Ostara _ rituals, recipes, & lore for the spring equinox ( PDFDrive )

all. While most gods and goddesses have many myths and stories surrounding
them, this can’t be said for Eostre.
One modern story is found regarding Eostre (other than the claim Easter is
named after her). In the story of Eostre, we are told that one day in the winter
she found a poor, helpless injured bird that was dying. In order to save the bird’s
life she turned the bird into a hare, but the change didn’t fully take place. While
the bird now looked like a hare, it still had the ability to lay eggs. The hare
decorated the eggs and then gave them to Eostre as gifts for saving her life. But
where did this story come from?
This story is actually based on an Ukranian folk tale that explains the origin of
pysanky—the beautifully decorated eggs. Eric A. Kimmel retold this tale under
the title The Birds’ Gift. The version including Eostre was first published by
Sarah Ban Breathnach in Mrs. Sharp’s Traditions. From there the story spread,
partially through the Internet, until it ended up in the children’s magazine
Cricket under the title “The Coming of Eostre.” (Dickman, 16)
Author Adrian Bott gives us this timeline of the connection of Eostre with
hares and shows us how what many people believe to be a “tradition” was
actually born:
725 CE: Bede mentions Eostre. He does not associate her with hares.
1835: Grimm, in Deustche Mythologie, postulates
Ostara; he does not associate Eostre with hares.
1874: Adolf Holtzmann states “probably the hare was the sacred animal of
Ostara.”
1883: K. A. Oberle also states “probably the hare was the sacred animal of
Ostara.”
1890: Charles Isaac Elton states that Easter customs at “Hare-pie Bank” at
“Harecrop Leys” “were probably connected with the worship of the Anglian
goddess Eostre.”
1892: Charles J. Billson refers to Oberle’s association of the hare with
Ostara as a conclusion, rather than as a speculation.
1944: John Lanyard states that “the Saxon Easter Goddess does seem to have
been connected with the hare.”