# Snopes gets a Easter Myth wrong **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 8, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145 "2015-04-08T18:28:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/1 "2015-04-08T18:28:13Z")
“In northern Europe, the hare was considered sacred to Eastre, and therefore was not to be hunted” Read more at [Easter Lore and Superstitions | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/easter/easterlore.asp#AwVMOI3muMuppKJG.99) This is totally without any period evidence. In fact almost nothing is known about the worship of Eostre other than a one line mention by the Venerable Bede. Rabbit bones are commonly found in European middens. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/2 "2015-04-08T18:30:54Z")
You’re going to split hares with Snopes? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/3 "2015-04-08T18:34:25Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “In northern Europe, the hare was considered sacred to Eastre, and therefore was not to be hunted” > Read more at [Easter Lore and Superstitions | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/easter/easterlore.asp#AwVMOI3muMuppKJG.99) > > This is totally without any period evidence. \*\* In fact almost nothing is known about the worship of Eostre other than a one line mention by the Venerable Bede.\*\* Rabbit bones are commonly found in European middens. Then how do you know they got it wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/4 "2015-04-08T18:39:43Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Then how do you know they got it wrong? The same reason most of what we “know” about Atlantis is wrong. Somebunny… I mean, somebody made it up based on the fragments from an ancient text. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/5 "2015-04-08T18:43:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “In northern Europe, the hare was considered sacred to Eastre, and therefore was not to be hunted” > Read more at [Easter Lore and Superstitions | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/easter/easterlore.asp#AwVMOI3muMuppKJG.99) > > This is totally without any period evidence. In fact almost nothing is known about the worship of Eostre other than a one line mention by the Venerable Bede. Rabbit bones are commonly found in European middens. Hmmm…I copied the phrase “hare was considered sacred to Eastre” and plugged it into Google. The first hit was [http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-ostara-easter-bunny.htm](http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-ostara-easter-bunny.htm), and it states there: > [@](#): > > The Hare was sacred in many ancient traditions and was associated with the moon goddesses and the various deities of the hunt. In ancient times eating the Hare was prohibited except at Beltane (Celts) and the festival of Ostara (Anglo-Saxons), when a ritual hare-hunt would take place. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/6 "2015-04-08T18:48:38Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Hmmm…I copied the phrase “hare was considered sacred to Eastre” and plugged it into Google. The first hit was [http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-ostara-easter-bunny.htm](http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/goddess-ostara-easter-bunny.htm), and it states there: Yes, from a New Age Pagan site: - a site to celebrate, to nurture, and to share understandings of the goddess in every woman. - I am sure they are lovely people with good hearts, but their site has absolutely no ethnographic or historical value. from wiki: - Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Eostre’s honor, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus…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."[4].\* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/7 "2015-04-08T18:59:40Z")
Here’s a interesting cite that has a old English custom that makes eating of rabbit a requirement around Easter: > **[Custom survived: Hallaton Hare Pie Scramble and Bottlekicking](https://traditionalcustomsandceremonies.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/custom-survived-hallaton-hare-pie-scramble-and-bottlekicking/)** > > Beer, Pie and a fight…the average night out in town! Hallaton is one of those villages if visited, outside Easter Monday, it would be quiet serene and probably completely empty…but go o… \*Some authorities drawn reference to the hare aspect and of course hare hunting was often undertaken at the time. This may be because this usual corpuscular creature is very often seen frolicking in the fields at March and so became easy game. Folklorists would prefer to believe that it was a sacrifice to the Saxon Goddess Eostre. \* ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/8 "2015-04-08T19:48:10Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > “In northern Europe, the hare was considered sacred to Eastre, and therefore was not to be hunted” > Read more at [Easter Lore and Superstitions | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/easter/easterlore.asp#AwVMOI3muMuppKJG.99) > > This is totally without any period evidence. In fact almost nothing is known about the worship of Eostre other than a one line mention by the Venerable Bede. Rabbit bones are commonly found in European middens. Rabbits and hares are not the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/9 "2015-04-08T23:46:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > corpuscular :mad: Someone needs an editor. Crepuscular, dammit! Bloody lagomorphs… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/10 "2015-04-09T00:28:08Z")
Presenting, the only [Urban Dictionary](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crapuscular) entry to ever make me laugh out loud. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/11 "2015-04-09T03:16:18Z")
There’s a list of references at the bottom of the snopes page. Why don’t you email them and ask which cite they got that part from? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/12 "2015-04-09T17:00:50Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > There’s a list of references at the bottom of the snopes page. Why don’t you email them and ask which cite they got that part from? I did email them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/13 "2015-04-09T22:37:59Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I did email them. Then why are you out her accusing them without first hearing what they have to say? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/14 "2015-04-09T22:44:12Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Then why are you out her accusing them without first hearing what they have to say? Do you think they are going to send me a response? They have not done so to date. And, I emailed them on two other issues. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/15 "2015-04-10T00:25:37Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > from wiki: > > - Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Eostre’s honor, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus…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."[4].\* OK, so to follow this down the rabbit-hole 🙂 - the [wikipedia Eostre article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre#cite_note-BOYLE323-324-19) references “[The Hare in Myth and Reality](http://www.jstor.org/stable/1259837?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)” by John Andrew Boyle in _Folklore_ for Bede as the sole attestation to Eostre the ‘goddess’ - also has much to say about the taboo against eating hare: > [@John Andrew Boyle](#): > > The taboo, observed amongst so many peoples, against eating the flesh of the hare is compared by the authors with the modern repugnance to eating horsemeat. ‘The horse,’ they say… > > [digression about the taboo against horsemeat snipped] > > …Whether the Continental Celts observed the taboo against eating hare flesh we are nowhere informed. On the other hand in the description of Britain interpolated in Book V of Caeser’s Com-mentaries we are told that the inhabitants of the island considered hares, chickens and geese as forbidden food, but did, nevertheless, keep these animals as pets.30 We know too that both in Wales and in Ireland a prejudice against eating the flesh of the hare has survived into modern times.31 The taboo seems to have been unknown to the Germanic peoples. So there’s a prohibition on eating hares in some British/Welsh/Irish traditions, a goddess named Oestre about whom little is known, and Barbara Mikkelson may have conflated the two? That’s the whole of it? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/16 "2015-04-10T01:26:14Z")
I called Barb on something once. It got changed and she denied it had ever said that. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/17 "2015-04-10T03:16:34Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > OK, so to follow this down the rabbit-hole 🙂 - the [wikipedia Eostre article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre#cite_note-BOYLE323-324-19) references “[The Hare in Myth and Reality](http://www.jstor.org/stable/1259837?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)” by John Andrew Boyle in _Folklore_ for Bede as the sole attestation to Eostre the ‘goddess’ - also has much to say about the taboo against eating hare: > > So there’s a prohibition on eating hares in some British/Welsh/Irish traditions, a goddess named Oestre about whom little is known, and Barbara Mikkelson may have conflated the two? That’s the whole of it? Looks like she got it from some New-Age type site such as Clothahump found. There is some scant evidence about the Welsh and not eating hare or rabbit (hence the occasional joke about _Welsh Rabbit_ which may be totally wrong in any case). But the Welsh were not Germanic and had nothing to do with Oestre . The thing is, every year there’s a UL about Oestre and she being the root of all our easter traditions- bunnies, eggs, etc. :rolleyes::dubious: However, the Bede is our only source for Oestre, with one mention, and a few think he made it up anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/18 "2015-04-10T09:03:18Z")
> [@wevets](#): > > OK, so to follow this down the rabbit-hole 🙂 We were talking about _hares_. Bad [form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare#Differences_from_rabbits), old chap. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/19 "2015-04-10T13:40:03Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > We were talking about _hares_. Bad [form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare#Differences_from_rabbits), old chap. I see what you did hare! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145/20 "2015-04-10T17:10:46Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > We were talking about _hares_. Bad [form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare#Differences_from_rabbits), old chap. From your link: _While oft repeated that the hare was associated with the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, and that pagan symbols were appropriated into the Christian tradition as the Easter Bunny, no primary sources support this myth. It seems to be a modern invention.[21]_ wiki also lists many ways hares were prepared as a _traditional European_ dish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snopes-gets-a-easter-myth-wrong/717145.md?page=2)