If you're a member of any online pagan communities, especially on Facebook, you may have seen this meme floating around. (Without my creative artwork.)
The information this image presents is pretty much entirely inaccurate. Other people have already written a great deal about this, so I'm just going to link to this article: Easter Is Not Named After Ishtar, And Other Truths I Have To Tell YouOn a related subject, can we talk about the art used for this image? If you've read the article above it mentions that scholars debate who this image actually represents. It's a really fascinating piece of art. Here's another great article all about the relief and who this image might be of: The Queen of the Night (Burney Relief)
Personally I am partial to the image being of Ereshkigal. But, since we do not know for certain who it is, I can understand why devotees of many deities see their Goddess in this image, especially in such a powerful image.
If your not even sure of who and where the art came from how do you know it to be true or not just wondering cause you have no posted all over it but you don't have any proof of where the word Easter came from
ReplyDeleteI think you've greatly misunderstood what I've written here. It's not that I do not know "who and where" the art comes from. As I have said, it is the Burney Relief. It is Mesopotamian in origin. However, NO ONE knows who is pictured in the relief. There is simply NO evidence either way, it is a topic of debate. (And I did not say that those who wish to view it as Ishtar are in the wrong, as again, it could be several goddesses. We see who we wish.)
DeleteDid you read either article linked in the post? I realize now they're hard to see in the layout I'm using (and I will go change that), but those links address the points you're asking about. Including the origin of the word Easter.
If you doubt the article, check out any dictionary which includes an entomology of the words. For example, Merriam-Webster says "Middle English estre, from Old English ēastre; akin to Old High German ōstarun (plural) Easter, Old English ēast east." In other words, it's from an Indo-European root. Whereas Ishtar is Akkadian, of the Semitic language family. Two different language sets. There's no reason to think that Easter is derived from Ishtar. Not even to mention that the image claims Constantine changed Easter for Jesus, but... well, those earlier names for Easter would be closer to Pascha (which is still the name of the holiday in many parts of the world, derived from Passover). Early Christians did not use the name Easter. Easter is a much later name for the holiday. Which, again, the article linked does explain all of this.
You ask for proof, but surely you notice the image provides no proof either, right? A bunch of claims with no sources. Look at a sourced account of Ishtar's symbols. If you believe the picture shown to be of Ishtar, where are the rabbits and eggs? Why, instead, are there owls and lions? Check the etymology for yourself. Look into Easter's roots in Passover. Yes, there's pagan symbolism in modern Easter, but it's not from Babylon.