# Easter

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter/57652>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 12, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter/57652 "2001-03-12T15:14:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter/57652/1 "2001-03-12T15:14:46Z")

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Isn’t easter a holiday that was sort of hi jacked from an old fertility cult?  
Wasn’t there a “godess” named Astarte or something that people worshipped and got together in early spring to celebrate new life?

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**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter/57652/2 "2001-03-12T15:19:43Z")

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Well, the egg and the rabbit are pagan fertility symbols. And the whole “height of spring” thing coincides with a key point in the Pagan calander.

And that “easter” does sound an awful lot like the fertility goddes “Oestre” or something like that.

So… yeah, probably.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easter/57652/3 "2001-03-12T22:14:06Z")

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In Greek and the Romance languages, and some other languges, the name of the holiday is derived from Hebrew _Pesach_ (“Passover”). Hence French _Pâques_, Spanish _Pascua florida_, Italian _Pasqua_, Finnish _Pääsiäinen_, Dutch _Pasen_, etc. English “Easter” and German “Ostern” are of uncertain origin. The most commonly given etymology is that the day is named after a Germanic goddess of the dawn whose name is spelled many ways, including “Eastre” and “Eostre”, a fertility goddess who was celebrated on the vernal equinox. The name is related to Latin _Aurora_, the Roman goddess of the dawn. Another theory is that “Easter” is a corruption of Latin _alba_, “white”, from the Latin name for Easter week, _hebdomada alba_.