Eastre or Ostara was an Anglo Saxon or Germanic goddess of the rising sun. She was only mentioned once by any writer and he was the Venerable Bede in De Temporum Ratione. Since the Bede does not have a sense of humor and he hates heretics and heathens, if he mentioned her worship, then she had to have been real.
She gave her name to Easter in the countries where the Germanic languages rule, otherwise people followed the Biblical word for it, 'pascha'. Easter is Pacques in French.
Grimm stated that she seemed to have a male counterpart in the Norse Eddas, Austri, but that Easter was not his feast. They seemed to have lost the goddess, if they ever worshipped her at all. Hence the Norse call Easter 'Paskir'.
The name comes from the direction of the rising sun, Ost. Bonfires were lit at Easter. As when the sun rises on Easter Sunday morning, he gives three joyful leaps. Me, too. Water drawn on the Easter morning is holy and healing. It would be nice to know more about this goddess but the Medieval Christians thought these matters were not worth preserving. Pity really, I would like to know how the egg and the bunny fit in.
(image from Wikicommons)
