Using comparative linguistic evidence from continental Germanic sources, the 19th century scholar Jacob Grimm proposed the existence of a cognate form of Ēostre among the pre-Christian beliefs of the continental Germanic peoples, whose name he reconstructed as * Ostara.

As the Germanic languages descend from Proto-Indo-European ( PIE ), linguists have traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn * H₂ewsṓs (→ * Ausṓs ), from which descends the common Germanic goddess that Ēostre and Ostara are held to descend.

Ēostre and Ostara are sometimes referenced in modern popular culture, and are venerated in some forms of Germanic Neopaganism.

Ēostre is the Northumbrian form, while Ēastre is more common West Saxon.

The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre (), which itself developed prior to 899, originally referring to the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre.

Eos is cognate to Vedic Sanskrit ' Ushas ' and Latin Aurora, both goddesses of dawn, and all three considered derivatives of a PIE stem * H₂ewsṓs (→ * Ausṓs ), " dawn ", a stem that also gave rise to Proto-Germanic * Austrō, Old Germanic Ôstara and Old English Ēostre / Ēastre.

The Germanic gods Woden, Frigg, Tiw, and Thunor, who are attested to in every Germanic tradition, were worshipped in Wessex, Sussex, and Essex, and they are the only ones directly attested to, though the names of the third and fourth months ( March and April ) of the Old English calendar bear the names Hrethmonath and Eosturmonath, meaning " month of Hretha " and " month of Ēostre ", it is presumed from the names of two goddesses who were worshipped around that season.

Ēostre is attested by Bede in his 8th-century work De temporum ratione, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ ( the equivalent to the month of April ) feasts were held in Eostre's honor among the pagan Anglo-Saxons, but had died out by the time of his writing, replaced by the Christian " Paschal month " ( a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus ).

Scholars have linked the goddess ' name to a variety of Germanic personal names, a series of location names in England, over 150 2nd century BCE Matronae ( the matronae Austriahenea ) inscriptions discovered in Germany, and have debated whether or not Eostre is an invention of Bede's, and theories connecting Ēostre with records of Germanic Easter customs ( including hares and eggs ) have been proposed.

19th century scholar Jacob Grimm notes, while no other source mentions the goddesses Rheda and Ēostre, saddling Bede, a " father of the church, who everywhere keeps heathenism at a distance, and tells us less than he knows " with the invention of the goddesses Rheda and Ēostre would be uncritical, and that " there is nothing improbable in them, nay the first of them is justified by clear traces in the vocabularies of the German tribes.

Ēostre, a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal points.

Ēostre derives from Proto-Germanic * Austrō, ultimately from a PIE root * h₂ewes-(→ * awes -), " to shine ", and therefore closely related to a reconstructed name of * h₂ewsṓs, the dawn goddess, which would account for Greek " Eos ", Roman " Aurora ", and Indian " Ushas ".

After describing the worship of the goddess Rheda during the Anglo-Saxon month of Hrethmonath, Bede writes about Eosturmonath, the month of the goddess Ēostre:

Bede notes that Hrēþmōnaþ occurs between Solmōnaþ ( February ), so named due to the offerings of cakes to the gods during the month, and Ēostermōnaþ ( April ), named after the goddess Ēostre.

Theories connecting Ēostre with records of Germanic Easter customs ( including hares and eggs ) have been proposed.

The Germanic peoples had altars erected to the " Mothers and Matrons " and held celebrations specific to them ( such as the Anglo-Saxon " Mothers-night "), and various other female deities are attested among the Germanic peoples, such as Nerthus attested in an early account of the Germanic peoples, Ēostre attested among the pagan Anglo-Saxons and Sinthgunt attested among the pagan continental Germanic peoples.

Anatolian dialects: Estan, Istanus, Istara ; Greek, Hestia, goddess of the hearth ; Latin Vesta, goddess of the hearth ; in Armenian as Astghik, a star goddess ; possibly also in Germanic mythology as Eostre or Ostara ; and Baltic, Austija.

Imbolc is defined as a cross-quarter day, midway between the winter solstice ( Yule ) and the spring equinox ( Ostara ).

In the pagan wheel of the year the spring equinox is the time of Ostara and the autumn equinox is that of Mabon.

In 1975, Thompson had an article entitled " Wiccan-Pagan Potpourri " published in Green Egg magazine issue # 69 ( Ostara 1975 ), for which she is best known.

Green Egg magazine, Issue # 69, Ostara 1975, pp 9 – 11 " Wiccan-Pagan Potpourri " by Lady Gwen Thompson ( an online transcript of this document is under " External links ")

:" Ostern " is also an alternative spelling of Ostara and German for Easter

343 Ostara is a typical Main belt asteroid.

Ostara is a British folk music music group, " described in the musical press as a neo-folk / pop music hybrid ", founded by Richard Leviathan ( born Richard Levy ) and Timothy Jenn, as a change of name and stylistic direction from their previous band, Strength Through Joy.

Traditionally, oomancy is performed on Ostara.

Grimm suggested that these derived from legends of the reconstructed continental Germanic goddess * Ostara.

Like Greek Eos and Rigvedic Ushas ( and possibly Germanic Ostara ), Aurora continues the name of an earlier Indo-European dawn goddess, Hausos.

In the same year, Lanz commenced publication of the journal Ostara ( named after the pagan Germanic goddess of spring ) to promote his vision of racial purity.

In the meantime, Germanic mysticism in Germany and Switzerland had developed into baroque forms such as Guido von List's " Armanism ", from the 1900s merging into antisemitic and national mysticist ( völkisch ) currents, notably with Lanz von Liebenfels ' Guido von List Society and Ostara magazine, which with the rise of Nazism were partially absorbed into Nazi occultism.

Ostara ( 1884 ) by Johannes Gehrts

Ostara ( 1884 ) by Johannes Gehrts.

The modern Sabbats that many Wiccans and Neo-Pagans now follow are: Imbolc ( February 2 ), Ostara ( Spring Equinox ), Beltane ( May 1 ), Litha ( Summer Solstice ), Lammas ( August 1 ), Mabon ( Autumn Equinox ), Samhain ( October 31 ) and Yule ( Winter Solstice ).

* Ostara ( magazine ), 89 issues, Rodaun and Mödling, 1905-1917 ( 38 issues were republished in Vienna between 1926 and 1931 )

The highlights are three ' Things ' at Ostara ( Easter ), Midsummer and Fall ( Wotan's sacrificial death ), which are mostly celebrated at castles close to sacred places, such as the Externsteine.

The highlightened ones are three " things " ( assemblies ) at the Heathen holidays of Ostara, Midsummer and Fallfest ( Wotan's sacrificial death ), which are mostly celebrated at castles close or in sacred places, such as Externsteine.

Originally Pagan, Ostara became Easter after the Christianization of Europe.

Beltane follows Ostara and precedes Midsummer.

** Mabon in the northern hemisphere, Ostara in the southern hemisphere.

* March 20 – Spring Equinox, also known as Ostara.

He was a former monk and the founder of the magazine Ostara, in which he published anti-semitic and völkisch theories.

One year later, in 1905, he founded the magazine Ostara, Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler, of which he became the sole author and editor in 1908.

In the preface of issue one in the 3. series of Ostara, c. 1927, he wrote:

Most notably copies of Ostara were removed from circulation.

* LANZ, Adolf Josef ( known as Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels ) ( 1874 – 1955 ) Anti-Semitic mystic and publisher of Ostara.