Queen Esther-The Goddess Of Purim

Preparing Herself to Meet King Ahasuerus (Theodore Chasseriau, 1841)
By now, anybody who has delved even superficially into the origins of Easter has probably come across explanations as to how Easter, the day Christ arose from the dead three days from the day of his crucifixion on Good Friday, came to be celebrated by the Catholic Church. Although on the surface the Christian holiday seems to coincide with the Jewish holy days of Passover, it would seem as though the Catholic Church incorporated a good many former pagan elements into their version, apparently on the grounds of phasing the population into acceptance of the new faith by adhering to customs with which they were familiar and comfortable, and to which they were attached by generations of tradition. Thus we have such things as Easter egg hunts and gifts of candy which would seem to hearken back to some ancient fertility festival. The name Easter, of course, is said to derive from an ancient goddess named Oestre-a pagan fertility goddess.

Many modern day pagan religions, especially WIcca, now recognized the day of Oestre as occurring on the day of the Vernal Equinox-the first day of Spring-and is considered one of the eight sacred Sabbats that make up the Wheel Of The Year.

On the day of Oestre, the Goddess presents herself to the young God, who is filled with passion and desire for the beautiful Goddess with whom he is destined to mate. This of course is a symbolic representation of the full blown and newly returned fertility of the earth at the onset of spring.

This would seem to have little to do with the resurrection of Christ, and for that matter, with the sacred Holy Day of the Jewish Passover. However, there is another sacred day of the Jewish calendar, which takes place in the month of Adar, which seems to amount to what is actually the original Jewish version of what must have at one time been a widespread fertility festival that crossed many cultures and regions.

The Jewish Festival of Purim may in fact have been that original Jewish version of that ancient pagan fertility festival. Just as the Jews had their versions of the Great Flood stories then current in Babylonian and various other ancient mythologies, so too did they have their own version of the Goddess of Fertility-a Queen they named Esther, whose story is to be found in the Old Testament Book of Esther, the book on which the festival of Purim is based.

In their version, the Persian King Ahasuerus rejects his former queen, Vashti, because she refuses to appear naked at a banquet in order to show off her beauty. Vashti, of late a heroine to some elements of the feminist movement, was divorced, and either killed or exiled, depending on which theological school of thought you choose to believe. The original Biblical account is unclear on the matter, which leads me to believe this was a slam at the original fertility goddess, a way of saying that she was unsatisfactory and disappointing. After a period of searching for a replacement, the King settled on Esther, who was, unknown to him, an orphaned Jewess whose cousin Mordecai was her adopted father.

It doesn't take much imagination to see the connection between the name Esther to Oestre, which in fact is probably a Western European, probably Celtic, form of the Babylonian Ishtar. Her cousin Mordecai is likewise a form of the Babylonian God Marduk. In this version, Marduk, or Mordecai, had previously informed the King of a plot against his life, whereupon the plotters were apprehended and executed. Later, Haman, an adviser to the King, is incensed when Mordecai fails to pay him due honors, and sets about a plot to kill all the Jews within Persia. Haman hates all the Jews anyway, and especially despises Mordecai who, as a Benjamite, is a descendant of King Saul, who was responsible for the murder of his own ancestor, Agag King of the Amalekites. King Ahasuerus agrees to Hamans request, and when Mordecai gets wind of the plot, in desperation he turns to Esther for help.

Yet, Esther has a problem. The King has not sent for her since their original wedding night, and she fears if she approaches him without being summonsed by him she will fall from favor as did Vashti earlier. Seeing no other recourse, she summons her courage and approaches the King, and requests a banquet. She requests a second banquet the following night, and during the course of that first night, Ahasuerus is unable to sleep, and calls for his attendants to read to him from his archives in order to help him sleep. During the reading, he is reminded of the promise of a reward he previously promised to Mordecai for the earlier help in defeating the plot against his life. The following day, at the second banquet, he asks Haman what he would suggest as a reward for his most honored subject. Thinking Ahasuerus referred to himself, he suggested parading the honored subject on horseback with public honors. When Haman learned Mordecai was to be the recipient he was incensed.

Ahasuerus then had Haman killed on the same gallows he originally intended for Mordecai. Unfortunately, a peculiarity of Persian law decreed that no royal edict could be reversed or overturned, even by the same king who issued the edict. Therefore, the Jews were still legally bound to be executed by the pogrom Ahasuerus had ordered at the instigation of Haman. However, Ahasuerus gave the Jews permission to arm themselves and thus defend themselves from any attack, which they did. The attempted genocide that Haman's vengeful sons attempted to carry out resulted in all their deaths and the deaths of most of their followers.

As a result, the events of this story are celebrated every year in the festival of Purim. The festival includes a period of fasting which is followed by feasting, the giving of charity to the poor, and gifts of food to friends and relatives. There is also a rather odd and unusual rule that strongly encourages a period of drunkenness for the men, though it is generally discouraged for the women. It is actually quite a festive holiday, much in keeping with what is usually to be found in a festival revolving around rites of fertility. It is possibly the most joyous of all the Jewish holy days, filed with much frivolity and merry-making. Even the traditional noisemaking to drown out the sounds of the name of Haman is conducted in an overall attitude of fun and general frivolity.

How much of it is historical? Probably little if any of it. There are many elements that point to this being a Jewish version of the old fertility rites current in the region at the time. When Vashti, the original fertility goddess of the old festival, falls out of favor, it takes how long for Ahasuerus to find a suitable replacement in the form of Esther? Exactly twelve months-just in time, it would seem, for the next annual festival.

And, although Esther is obviously favored in the eyes of the King-he chose her from among twelve other competing participants-he yet sends her to the harem where he keeps her isolated, and never calls for her until she seeks his aid in the matter of Mordecai and Haman-one might assume with some validity about the time of the next annual festival.

When she does approach him, it almost perfectly presents the image of the beautiful Goddess appearing before the love stricken King, vying for his favors. Only in the Jewish version of the fertility festival, there is more at stake here than an invocation to hasten the earth's renewed fertility. The survival of the whole Jewish nation is at stake. So therefore you have a fertility festival dedicated to invoking the continuing increased abundance and security of the Jewish people.

Of course, some might take issue with that interpretation, and with the identification of two Jewish heroes of antiquity being identified as in reality two pagan deities. Be that as it may, I am hardly the first to notice the similarity of the Book of Esther to pagan traditions. I will close here with the words of Martin Luther himself, pertaining to his observations of the Book of Esther, the Biblical book on which the festival of Purim is based-

"The book of Esther I toss into the Elbe. I am such an enemy to the book of Esther that I wish it did not exist, for it Judaizes too much and has in it a great deal of heathenish naughtiness".