American Cryptids, The Beast of Busco

 

 

                                        BEAST OF BUSCO GIANT SNAPPING TURTLE



The Beast of Busco is a cryptid legend from Churubusco, Indiana.

The Beast of Busco aka Oscar by all accounts is a very large  snapping turtle first seen in 1898,
However despite a month long hunt in 1949, the "Beast of Busco" was never found.

==========


The Beast of Busco also called Oscar in honor of the original eyewitness in Churubusco,
Indiana, is a giant snapping turtle that lived in a seven acre lake.

_________________________

______

According to legend, one day in 1898  a farmer named Oscar Fulk saw what he described as a giant turtle living in the seven-acre lake on his farm  near Churubusco.

He told others residence about the creature, but eventually just decided to leave it alone.

Then fifty years later  in July, 1948, two Churubusco citizens, Ora Blue and Charley Wilson, reported
seeing a huge alligator snapping turtle (weighing an estimated 500 +pounds) while fishing on the same lake,  that at this point had been named Fulk Lake.

A farmer named Gale Harris now owned the land.

Harris and several others reported seeing the creature.

News about this strange massive beast soon spread, and several expeditions were held to try and capture the big beast  or at least remove it from the the lake.

Methods  included draining and motor boating the lake and diving with no success, many believe he still lurks beneath the waves of that small  lake others claim he has moved to newer waters  the Beast of Busco.

So what was Oscar ? was there really a massive turtle or turtle like creature in that lake?

Many people claim the Beast of Busco never really existed and the story was just Oscar's (the farmer not the turtle) way of making his small town a bit more lively.

=========
The Beast legacy......


Today, Oscar is honored in the turtle days festival each June.

It includes a parade, carnival and even turtle races.

A turtle shell labeled "Beast of Busco" hangs in the Two Brothers Restaurant in Decatur, Indiana.

 and

A small concrete statue of a turtle sits on the sidewalk at the main intersection in the center of Churubusco. 

                                        Turtle Days Festival 2021 will be on June 16-19th..

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  More Busco info
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At one point future town councilman surveyed the lake from a plane.

Reporters from the Indianapolis Star and a Fort Wayne gazette—along with a representative from the Cincinnati zoo—confirmed having seen the beast, A photographer from Life magazine even came to cover the story, though his pictures were never published.

At it's peak during the spring of 1949, there were as many as 400 cars an hour counted passing the farm that spring with the Harris family selling coffee and hot dogs  to the sight-seers.

Helen Harris, Gale’s wife, described those frenetic days in a story posted in a booklet commemorating the 25th anniversary of Oscar. Here are some excerpts: “After the newspapers started printing the story about Oscar, people started coming to our farm from everywhere. If you never had an experience similar to this you wouldn’t believe the actions of the public. We couldn’t sit down and eat a meal in peace or get our work done on schedule. I remember one morning we were in the barn milking and a reporter came out and wanted us to quit milking and answer some questions. We told him we had to finish milking first.”

The 400 acre farm was sold in 1950.

Once the U.S. Coast Guard got involved and diving began; and attempts to hunt and trap the beast elicited responses from the Noble County  Game Warden and the Indiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Eventual  a 200-pound female sea turtle was introduced into the lake to lure out Oscar to no prevail. 

The town of Churubusco began celebrating Turtle Days the following summer, and adopted the nickname “ Turtle Town U.S.A.”

Monsters, cryptids and yokai: The Rusalka..

                                           
 Rusalka by daekazu on deviantart https://www.deviantart.com/daekazu/art/Rusalka-187551820
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==============
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The Russian Mermaid ...
She is as dangerous as she is beautiful 

Rusalka or Pusalka is commonly described as  a water nymph^..

The Rusalka is a female spirit in Russian / Slavic folklore and their  equivalent of a mermaid. though she has two leg's insted of a finned tail and in some versions can walk on land and even climb tree's..


She has different names in various cultures: rusalka (in East Slavic cultures) vila (Czech, Slovak), wiła (Polish).

According to most accounts the rusalki were a type of fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers and lake's.

In some legends she would leave her watery home late at night together with other Rusalki she would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would  enchant them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river and to their inevitable  death.

                               

                                               Art by Anna Vinogradova Kransndar 1975
=========================
A Rusalka most often  appears as a beautiful young women, she will site by the shore of a lake usually coming her hair or sometimes singing this is done as a means to lure in her prey..

In some version's she is a type of water spirit in other's she is a young woman that was ether murdered by her lover of  who committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), and now  must live out their time on Earth as rusalki.

However,in some  Slavic versions  not all rusalki encounters were linked with death from water It is accounted by most stories that the soul  of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway.

Though this version of a  rusalka is not invariably malevolent or evil, and would be allowed to rest in peace if her death is avenged.
========
In some versions she has green sea week like hair....

================



Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, (Similar  to a Siren or a Succubus)  into the depths of the waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her in order to reach the surface.

                                           

 ======
She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed. 



 It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce  although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.

===================


                                 
                                                Ivan Kramskoi, The Mermaids, 1871
======
In some of the older stories the Rusalka was a symbol of fertility and not consider evil in the old pagan beliefes



 They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.



 =====

=======================
Celebrations: Rusalka Week..
=======================

The Rusalki  are believed to be at their most dangerous during the Rusalka Week in early June. At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest these  mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river bed.
                                             

                                                    

                                                       Rusalka by Ivan Bilibin - 1934
===========================================

A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine until the 1930s


=====
Other mediums ..
============

 The Rusalka trilogy of novels by C. J. Cherryh feature and revolve around a rusalka named Eveshka.

 Rusalka is an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. - 1856

"Rusalka" is a poem by Mikhail Lermontoy 1831.


Nikolai Medtner's Third Piano Concerto is based on Mikhail Lermontov's ballad.

A Rusalkas is the main character in "The Surface Breaks", a YA novel and retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" by Louise O'Neill.

 Rusalkas appear as monsters in the Action Role playing game The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.


 "The Last Wish " by Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish novel from the Witcher series, in which Geralt briefly encounters a Rusalka that has fallen in love with a cursed man.

 "Fatima Rusalka", a single by alternative metal band Alesana  ..

There are many many other examples of Rusalka in modern media  bedside's the one's i mentioned here.. :)
.================
===============
==============

Monster's, Cryptid's and Yokai: The Jorogumo

 

 

 Today we talk about
Spider Woman....

aka  the Jorogumo..

==========================================

The Jouogumo is a Japanese spider yôkai  that can change its appearance into that of a attractive young woman in order  to lure in her prey, human men.

However even when she's in her human form her reflection will still show a giant spider.

She is immune to all kinds of poison and aside from shapeshifting is believed to have other magic ability's as-well...

The  Nephila Clavata, Or Golden Orb Weaver is  a real kind of spider and can get quit large.

=========

Stories of this lethal eight legged yokai can be traced as far back as the edo Period.

The name Jorogumo when written with kanji mean's “entangling bride.” though these characters were later added to her name  to change it from the original meaning: “whore spider.”


 
According to the myth, a beautiful woman would entice a man into a secluded shack of private room at an inn, she would then  begin to play a Biwa, a type of Japanese lute this was just a destruction.

While her soon to be victim was focused on the sound of the instrument, she would bind him in spider silk threads in order to devour the unsuspecting person as her next meal.
===========


The Orb Weaver spider is considered to be the spider form of this yokai.

According to most legends, when a spider turns 400 years old, it gains magical or supernatural powers.

Famous Edo period stories can be found in  "Taihei-Hyakumonogatari" and "Tonoigusa".

                                                   
In many of these accounts the Jorogumo changes its appearance into that of a beautiful young woman and would ask a samurai to marry her,
in other versions she will take the form of a young woman carrying a baby (which may turn out to be a spider's eggsack).

Drawings, like the one in Toriyama Sekien's book Gazu Hyakki Yako, depicts Jorogumo as a half-woman/half-spider surrounded by her spider children. 

=====================


The jorogumo is the most well-known of the spider yokai.

They can be found all over the Japan, except for Hokkaido.

The golden orb weaver's body size averages between two to three centimeters long, though they can grow far larger as they age; some are so big  they can catch and eat small birds.

These spiders are well known for their large size, eye catching colors and the large sturdy webs they weave.

                             

----------

Her favorite prey is young men.

When a jorogumo sets her sights on a man she desires, she will invite him into her home, he is usually never seen again.
 

They can spin silk threads strong enough to trap a grown man and keep him in place.

She also has a strong venom that can slowly weaken a man day by day, allowing her to prolong her victims inevitable death  so she can savor his suffering.

In some versions she is believed to have the ability to control other, lesser spiders, even using magic fire-breathing spiders to burn down the homes of anyone
that grow suspicious of her.

If she is careful enough a  jorogumo can operate in secret  like this for years without detection, even in the middle of a busy city,  while the skeletons of hundreds of men eventually build up in her home/ nest.

They usually make their nests in old caves, forests, or empty abandon homes and buildings.

Jorogumo are highly intelligence but also very cold hearted , she see's humans as no more valuable then common insects only there to feed on.

They are powerful shapeshifters and usually spend  their lives in the form of a young attractive women.
.....................

Jorogumo also appear in various manga and anime..

===================================================================

                                                                   

                                                         Kirue ITOSHIGE - Yokai Girls Manga

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                                               Monster Musume/ Monster Girls Encyclopedia

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                  Jorōgumo from  Rosario + Vampire
==========================================================

                                               Jorōgumo in NURARIHYON NO MAGO

================

=========================

=======================================

alright that's all for now, next post will be up soon. :)

Monsters, Cryptid and Yokai :.. Devil Monkeys

                                        .......   The Devil Monkey .........


The Devil Monkey, is a Baboon like canin cryptid, spotted in several state's through out  the United States, most recently in  the south...
 

An eye witness account claims  that she noticed her dog was acting very agitated when they we're on they're hike through Mt. Elden forest trail, when she noticed a small group of primate like creatures scurrying through the rocks.

She described them as 4-5 feet tall, very quick and agile.

 

There have also been other sightings in other states such as New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. Unique breeds of monkey have been described as being about 3 to 4 feet tall, although some eyewitnesses have sworn that these things  can reach  a terrifying  height that is in excess of 7 feet tall.

The first reported encounter with this fast, dangerous predator occurred in 1934, in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee.


According to the reports — which were allegedly published in national newspapers — eyewitnesses described a mysterious beast that could “leap across fields” with “lightening speed.” This ability to jump great distances — up to 20 feet according to some accounts — have led some to speculate that these animals may have something in common with the Kangaroos that have  allegedly been seen throughout the United States for decades.

The suggestion is that those who think they’re seeing kangaroos from a distance are, in fact, seeing Devil Monkeys. While these 1934 encounters may or may not be associated with this phenomenon, the first “official” Devil Monkey sighting occurred in 1959, while a couple by the name of Boyd were driving through the mountains near their home in Saltville, Virginia.

According to their account, an ape-like animal  attacked their car, leaving three scratch marks on the vehicle.

The Boyd’s daughter, Pauline, described the terrifying attacker:  It had light, taffy colored hair, with a white blaze down its neck and underbelly… it stood on two, large well-muscled back legs and had shorter front legs or arms.” Boyd went on to describe a second Devil Monkey encounter that occurred just days later in the same region: “Several days after this incident, two nurses from the Saltville area were driving home from work one morning and were attacked by an unknown creature who ripped the convertible top from their car.” Luckily the nurses — though surely frightened out of their wits — were unharmed.

In 1969, esteemed mystery ape researchers Johnn Green looked into accounts of a long-tailed “monkey” beast that eyewitnesses claimed was lurking near Mamquam, British Columbia.

 This creature was said to have left a series of distinctive, three toed tracks — much like those attributed to Devil Monkeys as well as the legendary Bigfoot— in its wake.

In 1973, famed cryptozoologist and author Lauren Coleman investigated reports of three, black bushy-tailed “giant monkeys” that were said to have slaughtered livestock in Albany, Kentucky. Coleman mentioned the event in an interview with Animal Planet: “I investigated that case in depth. I interviewed the people, who were very sincere.

 In the whole context of devil monkey reports, it seemed extremely sincere.

 You have these reports of hairy, monkey-like creatures with tails, very different from Bigfoot.” In 1979, there was a spate of reported encounters with a bipedal, monkey-like critter known as the Bigfoot which hailed from the rural depths of Georgia. One female eyewitness described it as: “The ugliest looking thing I've ever seen… (it had a tail) like a beaver’s, but it’s bushy.” She also claimed in bore “a face like a dog.” These traits are all known to be Devil Monkey characteristics.

 There have been several  eyewitnesses that have describe this cryptid  as resembling a wild dog at a distance, which would suggests that they  may be capable of   both bipedal and quadrupedal movement...

Monsters, Cryptids and Yokai: the Kuchisake Onna or Slit Mouthed Woman.

 

 i love myths and folklore from all over the world.

Japan  is  full of interesting yokai, today's post will be about the Kuchisaki- onna or slit mouthed woman.


The slit mouthed woman is a well know yokai and has been seen in several popular modern shows and movies.

She can also be found in several  manga, live-action movies, anime and video games throughout Japan.

She was in the 1994 animated film Pom Poko, produced by Studio Ghibli, and would later appears in the 1996 live-action
short film titled " Kuchisake-onna", directed by Teruyoshi Ishii.
   

The 2007 horror movie "Carved" (also known under the titles Kuchisake-onna or A Slit-Mouthed Woman), directed by Koji Shiraishi  and featuring Miki Mizuno as the Kuchisake-onna,  The film was then followed by a sequal Carved 2: The Scissors Massacre  (also known as Kuchisake-onna 2) and The Slit-Mouthed Woman: The Beginning (or Kuchisake-onna Biginingu), released in 2008.

 Another movie in 2012 called Kuchisake-onna Returns,  

As well as in the occult/supernatural webcomic Mob Psycho 100.

And several other mentions and appearances in various manga's and shows.

=============================================================================

According to the urban legends, children walking alone at night may encounter a woman wearing a surgical mask, which is not an unusual
sight in Japan as people wear them to protect others from their colds or sickness.

The woman will stop the child and ask, "Am I pretty?" If the child answers no, the child is killed with a pair of scissors which the woman
carries. If the child answers yes, the woman pulls away the mask, revealing that her mouth is slit from ear to ear, and asks "How about now?"
 If the child answers no, he/she will be cut in half. If the child answers yes, then she will slit his/her mouth like hers. It is impossible to
run away from her, as she will simply reappear in front of the victim.

When the myth reappeared, the late 1970s rumors of ways to escape her soon followed. Some sources say she can be confused by the victim answering
her question with ambiguous answers, such as "You are average" or "So-so". Unsure of what to do, her victem will have enough time to escape while
she is lost in thought. Another way too  escape her is simply to tell her you have a previous engagement; she will pardon her manners and excuse herself.
In some variations of the tale, she can be distracted by fruit or candies thrown at her which she will then pick up, thus giving the victim a chance to run.
 

Another way is for the child to ask her if the child is pretty; she will get confused and just leave.

====================================

The Origins ===
======================
The Kuchisake-onna was a woman who was mutilated during her life, with her mouth being slit from ear to ear,and became a vengeful yokai after death.

In some versions of the story, the Kuchisake-onna was the unfaithful wife of a samurai during her life.
As punishment for her infidelity, her husband sliced the corners of her mouth from ear to ear.

Other versions of the tale claim her mouth was mutilated during a medical or dental procedure,
or that she was mutilated by a woman who was jealous of her beauty and one that stats her mouth is actually filled with several sharp teeth and her mouth
is split to accommodate them.

-------

Regardless of how her mouth became split, after her death, the woman would return as a vengeful spirit, or onryo.

As an onryo, she covers her mouth with a cloth mask  (often specified in modern tails as a surgical mask), or in some iterations, a hand fan or even just a handkerchief.  

She also carries a sharp instrument with her, in some versions  a knife, others its  a machete, or a scythe, but the most well know versions  she uses a large pair of scissors.
 

In every version of the legend, she is said to ask potential victims if they think she is pretty often phrased as "Watashi, kirei?"  (which translates to "Am I pretty?" or "Am I beautiful?").  If the person answers "no", she will kill the person with her knife,  and if the person answers "yes", she will reveal her mutilated mouth.

She then repeats her question  (or asks "Kore demo?",  "Even with this?" or "Even now?") and if the person responds with "no" or screams  in fright, she will kill the person immediately .

If the response is "yes", she will slice the corners of the person's
 mouth from ear to ear, so that they will look like her.

===========================
===escape====
=================
An individual can survive an encounter with Kuchisake-onna by using one of several methods. like the ones listed above.

In other versions of the myth, the Kuchisake-onna will leave the potential victim alone if they answer "yes" to both of her questions, though in other tales, she will visit the individual's residence later that night and murder the person  while they sleep.  

Other survival tactics include replying to her question by describing her appearance as "average", giving the individual enough time to run away;  distracting her by giving or throwing  money or hard candies (particularly the kind of candy known as bekko ame, made of caramelized sugar) in her direction, as she will stop to pick them up; or by saying the word "pomade" three times.
.
======
========
older versions
========

When rumors of alleged sightings began spreading in 1979 around the Nagasaki Prefecture, other sightings soon spread throughout Japan and  caused panic in several towns.

Though the original myth is believed to date back as far as the Edo piriod, the modern version of the  Kuchisake-onna can be  traced back to as early as 1979.

Several articles reported sightings of this malevolent yokai, the Gifu Prefecture newspaper Gifu Nichi Nichi Shinbun on  January 26, 1979,
 

the weekly publication Shukan Asahi on  March 23, 1979, and the weekly news magazine Shukan Shincho on  April 5, 1979.

With so many new sightings of the Kuchisake-onna spreading throughout Japan, mass hysteria soon followed to the point  that younger children would sometimes be accompanied by members of parent–teacher association groups while walking home from school. to keep them safe.

The police even  increasing their patrols to ease public concern.
==================

============================
==More recent sightings====
==============================
In 2004 here were many new  reports in South Korea about a woman wearing a red mask who was frequently seen chasing children, and in October 2007, a coroner allegedly found some old records from the late 1970s about a woman who was chasing young children.
 

She was then hit by a car, and died soon after. Her mouth was reportedly ripped from ear to ear.



so be weary of strangers, and maybe keep some hard candy as a decoy just in case lol..

Monsters, Cryptids and Yokai: Batsquatch

 

batsquatch

Sightings of strange humanoid creatures can be found all over the world. The Sasquatch / bigfoot of North America, The Alma of Siberia Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp, the Mothman of Point Pleasant  West Virginia  or  the Owlman of Cornwall. And what about the mysterious “bat-woman of Viet Nam”, spotted by three U.S. soldiers during the war in Southeast Asia, The Ahool and the Orang Bati and so on......

Unidentified creatures stalking the woods is a scary thought in and of itself, but Flying Humanoids
have also been sighted hundreds if not thousands of time's at this point and some encounters are
far more terrifying in nature then the random bigfoot sighting.. (Flying Humanoid post coming soon)

So what would you do if you encountered one of these larger then life beings that just so happened to have  the ability to  fly?..

 

........

One such encounter took place near Mount St. Helens back in the 1980s.

The creature is now commonly referred to as Batsquatch !   
 

The eye witness account describes the beast as standing at least 9 feet tall with yellow eyes, a wolf-like
muzzle, blue fur, sharp teeth, bird-like feet and large leathery bat-like wings that span up to at least
fifty feet.

Brian Canfield was the first person to actually have his name associated with a Batsquatch sighting.

He was also the one that first called it “Batsquatch”. 

Brian’s friends and family testified that he was an ordinary and dependable man with no bad habits or traits. Of course, many had a field day with his report and he was smeared as a drunk or a drug addict when investigation revealed neither of those traits.

==================

It all started on On April 1994, when  Brian Canfield was driving in Washington's Pierce County when his truck suddenly died.
 
Brian believed this creature had the ability to effect cars and had somehow stopped his vehicle.(
(The ability to affect electronics/ motors is also similar the the mothman)

Canfield said a large creature landed in front of him an it was human-like, 9 ft tall with batlike wings and blue fur.

 

 

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..Other Sightings..
  ===============
1994 was also the year that a mountain guide and liquor store owner Butch Whittaker reported an encounter with Batsquatch. Whittaker claimed to have been flying a small plane to Mt. Rainier when he saw the devilish humanoid flying close to the plane. Whittaker says he was able to snap pictures of the winged beast but as is typical in paranormal stories, the photos remain unseen. Many take Whittaker’s claims with an extra large grain of salt.

==============================================================

Another possible sighting was reported in 2009 near Mt. Shasta in California.
Several hikers witnessed a  Very Large creature with leathery wings (spanning possibly up to 50 ft.) fly out of a crevice in the mountain.
 

At first, an eye-witness described the creature as having a head similar to a pterodactyl, however upon reconsideration the witness claimed
it was more like a bat or a fox.

----------------------------------

In June 2011 Pheonix Tieraz-(pseudonym) was in his yard walking his dog.

He went to pick up the dog when he saw something in the sky. He said the following-------

 "I saw something flying the the sky.
  It had bat wings, blue fur and had a face similar  to a bats with glowing red eyes.
  It was about 9 feet tall at the least, after I watched, it just flew away. "
===================


On April 14, 2014 at Archbishop Hoban High School in Akron OH, a second period Spanish class spotted a giant black mass zip by the  window of the classroom at incredible speed.

The class claims it was about 9 feet tall with a 20-30 foot wingspan.

==============

So what do you think? is there a large flying bigfoot like creature stalking the sky's of North America, or is this  an  undiscovered giant bat specie's...

keep an eye on the sky... you never know whats flying just out of sight waiting to strick.......

                                       ==============================

                                           ===========================

                            Batsquatch is also a beer :)

 

 

 

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                                                               Next post coming soon...
                                                             ------------------------------------
 

Pagan Origins of Easter and The Easter Bunny

 

         -------------Happy Easter----------------

                          =============================================

                    🐰Hope everyone has a great Good Friday and an awesome Easter!🐰

                 ===================================================

                                 

Like many modern Christian holidays, Easter  and the Easter Bunny can be traced back at least in part too older pagan traditions and celebrations .

 

The festival of Ostara / Ēostr

 

                                                

                                                         

                                                      

                                                        Goddess Ostara/ Easter...

 

In most Europe countries , the name for Easter is derived from the Jewish festival of Passover.

In Greek the feast is called Pascha, in Italian Pasqua, in Danish it is Paaske, and in French it is Paques,"

But in English-speaking countries, and in Germany, Easter takes its name from a pagan goddess from Anglo-Saxon England who was described in a book by the eighth-century English monk Bede.

Ostara otherwise known as Ēostre, is the Germanic  goddess of spring and dawn and fertility. 

 

On the old Germanic calendar, the equivalent month to April was called “Ōstarmānod” – or Easter-month.

Ēostre is attested solely by Bede  in his 8th-century work The Reckoning of Time, where Bede states that during Ēosturmōnaþ (the equivalent of April), the pagan feasts in Ēostre's honor, but that this tradition had died out by his time, replaced by the Christian Paschal Month  a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.

 Historic linguists  have also traced the name to a Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn   Ausṓs from which descends the Common Germanic divinity from whom Ēostre and Ostara are held to descend.

 

 Scholars have also  linked the goddess's name to a variety of Germanic personal names, a series of location names in England, and, discovered in 1958, over 150 inscriptions from the 2nd century CE referring to the matrona Austriahenae.


There are several theory's that connect Ēostre with records of Germanic Easter customs  that alsoincl hares and Egg's. Particularly prior to the discovery of the matronae Austriahenae and further developments in Indo European studies, there have been several debates  among some scholars about whether or not the goddess was an invention of Bede. Ēostre and Ostara are sometimes referenced in modern popular culture and are venerated in some forms of Germanic neopaganism.

  ==============

During pre-christian times, people have celebrated the equinoxes and the solstices as sacred times

The spring equinox is a day where the amount of dark and the amount of daylight is exactly identical, so you can tell that you're emerging from winter because the daylight and the dark have come back into balance. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth...."People would plan out their whole life according to the patterns of nature.

Once Christianity took root across Euroup, the Easter period became associated with the resurrection of Christ.

In the first couple of centuries after Jesus's life, feast days in the new Christian church were attached to old pagan festivals,

Spring festivals  were to celebrate the end of winter and the retrn of warmer seasons, the main theme was new life and relief from the cold of winter this later became connected to the resurrected of Christ after the crucifixion.

 In 325AD the first major church council, the Council of Nicaea, determined that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox.

This is why the date moves and why Easter celebrations are sometimes referred to as "moveable feasts".

There's a defined period between March 25 and April 25 on which Easter Sunday must fall, and that's determined by the movement of the planets and the Sun.

===================

 Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny 

======================

Ostre is a goddess of fertility her main  animal symbols are bunny and eggs. 

Rabbits are  known for their high rate breeding as such they have traditionally symbolized fertility, and eggs represent new life.

 

It’s believed that decorating eggs for Easter dates back to at least  the 13th century. 

 People began decorating eggs and eating them as a treat following mass on Easter Sunday after fasting through Lent.this is still something that happens in modern times, especially in eastern European countries like Poland.

During the 19th century Russian high society also started exchanging ornately decorated eggs—even jewel encrusted one's on Easter.

                                  

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                   -----The Easter Bunny-----

 

 

According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania..

 

The first association of the rabbit with Easter was a mention in  the "Easter hare"  a book by a German professor of medicine Georg Franck von Franckenau published in 1682.

He recalled a folk story that hares would hide the colored eggs that children hunted for, which would indicate that at least as early as the 17th century, decorated eggs were hidden in gardens for egg hunts.

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Von Franckenau taught anatomy, chemistry and botany in Jena and became a professor of medicine at the University of Heidelberg.

  In his "On Easter Eggs" essay, which he published around 1682, he considers ancientpagan symbols of life and fertility connected with religious traditions. 

 On the Easter bunny, he says this ---in Alsace, and neighboring regions, these eggs are called rabbit eggs because of the myth told to fool simple people and children that the Easter Bunny is going around laying eggs and hiding them in the herb gardens. 

So the children look for them, even more enthusiastically, to the delight of smiling adults. 

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These legends were preserved and improved upon by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who referred to the Bunny as the Oschter Haws. 

Beginning in the1680s, children around Germantown Pennsylvania would build nests out of hatsand bonnets, place them in the yard, or out by the barn and, on Easter morning, they would be found filled with colorful eggs. 

The decorated hats and bonnets eventually evolved into Easter baskets.

These custom's later spread across the U.S. and the bunny’s Easter morning deliveries would later  include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests, children often leave out carrots for the bunny in case he gets  hungry from all his hopping.

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The Easter Bunny  or  Easter Rabbit 

This magic mythic bunny is believed to have  originated  among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge(similar to Santa and his list), he would  determine  whether or not child's behavior  had been good or bad in at the start of the season of Eastertide. 

The Easter Bunny is sometimes depicted with clothes. In legend, he carries colored eggs, candy, and sometimes even toys in his basket  to the homes of children, another  similarity he shares   Santa Claus, they both bring gifts to children on the night before their respective holidays.

 

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Bunnies aren’t the only animal traditionally associated with Easter in every country. Some identify the holiday with other types of animals like foxes and even the  cuckoo birds.

whatever you believe in bunny fox or bird i hop you all have a great Easter weekend.

 

                      :) Happy Easter :)