Millions of people will be tucking into chocolate eggs this Easter, but very few may be aware of the Pagan influence on the Christian festival. University of Exeter literary scholarProfessor Marion Gibson explores the link between the Goddess Eostre, the timing of Easter and the drive for early Christians to create a unified calendar of religious events. In her new book Imagining the Pagan Past: Gods and Goddesses in Literature and History Since the Dark Ages, Professor Gibson reveals the change from Pagan idol worship to the conversion to Christianity, which was documented by monks. The month of April was chosen for the Anglo-Saxon celebration of the new Christian festival Easter. But surprisingly, a contemporary monastic writer tells us that the name Easter was carried over from Eostre, a Pagan goddess. This might seem odd, but such blending of old and new traditions helped to incorporate Pagans into Christian worship. This was in accordance with the Pope’s instructions to connect with the local community and use, rather than destroy, Pagan temples, as well as adapt Pagan rituals and incorporate into Christian practices. At this time Christ had been dead for over 700 years, and for several centuries monks from different sects within the Christian church celebrated major Christian feast days, like Easter, at differing times. The Northumbrian eighth-century monk and chronicler, Bede, was focused on setting exact dates and synchronising religious practices and festivals, to help bring European Christianity together in order to create a distinctive period of worship. A set time needed to be
