrong with Dawkensian Atheism, a polemic against all religion which, when closely examined is actually just informed by Abrahamic Monotheism and usually misinformed at that. As a pagan, I usually find myself baffled and amused by his thinking. Either way, this is a great article about something very seasonal, so I though I would share.
This is a very respectfully presented informational article that was clearly written with care. Just as an observer, it has always intrigued me that humans in general will debate passionately about this sort of topic, often citing one resource of information or another and defending its validity.
From 10000 feet up, With any historical account, even recent history, the best we can do is look to human created and preserved information some of which was created more than 100 years after alleged actual events.
Even many current events documented by the news, experts or other sources comes from humans who offer it in good faith, yet since they are human it can’t help being skewed by perspective, opinion and other paradigms.
In the end truth and reality are what we choose to perceive them as being. Someday I hope we are able to really come together with all of our varying understandings, open minds and in sincerity draw on all sources of equally valid pieces of knowledge to better understand the world around us and its people. We are all only human after all, even the creators of information classified as divine.
Sincerely,
A humble student of life
Indeed. A lot of people who try to attack traditional ideas do so in a completely inappropriate and often irrational way. There is a large group of people who even try to point out flaws in modern science and scholarship by addressing some uncertainties and using them as ‘proof’ that science has it all wrong and that in fact everything we are unsure about was done by magic, alien technology or unknown civilizations.
About sacred prostitution: a few years ago I wrote my master’s essay on it and found that, besides Herodotos, a few other ancient (mostly Greek or Greek-influenced) writers mention something similar in Corinth, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Italy, but after a good research I found that these accounts weren’t about either something sacred or prostitution. The sort of rite of passage that Herodotos describes wasn’t effectively prostitution, and in other accounts it is prostitution but there’s nothing ritual about it – in fact, temples could own brothels to make money, but the prostitutes in them were often slaves who weren’t allowed inside the sacred area of the temple for some days if they had had sex.
After I finished this research I came upon an American professor, Stephanie Lynn Budin, who had gone further into this and even challenges the existence of the rites of passage completely. If you’re into it, read: S. L. Budin (2008), The Myth of Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity, Cambridge University Press.
Awesome info! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this. I enjoy your humor as well as all the detail to express and explain yourself and the facts!!
Well done!
I will pray for you that truth enter your life!One word for ya,Semiramis!Look her up,she was the queen of Babylon!Please know what you speak of before you call it truth!
Ostara, “the divinity of the radiant dawn” (Grimm), is doubtlessly a reincarnation of Ishtar, who the Babylonians called “the morning star” and “the perfect light.”
Except Grimm made up everything he said about Ostara. There are absolutely zero attestations of “the divinity of the radiant dawn” or any other information about this supposed goddess. The one thing we have is Bede who said because Pascha falls in the month the English called Eostormonath the English called the “new rite by the name of the old month, named after Eostre.” Note he even says “the new rite” indicating that what is done for Pascha/Easter was not something ancient and carried over, it was something completely new to the English.