Page 3 - March newsletter 2023

nest in the trees above before it’s mother could sit on it the little rabbit have continued to bring decorated eggs
and warm it. Although she was sad that the egg would- to children in the Spring. They are called Ēostre’s Bun-
n’t have a chance to be hatched, it was such a lovely and nies. . . or, as we know them today, the Easter Bunny.
unspoiled thing that she wondered that perhaps it would
make a perfect gift to her beloved Goddess Ēostre! Ēostre (pronounced yow·str and also known as
Ostara), is a possible Germanic goddess of spring and
But, she thought, surely the great Spring Goddess the dawn. In the old Germanic calendar, the month of
Ēostre had all the gifts she could possibly want! How April was called “Ōstarmānod” – or Easter-month.
could she, a small rabbit make this egg a beautiful and
special gift to honour her? She thought and thought We are not entirely sure whether Ēostre was actu-
about it and then she came up with a wonderful idea, ally worshipped as a goddess in times long ago. The 8th
What do you think she decided to do? century monk the Venerable Bede wrote that pagan An-
glo-Saxons in medieval Northumbria held festivals in
Yes, you are right! She decided to decorate it! her honour, but there is some speculation that he made
She carefully pushed the egg back home to the burrow this up. In 1835 Jacob Grimm wrote in his Deutsche
and her mother showed her brothers and sisters how to Mythologie that Ēostre seems to have “the divinity of
colour the egg with the beautiful blues, greys, purples the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that
and greens of the spring woods. They all worked togeth- brings joy and blessing, whose meaning could be easily
er on it and before long, the egg was as beautiful as it adapted by the resurrection-day of the Christian’s
could possibly be. God.”

When they brought the beautifully decorated egg Whether or not they are based on actual tales that
to Ēostre she was utterly delighted with this perfect were told in the past, there are many stories and leg-
symbol of new life that so honoured and expressed the ends about Ēostre and her association with rabbits and
beauty of the natural world during the Springtime. In hares. If you are curious to find out about others, check
fact, she was so pleased with it that she showed the egg out this article: Ostara and the Hare: Not Ancient, but
to all the other woodland beings and eventually news of not as Modern as some Skeptics Think.
it spread to the human world. Before long, everyone,
especially children (who themselves are symbols of new And for more on the rich and abundant folklore
life) began to enjoy decorating eggs too! about rabbits and hares themselves, here is Terri
Windling’s post “Into the Woods” 43: The Folkore of
And since that day long ago, the descendants of Rabbits and Hares.

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