Is Easter a pagan goddess?

Easter comes originally from the name of a pagan Anglo-Saxon goddess called Ēostre. This video tells you all there is to know about her and also looks at other Indo-European dawn goddesses around Europe and Asia to whom she is related!

Art by Christian Sloan Hall

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[Manannan_mac_Lir]

I do appreciate the longer videos that you do to fully explore the origins of our culture, but this was very concise and to the point.

Thanks for helping to keep the history alive!

[thMkey]

everyone knows easter is when the cadbury easter bunny rolled the rock away from jesus' tomb, freeing him from humanities prison. and he was given special colored chocolate eggs because you'd be hungry too after 3 days with no food...

[TheHeathenCoalition]

Happy Springtide! As someone who is named 'Dawn' I've always taken a liking to Eostre, Eos, etc. Another kenning for the dawn, or daybreak is 'Day-Spring.'

[IrishEyes]

Thank you for this. I really appreciate your videos. I homeschool my kids, and your videos are a major source for teaching them history. I am just waiting for you to release the homeschool history curriculum for folks like us😉

[belisloven]

It's called "The great night" in Slovenian. I think that's quite neat.

[Jon-mhlk]

1:16 Short correction:
Even most Germans don't know that, but as all traditional Germanic words (excluding some verbs with prefixes) are stressed on the first syllable, the Name Ōstara has to be pronounced with a long ō.
This was normal in OHG, but sounds strange in modern German.
Therefore most people pronounce it wrong... It also makes the name sound less German in a way, which makes it also believable that it's a fabrication.

Jacob Grimm also mentioned an early modern version of the name: "Ostra", which is much better pronounceable in modern German.
I would favour this orthography.

[babylonsburning]

That's why East is where the dawn rises from.

[nullgravity]

Interesting concept: if the winter solstice is the midnight of the year, and spring is the dawn of the year, then the dawn in spring is the dawn of dawns.

[oscartango]

So great to see another STJ video! Best Pagan content on YouTube!

[bunddeutscherunitarier]

Thank you for your important work!
Freyja's epithet Mardöll probably means "sea-brightener" and adds evidence for her identity as a goddess of dawn rising from the ocean.
For those who understand German we have uploaded a paper on this subject in the Abholfach of our website.

[wybuchowyukomendant]

I don't think there is a single christian holiday that's not connected with a pagan counterpart. Here in Poland even the small ones are pretty obviously pagan in nature.

[majesticslightlyoutoffocus]

Thank you Tom - you are doing such great work. You bring us back to the true and the transcendent.

[PaintPlastic]

Is there a connection between "East" in "Easter" and the fact that the sun rises in the east?

[DCMarvelMultiverse]

Wonder what you think of Religion for Breakfast's video saying she never existed.

[thelonelyarrikirri]

1:45 i am a little confused here. You say Beltane, but the festival of Brigid is Imbolc and she is connected to the fire of Kildare, not the fire of Uisneach.

[quezcatol]

I joined youtube back in 2006 and I seen a lot of channels, but survive the jive is one of the best - great content as always!

[jeremyhennessee]

Very informative video.

Its Concise and straightforward without seeming overbearingly pedantic or boring. ( which is actually pretty hard for many serious history scholar types to pull off ive noticed. At least while sticking to observable/recorded facts and not overreaching in their analysis.)

I'll definitely recommend and share your content with the few history loving friends i have. (I live in the rural south u.s.a., so im not exactly kicking my way through History Buffs/Scholars. But every view helps)

Love from Tennessee man.

[Inquisitor_Vex]

I was just wondering if you’d put anything out recently and this popped up. Perfect! 🍻

[ryanorionwotanson]

Very important and intriguing information, I really like this kind of research.

[martinm.]

A big thank you for your work Tom !!! Your videos are always highly interesting and well-researched !!! 👍

Greetings from Hungary