Reconstructing Ēostre

On March 25, Úthellingu Kindred held its monthly virtual meeting. Virtual Moot Coordinator Daniel Bullard, a reconstruction enthusiast, gave a presentation about the Anglo-Saxon dawn goddess, Ēostre, in celebration of the spring equinox.

Ēostre has almost no historical evidence or lore references to attest her existence and worship. Yet, her name is a familiar one in the Heathen community. According to Bullard’s research, there are at least nine incarnations of the name across various cultures and languages. One that is even better recognized, thanks to the Wiccan Wheel of the Year, is of German origin — Ostara. 

The earliest reference to Ēostre comes from the Laws of Ine of Wessex around the year 694, which mention the “Eastran” holiday. Later, in the 8th century, the Venerable Bede explained that she was celebrated with feasts during Ēosturmonath, or Ēostre month, at the start of the warm season. Bullard calculates that a historically accurate Ēostre celebration (Ēosturdæg) would fall anywhere between April 3 and May 1, depending on the year, given that modern Heathens follow a different calendar than the Anglo-Saxons.

Because of a lack of historical attestations, Bullard tracked mentions of Ēostre through cross-cultural comparisons of Ēostre-like figures with similar features and functions to the goddess Bede described. For this, he examined cultures adjacent to the Anglo-Saxons, which would be most likely to adopt and adapt the goddess from their neighbors.

Jacob Grimm proposed 'Ostara' as the German name for their dawn goddess. Eos and Aurora, of Greek and Roman origin respectively, were the dawn goddesses of their cultures and bear obvious etymological links to Ēostre. Additionally, the Lithuanian dawn goddess, Ausrine, and Vedic dawn goddess, Ushas, share many attributes with each other and their Greek and Roman counterparts. Common traits of the world’s dawn goddesses include spring festivals, earth mother/sky father parentage, bright and radiant appearances, the motif of sacrificial fire, and correlations with fertility, sexuality, pregnancy and birth.

By combining historical and cultural contexts with anecdotal experiences from the Heathen community, Bullard presents Ēostre as a vibrant, all-seeing, Anglo-Saxon dawn goddess who motivates, heals, and inspires with the light of the rising sun.