OSTARA
The Wheel of the Year is a list of pagan holy days, known as sabbats. There are 4 greater sabbats known as the Cross-Quarter days as they are midway between the solstices and equinoxes. Starting with the beginning and end of the year they are: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Ludgnsahd. The 4 lesser sabbats, known as the Quarter days, are the solstices and equinoxes: Yule, Ostara, Litha, Mabon.
Ostara is also known as: Eostar, Eostre, Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox, and Rites of Spring. It is celebrated on the spring or Vernal Equinox, on or near April 21st.
The Goddess has awaken from Her winter’s slumber and the earth is bursting forth with life once again. We rejoice in the balance of day and night, the balance of maleness, femaleness, neither, and both. We celebrate the seeds awakening and ready to burst forth with life. Light and dark are equal and we celebrate the balance of the world. It is a celebration of Eostre, Goddess of spring and fertility. Her symbols are those representing fertility--eggs and the hare. Ostara is also the birthday of Aradia, Goddess of Magick.
We say goodbye to the dark time of the year, and welcome in the warming light returning. Through sympathetic magick, we try to show the earth what we wish to occur (ie: seeds to sown and burst forth with life, flowers to bloom, all things to be fertilized, etc). Ostara is a solar festival.
The energies of nature slowly shift from the sluggishness of winter to the expansion of spring. The Goddess blankets the earth with fertility, bursting forth from her sleep as the God grows to maturity--walking in the greening fields and delighting in the abundance of nature.
It is a time of beginnings, of action, of planting spells for future gain, and tending of ritual gardens. It is traditional to pick flowers and a very good time for herb magick. Plan walk through nature--a celebratory ritual in itself. It is also a traditional time for honoring one of the younger women in the coven or grove by appointing her Spring Queen and sending her home with an armful of flowers!
The Christian holiday of Easter is named after the Teutonic Goddess Eostre. The celebration of Easter is directly tied to the Spring, or Vernal Equinox. The symbology of eggs and rabbits are overlapped as well. The Easter egg is pre-Christian as well. Originally it was the world egg laid by the Goddess and split open by the heat of the Sun God, hatching the world.
Some traditional foods: seeds, sprouts, leafy greens, flower dishes.
Traditional herbs: daffodil, woodruff, violet, gorse, olive, peony, iris, narcissus, all spring flowers Colors: greens and yellows
Copyright © (1998-2024) Donna E. Passaro, All rights reserved, this material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior permission.
