We Honor Her

Does anyone want to take over running this page? No one seems to want it to close, but no one seems interested in actually posting and I don't really have the time right now. I could just leave it "as is" but that annoys me when I look at my profile and see dead communities just sitting there. So, I'm happy to pass the baton to someone else if they'd like to give a go at injecting life and interesting stuff back into this community.

As seems to happen nearly every year around this time, articles abound about the Pagan origins of Easter and it's associations with Ishtar, Inanna, Eostre...insert-goddess-of-choice.

What I've found interesting is that now mainstream media are catching on (prime example - Country Living's recent article "So where exactly does the 'Easter bunny' come from?"), the trend amongst Pagans is to debunk the information we've been sharing round for decades as completely false and lacking any historical context (please read lizwilliams excellent interview with Adrian Bott recently published on the Wild Hunt - "UK Pagans respond to questions on the origins of Easter and Ostara").

Personally, I approach this trend with a sense of dubiousness.  Whilst I appreciate that someone has taken the trouble of researching and fact checking and want to put things straight, I also wonder what the motivation is in doing so.  Are they simply trying to be "more Pagan than thou" about it all.  

In the Avalonian tradition that I've practiced and taught for over 10 years now, we traditionally honour the spring time goddess as Artha; a goddess which, while not wholly made up, has more origins in general myth and unverified personal gnosis, than actual historical fact, and I've always been very up front about this when teaching about this goddess.  Despite this though, the connections we make with this goddess work, and the mythological weaving of her story also work and I, and many others, have found spirit and meaning in this.  

I don't have a problem with fact checking (Liz's article above actually encourages people to fact check on their own) or making light that some things (festivals, deities, etc.) are modern interpretations rather than historical traditions or reconstructions.  I do have some issue with those who would utilise debunking as a way to invalidate the ideas and traditions of others.  So when it comes to the latest spate of articles, I tend to read them with a critical eye and a healthy dose of scepticism as to the motivation behind it while trying to be open minded to learning something new.

I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts about this and how you experience it yourself.  I appreciate some of us are in different countries, and sometimes that can lend to differing experiences and views.  So please do share!  And Happy Easter if you are celebrating it!