elements from the religions it replaced. It had to. Since it couldn't wipe out all vestiges of indigenous religions, it adopted them. Springs, woods, ancient trees that had once belonged to pagan deities acquired Christian saints as patrons. Their veneration continued for centuries. That's a given. The process is still clearly visible in Latin America, especially in areas with large Native populations.
Now, Easter. As Texas Progressive has pointed out, the only languages that make the connection between the Christian celebration of Jesus' resurrection and a Germanic goddess are the two with roots in West Saxon. Anglo Saxon remained a very close cognate to its Continental source. If you can read Beowulf, you can read Der Heiland, and vice versa.
Eostre's name, and the names of similar goddesses that can be documented at least to Roman times, all derive ultimately from a Proto-Indo- European root meaning "to shine" and most likely to a Proto-IE goddess of the dawn. One of the stops on the way back to the dawn goddess is East/Ost, which are still in use in modern English and German.
Dawn and the east, of course, are associated with beginnings. The ancient Western European year began on March 25, as close to tbe Spring Equinox as makes no difference. This date was later marked as the Christian feast of the Annunciation, because that day was also considered to be the day of Jesus' conception. A second reason that date was chosen is that it created a symmetrical, closed cycle by assigning Jesus' conception and resurrection to the same date, both symbolizing the new era of salvation through Christ. In Saxon-speaking lands, this date corresponded closely with the beginning of Eostarumonadh/Ostermonadh, and the name of the month became attached to the day of the resurrection.
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