Ēostre

Ēostre or Ostara (Old English: Ēastre, Northumbrian dialect Ēostre; Old High German: *Ôstara (reconstructed form)) is a Germanic divinity who, by way of the Germanic month bearing her name (Northumbrian: Ēosturmōnaþ; West Saxon: Ēastermōnaþ; Old High German: Ôstarmânoth), is the namesake of the festival of Easter. Ēostre is attested solely by Bede in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), pagan Anglo-Saxons had held feasts in Eostre's honor, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal month, a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

By way of linguistic reconstruction, the matter of a goddess called *Austrō in the Proto-Germanic language has been examined in detail since the foundation of Germanic philology in the 19th century by scholar Jacob Grimm and others. As the Germanic languages descend from Proto-Indo-European (PIE), historical linguists have traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn *H₂ewsṓs (→ *Ausṓs), from which descends the Common Germanic divinity from whom Ēostre and Ostara are held to descend. Additionally, scholars have linked the goddess's name to a variety of Germanic personal names, a series of location names (toponyms) in England, and, discovered in 1958, over 150 2nd century BCE inscriptions referring to the matronae Austriahenae.

Ostara (magazine)

Ostara or Ostara, Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler ("Ostara, newsletter of the blonde and masculists") was a German nationalist magazine founded in 1905 by the occultist Lanz von Liebenfels in Vienna, Austria, and in which he published anti-semitic and völkisch theories.

Lanz derived the name of the publication from the reconstructed Old High German goddess name *Ôstarâ. Lanz claimed that the Ostrogoths and the nation of Austria (German: Österreich) were matronymically named after this goddess. In his study of Lanz von Liebenfels, the Austrian psychologist Wilfried Daim states that "most likely this is even greater nonsense."

According to von Liebenfels, the magazine had a peak circulation of 100,000 and appeared in three series; the first series included anywhere from 89 to 100 issues between 1905 and 1917, the second series had only one issue, and the third series included 20 issues published between 1927 and 1930.

After Hitler's rise to prominence in the 1920s, Lanz tried to be recognized as one of his ideological precursors. In the preface of issue one in the 3rd series of Ostara, c. 1927, he wrote:

Ostara (band)

Ostara is a British folk 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. Jenn left the band in 2001. Guitarist Stu Mason, drummer Tim Desmond, and former Bronski Beat/Communards bassist Dave Renwick left the band in 2010, as work was due to start on a new album. Leviathan is now the only member of the band. Finnish musician Kari Hatakka, known as the singer of the band Waltari, played synthesizers on some Ostara tracks.

Discography

Albums

EPs

References

External links