Mr. Fleez' Agony Session #22: Origins.

Dear Fleabag,

I have a report on cultures and customs where I have to talk about differnt stuff like holidays and traditions. My "study buddy' says that Easter is from the nature loving druids. Is that true?

Yours Boredly,
Danny Boy.


Dear Danny Boy,

You may be surprised to learn that questions pertaining to the origins of religious traditions are fairly commonplace. In fact, I have answered this particular question on multiple occasions, as well as similar questions regarding Christmas and Lent. Setting aside your initial insult and obvious lack of grammar awareness, however, I've decided to answer you for the benefit of others who may harbor similar curiosities.

While some historians will gladly agree with your study buddy about the so-called Christian holiday, Easter, its true foundation dates back much farther than the druids. In fact, the word Easter comes from the name Hester, which is Aramaic for the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility, and military prowess. Because her followers looked to her for crop fertility, her main festivals took place in spring and autumn. With such a basis, is it any wonder that the rabbit and egg, two obvious symbols of fertility, figure prominently in this celebration?

Since many of Ishtar's traditions and festivals have, in one form or another, continued throughout history, it can be said that she has remained popular with every successive world power since the overthrow of Babylon by the Medes and Purrsians. This shouldn't come as a surprise, though; the nature of her festivals and rituals of worship were, to put it mildly, sensual. Both the Greeks and Romans had their own fertility goddesses. Aphrodite (Greek) had her starts in an old-Asian goddess with direct connections to Ishtar and the Syro-Palestinian goddess Ashtart. Venus (Roman) originally began as a goddess of vegetation and crop fertility, but under Greek influence, she assumed many of the qualities of Aphrodite.

We ought not forget the one aspect of Ishtar that is often overlooked, and that was her position as guardian of Babylon's power in war. This was the position of the Roman goddess Vesta. Initially Vesta was a goddess of domestic affairs, much like the goddess Hestia of the Greeks. Hestia and Vesta were both virgins, refusing to be wooed by anyone, and like Ishtar, their happiness was directly associated with the well-being of their respective nations (with the Greeks the metropolis and with the Romans the state.) The names of both Hestia and Vesta have direct connections to Ishtar (Hester).

As you can see, the origin of Easter is by and far not Christian. It was adopted as Christian by the Roman Emperor Constantine III who wished to unite his crumbling empire religiously. Since so-called Christianity was his adopted creed, he found a way to incorporate festivals and traditions of the pagan populous in order to lessen public resistance. After all, he was himself a sun-worshiping pagan, so he likely didn't see any harm in so doing.

So, Danny Boy, in a nutshell, Easter's origins don't begin with a few peaceful, tree-hugging druids. They actually go all the way back to Ishtar, an ancient goddess of sex and violence.


Yours Purringly,
W.C. Humphries II (Mr. Fleez for short.)



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