Easter: A Pagan Goddess, a Christian Holiday, and their Contested History

As the Easter season approaches each year, commonly heard questions ask: why does the festival not fall on the same date each year, and how do its name and symbols (notably eggs and bunnies) relate to the Christian story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? A simple search of the internet will provide a bewildering volume of information and misinformation that claims to answer these questions. The issue has become something of culture war between traditional Christian interpretations and the views of people following alternative forms of spirituality and neopaganism. An often-heard argument is that Easter was originally named after a spring or dawn goddess, who was symbolised by the hare and the egg, and whose name, festival and symbols were later appropriated by the Christians. The purpose of this book is to explore the principal claims and counter claims that now surround the goddess Eostre (recorded once by the Venerable Bede in 725 AD) and the origins of the Christian paschal festival. It critically examines the substance and history of these ideas from their earliest sources to the present day.

“This valuable book brings much-needed clarity to the contentious debate about the history of Easter. Scholarly, cogent and informative, it provides a thorough and authoritative analysis of the competing arguments and myths. Richard Sermon not only skillfully explores the medieval evidence, but also shows how modern misconceptions about this subject have developed and spread. This is essential reading for anyone interested in Anglo-Saxon paganism and the history of the festival year.” – Eleanor Parker, author of Winters in the World: A Journey through the Anglo-Saxon Year

“A well-documented, multi-disciplinary journey through space and time, Easter: A Pagan Goddess, a Christian Holiday and their Contested History has to be essential reading for anyone interested in either the pagan religions of England or the background of the word Easter. Chasing down the bunnies and delving deep inside the dark spaces that lurk inside the chocolate eggs, this wide-ranging and carefully researched book undertakes a worthy Arthurian quest to trace the pre-Christian background of our modern-day Easter festival and the traditions associated with it.” – Terry Gunnell, Professor Emeritus of Folkloristics, University of Iceland

RICHARD SERMON is a graduate of the Dorset Institute of Higher Education (now Bournemouth University) and the University of Southampton, with almost forty years' professional engagement in British field archaeology and heritage protection. His formal career began at the Museum of London where as a senior archaeologist he supervised excavations in the historic City of London and in 1990 correctly identified the Gresham Street medieval mikveh (Jewish ritual bath). He went on to hold senior positions as deputy director of the Scottish Urban Archaeological Trust, and following a move into local government, as city archaeologist for Gloucester and finally as county archaeologist for Bath and North East Somerset. He has related interests in musicology, linguistics, and folklore, having written on various subjects ranging from medieval bone flutes and the origins of the pipe and tabor, to the philology of wassailing and the use of folkloric motifs in the 1973 cult horror film The Wicker Man (Luath Press 2006). His work has been published in Bristol & Avon Archaeology, Current Archaeology, Decies, Folklore, Glevensis, Jewish Historical Studies, Northern History, Oxoniensia, Time & Mind, and the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, along with other periodicals and journals. In this volume he returns to the subject of early calendars and festivals in Britain and Ireland, pulling together much of his earlier work and introducing a wide range of new or previously under-researched material.