“Ishtar? What in hell is ‘Ishtar‘?”
I could have said “Eastre”, both are pronounced the same as Easter, however they were the early, Pagan, predecessors to modern-day (and Christian) Easter. What it all boils down to, besides the Church trying to convert everyone to Christianity, is a holiday celebrating the return of spring and resurrection of gods and religious figures. In essence – the rebirth of planet Earth. It was celebrated the best way Pagans knew how: sex. There were also colored eggs involved as well as rabbits, both of which were religious symbols.
I plan on celebrating by eating my Lindt hollow rabbit. I already had eggs and a raw cacao and banana smoothie for breakfast. Later today, I’ll be dining at the in-laws where there is typically hard-boiled eggs (colored) and Jello eggs (guess I better find out if the jello is gluten free), however, my mother in law is very thorough about checking for gluten since the changes so she’ll be turn to tell me if things are safe (but I’m still going to ask). Then, it’s off to visit friends who asked us to join them last minute for an Easter meal. We may miss the meal, but we’ll join for the camaraderie.
Now, go eat some eggs, some chocolate bunnies and have sex.
PS – Jello appears to be gluten free.
Musings of the Amusing Muse 
Food, chocolate & sex (not necessarily in that order) sounds like a wonderful plan. Enjoy your festivities!
Thank you, Ma’am! I intend to, even if it means getting out of my pajamas. ;P
Not to be Debbie Downer, but Ishtar has no connection to Easter. Only two languages have a word for Easter even remotely close: English and German, which uses Ostern, which is also extremely close to their word for “East.” Most European languages use the term for Passover, instead.
From the OED: “Bede derives the word < Eostre (a Northumbrian spelling; also Eastre in a variant reading), according to him, the name of a goddess whose festival was celebrated by the pagan Anglo-Saxons around the time of the vernal equinox (presumably in origin a goddess of the dawn, as the name is to be derived from the same Germanic base as east adv.: see above). This explanation is not confirmed by any other source, and the goddess has been suspected by some scholars to be an invention of Bede's."
Considering that Ishtar isn't even Indo-European, it's unlikely that even at the furthest remove is there any connection. It's just one of those coincidences of etymology that crop up from time to time.
Matthew – I dare say most, of not all, Christian holidays/holy-days are a bastardization of a Pagan holiday as a way to convert followers. Ultimately I couldn’t care less which route, if any, someone follows as long as they harm no one in their endeavors. For me… I follow the path of Zen with occasional poking of the bear.
Of course Ishtar has no connection to Easter!, Matthew. Elements of the holiday, were, however, bastardized by the good christian folk making it easier to convert (assimilate) the pagan masses. Lent, eggs, rabbits,hot cross buns and the Easter ham have everything to do with the ancient pagan religion of Babylon the; goddess Ishtar. I care little where it comes from, I get 4 days off to celebrate the rising of the second zombie (Lazarus being the first).
Amen. 😉
HOORAY FOR SEX!
I loved the meeting with Ishtar in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods — a god who is quite powerful (as you’re as powerful as people know you), even though next to nobody knows the actual origins of the name.
Hmm- I have not heard of this publication/movie/show – I shall have to look it up!