The Curious Tale of the Easter Bunny and The Goddess of the Dawn

The Curious Tale of the Easter Bunny and The Goddess of the Dawn
By Sharon Turnbull

Ostara, the Goddess of Dawn, was also named Eostre (the Eastern Star) since she brought the dawn from the East. She was the ultimate 'luscious lady'-so much so that estrogen, the juiciest of female hormones, was named after her.

Ostara was the goddess who was responsible for bringing spring to the earth each year. But one year she was feeling very guilty indeed; she realized she had arrived much too late. To make matters worse, the first thing she saw when she stepped onto the earth was a colorful little bird near death, his wings bent and frozen in the snow.

With great kindness in her sorrowful heart, Ostara scooped up the shivering creature and cradled him to her breast. The warmth of her saved his life.

Knowing he would never be able to fly because of his frost-damaged wings, the goddess was filled with compassion and turned him into a rabbit, a snow hare. She also gave him the gift of running with astonishing speed so he could easily evade any hunter. She named him Lepus.

To honor his previous life as a bird, Ostara also gave him the ability to lay eggs... in all the colors of the rainbow, no less. But he was only allowed to lay eggs on one day of each year.

Legend has it that she then made him her pet. In the racier versions of her myths, he became her lover. Eventually the rabbit managed to anger the goddess by being unfaithful to her.

The infuriated goddess hurled him into the skies where he remains to this day, known to us as the constellation Lepus (the Hare). His punishment was that he would be positioned forever under the feet of the constellation Orion (the Hunter).

But the soft-hearted Ostara soon took pity on him and allowed him to return to earth on the festival day held in her honor each spring. But she stipulated that he must give away all his eggs to the children in attendance.

And that's how the tradition of the Easter Bunny began!

In the holiday of Easter, Christian and pagan traditions are artfully interwoven, reminding us of the cycle of rebirth and the need for personal renewal in our own lives.

Easter eggs, the Easter Bunny, the dawn that brings the resurrection of life and the celebration of spring are cherished Easter traditions arising from the goddess myths of antiquity.

Sharon Turnbull, PhD, is the founder, muse and web-weaver of www.GoddessGift.com. Author of the bestselling Goddess Gift: Discover Your Personal Goddess Type, she is also the creator of the popular Goddess Quiz online--a personality assessment designed to help women recognize and use their natural strengths to create less stressful, more joyful lives.

Sharon believes in the power of storytelling and crafts stories from the ancient myths that entertain, illuminate and transform our contemporary lives. She's particularly fond of tracing the pagan roots of our holiday traditions.

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