What Are the Pagan Easter Symbols? (I have friends who like to say “they go at it like rabbits” when discussing the sexual habits of others.) When Marcus eventually assumed the throne colored eggs began to be passed around throughout the Empire as a symbol of congratulations(2). According to the British historian Bede (673-735 CE) the word “Easter” comes from the name of a Germanic fertility goddess named Eostre, whose name was given to an entire month “Eostur-month,” and then eventually to one specific holiday occurring in that month, the one we now call Easter. Eggs were a common gift, and they were often given to priests in baskets.
“Easter” stirs up a lot of emotions on both sides of the religious divide, and deservedly so, but I’ve never understood why I can’t have my Marshmallow Peeps and eat them too.The word “Easter” is problematic for many reasons. (I remember lots of Easter Baskets as a kid piled with candy and a toy or two, and my family certainly didn’t associate it with Jesus.) Since many Modern Pagan traditions lack an April holiday, and I tend to think of April as the most “Spring-like” month, it’s nice to get an extra Spring holiday to celebrate, no matter what its origins. Eggs were also generally banned during the period of Lent, so people sometimes would decorate them as they waited on their Easter feast and the return to eating eggs.No matter how pagan certain beliefs are at Easter, it’s a very difficult holiday to ignore.
I’ve had a few Pagans accuse me of having a “secret Christian agenda” for hosting such a thing, at the same time some Christians have accused me of belittling their beliefs by serving hash-brown casserole so close to the Jewish Passover.
Theories connecting Ēostre with records of Germanic Easter customs, including hares and eggs, have been proposed. Eventually the eggs that were passed out were elaborately decorated, and the custom spread throughout the country. It seems likely that the Easter Bunny is an ancient pagan tradition (though the association of the bunny with the myth-less Eostra is most certainly a modern invention), but the first references to the Easter Bunny only date back to the 1500’s. That doesn’t mean the Easter Bunny didn’t exist before those first references to the Germanic Oschter Haws (or Osterhase), it just can’t be documented.While colored eggs were shared in the Ancient World, there’s no continuous history linking the colored egg of pagandom to the Easter Egg.