Latest news with #Eostre
BBC News
18-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hallaton bottle kicking event to take place on Easter Monday
Thousands of people are set to descend on the Leicestershire village of Hallaton for its ancient annual bottle kicking event. The quirky tradition involves rival teams from Hallaton and the neighbouring village of Medbourne, who battle each other to move barrels across two streams. The rough and tumble contest, believed by some to have its roots in Roman times and to have been the inspiration for the game of rugby, will take place on Easter Monday. The festivities will begin at 09.30 BST and will involve a parade of a hare pie at 13.45 before the contest starts at 14.45. Phil Allan, chairman of the organising committee, said legend has it the event dates back 2,000 years. Mr Allan, who has been involved in running the event for 51 years, said: "It might sound strange to some that an event held at Easter is that old, but we've got evidence to support that in the British Museum. "There used to be a pagan goddess named Eostre and her name is believed to be origin of the word 'Easter' and was adopted when the Christians took over the pagan traditions. "Eostre is fabled to have have had the ability to turn herself into a hare, which is why we make and serve the hare pie before the hares are supplied by a local gamekeeper to go into the pie, which has been cooked by Mr Allan's wife for the past 21 years. The two villages of Hallaton and Medbourne each have a stream and the object of the game is to move a 'bottle' which is effectively a small barrel of beer, to the other side of one of the streams. "We have three bottles or barrels and play the best of three," Mr Allan said. "But the rules are fairly simple, there aren't any rules."The winning team gets to take the bottles onto the village green and drink them at the end - to the victor, the spoils."It's an event like the Gloucestershire cheese rolling or the Ashbourne Shovetide football, only our event is older and the grand-daddy of them all. " Road closures Leicestershire County Council has put a number of road closures in place for the event, which will be in effect from 10.30 to 18.15. Both High Street and Eastgate will be closed entirely for the event, while Churchgate will be shut between its junctions with Eastgate and Cranoe Road. Cranoe Road itself will be inaccessible for its entire length, North End will close from its junction with High Street while Melbourne Road will shut between its junctions with North End and Hallaton Road.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
We should not forget the meaning of Easter
Is the Easter story becoming a myth? You might well think so, if we judge by the recent English Heritage booklet for children, which asserts that 'Easter started as a celebration of spring' for 'honouring the goddess Eostre'. It's not difficult to find similar material. Walking through the Canary Wharf shopping centre last weekend, I found the 'Easter Tree of Life', a 'place for reflection and gratitude' where you can 'add a leaf to the branches sharing your future wishes [or] cherished memories'. I don't want to be too critical of the Canary Wharf authorities. The signage does at least go on to claim 'trees have a deep symbolic meaning in Christian scripture … associated with the Easter story of Jesus dying on a wooden cross and rising to new life'. But, even if they are indeed familiar with the Dream of the Rood, the Anglo-Saxon poem in the voice of a tree which would be cut down and used to crucify Jesus, in truth trees on which messages are hung are more commonly associated with folklore or paganism. The 'Tree of Life' comes from Norse mythology. And the fact is that the symbol of Christianity is a cross not a tree. Yes, these are just anecdotes, but they testify to an underlying reality: a society which is increasingly unfamiliar with Christianity and so doesn't find such curious messaging as jarring as once it might have. A 2020 YouGov poll shows that only two thirds of the country are confident Jesus was even an actual historical figure. A 2017 poll says that only just over half of Britons associate Jesus with Easter. In this environment it's easy to see how the account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection becomes just another 'story', more myth than history, helpful if it helps you, but no better founded than any other belief. Yet Christianity is above all a religion which is based on a defined historical reality. You don't have to accept Christianity's metaphysical claims, but you do, I think, have to accept that it originates in the execution of a specific person, Jesus, a Jewish teacher, who 'suffered death under Pontius Pilate' in around AD 30. Indeed it's not generally realised just how good the evidence for Jesus's life is. We have not only the New Testament, but also references in Roman writers: Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger. As Dr Peter Williams, Principal of Tyndale House in Cambridge, has written: 'Jesus has more extended text about him, in generally closer proximity to his life, than his contemporary [Roman Emperor] Tiberius, the most famous person in the then-known world.' And it's not just a definite person but a definite place. If you visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem you will perhaps be surprised to find that it is in the middle of a walled city. How, you might ask, is that consistent with the Gospel account of a crucifixion outside the walls and a burial in a stone-cut tomb in a garden – an environment where, we are told, Mary Magdalene can initially mistake the risen Jesus for the gardener? It seemed so unlikely to some Victorian antiquaries that they identified an alternative site north of Jerusalem, the so-called Garden Tomb, now known to be much older than the time of Jesus. In fact the evidence now available to us is entirely consistent with the Gospel accounts. We now know that at the time of Pontius Pilate what's now the site of the Holy Sepulchre was a disused quarry area outside the city walls, with tomb caves cut into its bare rocks. The traditional rock of Golgotha within the church is exactly the sort of prominent outcrop, fairly close to the city gates and hence visible to many, where an execution would have been carried out. But the most exciting evidence is the most recent. Ground-penetrating radar scans by the University of Athens have shown that hidden within the decorated chapel or edicule on the traditional burial site are the remains of a first century rock-cut tomb. And, strikingly, the most recent excavations by La Sapienza University in Rome, still under way, and reported just last month, show the remains of pollen from olive trees and grapevines, just as you would expect in a partly-cultivated area. In short, the historical and archaeological evidence tends to confirm the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus: not just the core events, but the incidental detail too. It can't of course confirm the Resurrection – which is what everything hinges upon. Without that, Jesus is just another failed Jewish preacher. For evidence of that we must look elsewhere, to the eyewitness testimony in the Gospels, the disciples' willingness to face persecution and death for their faith (unlikely, perhaps, if they knew that Jesus's body was still lying in the tomb), the explosion of Christianity across the world, and the experience of millions of people up to the present day. Last year, sitting in a deserted Holy Sepulchre silent from the Gaza war, I realised I found the evidence convincing. But all of us must make our own minds up. Take a look at it for yourself. Meanwhile, Happy Easter. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
18-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
We should not forget the meaning of Easter
Is the Easter story becoming a myth? You might well think so, if we judge by the recent English Heritage booklet for children, which asserts that 'Easter started as a celebration of spring' for 'honouring the goddess Eostre'. It's not difficult to find similar material. Walking through the Canary Wharf shopping centre last weekend, I found the 'Easter Tree of Life', a 'place for reflection and gratitude' where you can 'add a leaf to the branches sharing your future wishes [or] cherished memories'. I don't want to be too critical of the Canary Wharf authorities. The signage does at least go on to claim 'trees have a deep symbolic meaning in Christian scripture … associated with the Easter story of Jesus dying on a wooden cross and rising to new life'. But, even if they are indeed familiar with the Dream of the Rood, the Anglo-Saxon poem in the voice of a tree which would be cut down and used to crucify Jesus, in truth trees on which messages are hung are more commonly associated with folklore or paganism. The 'Tree of Life' comes from Norse mythology. And the fact is that the symbol of Christianity is a cross not a tree. Yes, these are just anecdotes, but they testify to an underlying reality: a society which is increasingly unfamiliar with Christianity and so doesn't find such curious messaging as jarring as once it might have. A 2020 YouGov poll shows that only two thirds of the country are confident Jesus was even an actual historical figure. A 2017 poll says that only just over half of Britons associate Jesus with Easter. In this environment it's easy to see how the account of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection becomes just another 'story', more myth than history, helpful if it helps you, but no better founded than any other belief. Yet Christianity is above all a religion which is based on a defined historical reality. You don't have to accept Christianity's metaphysical claims, but you do, I think, have to accept that it originates in the execution of a specific person, Jesus, a Jewish teacher, who 'suffered death under Pontius Pilate' in around AD 30. Indeed it's not generally realised just how good the evidence for Jesus's life is. We have not only the New Testament, but also references in Roman writers: Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny the Younger. As Dr Peter Williams, Principal of Tyndale House in Cambridge, has written: 'Jesus has more extended text about him, in generally closer proximity to his life, than his contemporary [Roman Emperor] Tiberius, the most famous person in the then-known world.' And it's not just a definite person but a definite place. If you visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem you will perhaps be surprised to find that it is in the middle of a walled city. How, you might ask, is that consistent with the Gospel account of a crucifixion outside the walls and a burial in a stone-cut tomb in a garden – an environment where, we are told, Mary Magdalene can initially mistake the risen Jesus for the gardener? It seemed so unlikely to some Victorian antiquaries that they identified an alternative site north of Jerusalem, the so-called Garden Tomb, now known to be much older than the time of Jesus. In fact the evidence now available to us is entirely consistent with the Gospel accounts. We now know that at the time of Pontius Pilate what's now the site of the Holy Sepulchre was a disused quarry area outside the city walls, with tomb caves cut into its bare rocks. The traditional rock of Golgotha within the church is exactly the sort of prominent outcrop, fairly close to the city gates and hence visible to many, where an execution would have been carried out. But the most exciting evidence is the most recent. Ground-penetrating radar scans by the University of Athens have shown that hidden within the decorated chapel or edicule on the traditional burial site are the remains of a first century rock-cut tomb. And, strikingly, the most recent excavations by La Sapienza University in Rome, still under way, and reported just last month, show the remains of pollen from olive trees and grapevines, just as you would expect in a partly-cultivated area. In short, the historical and archaeological evidence tends to confirm the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus: not just the core events, but the incidental detail too. It can't of course confirm the Resurrection – which is what everything hinges upon. Without that, Jesus is just another failed Jewish preacher. For evidence of that we must look elsewhere, to the eyewitness testimony in the Gospels, the disciples' willingness to face persecution and death for their faith (unlikely, perhaps, if they knew that Jesus's body was still lying in the tomb), the explosion of Christianity across the world, and the experience of millions of people up to the present day. Last year, sitting in a Holy Sepulchre emptied of visitors by the Gaza war, I realised I found the evidence convincing. But all of us must make our own minds up. Take a look at it for yourself. Meanwhile, Happy Easter.
Local Germany
15-04-2025
- General
- Local Germany
German word of the day: Osterfeuer
Why do I need to know Osterfeuer ? This word may come up as you make plans for a spring vacation or Easter celebrations in Germany. The tradition that the term refers to is particularly popular in some regions, but most of your German friends and colleagues will be familiar with the custom, whether or not they've been to one themselves. Origins of the German Osterfeuer tradition Oster is the adjectival form of Ostern - the German word for Easter - and, as you may have guessed, feuer means fire. Put together, an Osterfeuer (pronounced like this ) is the name of an Easter bonfire. In particular, it refers to the tradition of having a bonfire during the Easter holiday where groups of people gather to celebrate either the Christian holiday or the changing of the season. In fact, the English word 'Easter' comes from the German word Ostern. One common theory is that the German word was derived from the name Eostre (also sometimes spelled Ostara), who was an Anglo-Saxon goddess thought to have been associated with the spring season and fertility. In pre-Christian times, Germanic peoples are thought to have celebrated the end of winter around the spring solstice by lighting bonfires as well as engaging in feasts and dancing. In the days leading up to Easter, locals would gather branches and twigs to build a bonfire. After the fire, ashes were scattered on fields to make them fertile for the coming season. Advertisement When Christianity was established in Germany, it's thought that many of the springtime celebratory traditions were essentially co-opted by the church and simply took on new symbolic meanings. In the case of Easter bonfires, the fire which had once been seen as chasing away the dark winter spirits instead came to be representative of Jesus Christ. READ ALSO: What's on over the Easter holidays in Germany in 2025 How the Osterfeuer tradition lives on For many people today, Easter bonfires have lost their religious significance and simply offer a chance to father with friends and family around the turn of the season. The bonfire is typically lit on either Good Friday, Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday, and the community gathers in the evening to enjoy food and drink around the fiery glow. This practice is especially popular in northern Germany, with the region around Hamburg having a large number of Osterfeuern . Parts of western Germany, such as in and around North Rhine-Westphalia also have a fair amount of bonfires, and one particularly famous one if the Osterräderlauf (Easter wheel run) in Lügde, which sees burning wheels of oak and straw sent down a hillside. Spectators watch as a burning wooden Easter wheel rolls down the hill in Lüdge, North Rhine-Westphalia. Burning wooden wheels have been rolled down hills as part of Easter celebrations in Lügde for many generations. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Caroline SeidSeidel-Dißmannel That said, you can likely find an Osterfeuer somewhere nearby in most places in Germany. Here's a list of some to be found in Berlin , for example. (For other places try searching ' Osterfeuer + your city or region name'.) Germany's Federal Environment Agency estimates that between 10,000 and 20,000 Easter fires are lit each year in Germany, and warns that the fires can create high levels of particular pollution in the air in certain regions. This year, some bonfire events may be cancelled , as large parts of Germany are at a heightened fire risk due to an ongoing drought. Advertisement Use it like this: Dieses Jahr wollen wir am Sonntagabend zum Osterfeuer gehen. This year we plan to go to the easter bonfire on Sunday evening. Am liebsten esse ich am Osterfeuer Stockbrot. My favourite thing to eat at the Easter fire is bread on a stick.
Telegraph
12-04-2025
- General
- Telegraph
English Heritage claims Easter is not originally Christian
English Heritage has claimed that Easter was not originally Christian. The charity is accused of 'whitewashing' the holiday by claiming its roots lie in a pagan festival celebrating the start of Spring. A booklet about Easter's origins given out at several of its historic sites says that the word comes from the name of the goddess Eostre while failing to mention Christianity at all. The booklet is part of a children's Easter Adventure Quest, in which children are invited to 'track down the Easter eggs and get rewarded with a tasty chocolate treat'. A poster at the start of the quest, being held at sites such as Whitby Abbey, Dover Castle and Down House, states that Easter started as a celebration of spring. Under the heading The Origins of Easter, it states: 'Did you know Easter started as a celebration of spring? Long ago, people welcomed warmer days and new life by honouring the goddess Eostre, who gave Easter its name!' It adds: 'Fun Fact: Some traditions for Eostre included dancing around bonfires and decorating homes with flowers.' The claim for Eostre as the origin of the English word for Easter is thought to have first been made by the Venerable Bede in his eighth-century writings. In other languages, Easter is known as Pasqua or Pâques. The Christian festival of Easter began in commemoration of the death and resurrection of Christ and was held around the time of the Jewish festival of Passover. The booklet for children to complete as part of the trail includes drawings and questions relating to bunny rabbits and Easter eggs but makes no mention of Christianity or Easter's religious origins. 'Christianity is central to what Easter is' Visitors to English Heritage properties have said it is wrong to ignore the Christian roots of the Easter festival in its material aimed at children. One, who gave his name only as Phil, the chairman of governors at a Catholic Primary School in Kent, posted a photograph of the notice on X after visiting an English Heritage property with his son. He told The Telegraph: 'There was no mention of Christ or Christianity in the English Heritage Easter children's trail on any of the notices or the booklet. 'There was no explanation of the Christian element. It had just been whitewashed out of the story. 'I appreciate the pagan side of the name's origins, but it's not the only part – Christianity is central to what Easter is. I had to explain to my 7-year-old son who Eostre was.' Giles Udy, a historian of Soviet oppression, said the notice reflected a disturbing trend against Christianity by official bodies in the UK. 'Time and again I'm reminded these days of what it must have been like to be a practising Christian in countries under the militant atheism of post-war Soviet occupation, determined to extinguish what it saw as a rival and threat to its own religious dogma,' he said. Julie McNamee added on X: 'I'm not a Christian but if you're going to pretend to educate children you can at least have a passing mention of the Christian Easter story!' But Heritage sources defended the notice, pointing out it was just the first in a series for children explaining the tradition of Easter. English Heritage's own website refers to the Christian roots of the Easter festival, with a page explaining that it has 'been the most important date in the religious calendar since the very earliest days of Christianity'. 'The story of the resurrection' Another page explains why the festival's dates change year by year, following different Christian traditions for determining the date of Easter, with the matter 'at long last settled in 664 at the Synod of Whitby . . which agreed to use the Roman method for calculating Easter'. A Facebook page for the charity also explains that the tradition of the Easter egg hunt for children dates to 16th century Germany when the Protestant reformer Martin Luther organised egg hunts for his congregation'. It states: 'The men would hide the eggs for the women and children to find. This was a nod to the story of the resurrection, in which the empty tomb was discovered by women.' An English Heritage spokesman said: 'We care for over 400 sites and across them all, from our panels on sites to guide books, audio tours and our website, we cover a broad and deep range of themes connected to the stories of our sites – not least at Whitby Abbey in North Yorkshire where in the year 664 an important agreement was reached about how to calculate the date of Easter. 'Our Easter Adventure Quest is a trail for children which references a range of fun facts about seasonal traditions, cultures and religions, including Christianity.'
