Spring Equinox (Ostara) - March 21st

Spring Equinox (Ostara) - March 21st

Also called ‘Lady Day’, this is a good time to mentally ‘plant’ seeds. They can be seeds for an idea of some kind, for some kind of change, or for anything you want to have manifest in your life over the Spring and Summer.

In Slavic pagan traditions, this was believed to be a day when Death had no power over the living. In their tradition, a personification of Death was symbolically ‘killed’ by throwing him into moving water to drown. Flowers (symbols of life renewed) were tossed in after him and he was sung to as he floated down river. After Death’s drowning, brightly painted red eggs were passed around during a procession to the ritual site where the new life of Spring was celebrated with food, dance, and strong drink. This feast featured foods associated with fertility, such as cake, honey, and eggs.

Eggs are the traditional symbol of Ostara, beginning with the egg itself - the gold of the yolk represents the Sun God, the white of the shell represents the Goddess, who gave birth to the God. The egg, as a whole is a symbol of birth and rebirth. The modern belief that eggs are delivered by a rabbit originates with the legend of Goddess Eostre... So much did a lowly rabbit wish to please this Goddess that he laid the sacred eggs in her honor, gaily decorated them and then humbly presented them to her. She was so pleased that she wished to share her joy with all of humankind. In honoring her wishes, the rabbit went through all the world and distributed the little decorated gifts of life.

Easter eggs were traditionally colored red, in honor of the Sun. In the Ukraine, the eggs were intricately decorated by writing on them in a rich language of symbols which was almost endless in number and variation. These eggs were called ‘pysanky’. In that country there is an ancient legend that tells of a demon monster that will devour the world. The monster is chained and as it strains and pulls, the links of it’s chains are weakened, but every Spring, the chain is strengthened in proportion to the number of pysanky that are made and exchanged that season.

In Mexico and the American Southwest, there is another pagan custom revolving around eggs (here, they are called cascarones). Eggshells are hollowed out and painted, then filled with traditional pagan symbols for spring (perfume, confetti, lavender, sage, etc.) and resealed with tape. The object is to take your cascarones out on Ostara morning, catch your loved ones by surprise and hit them over the head with the egg. As the insides rain around you and your loved one, both of you are blessed with the love, luck and new life of the season.

Other traditional symbols of Ostara include the lily and the lamb. The lily was a symbol of life in pagan Greece and Rome, where it adorned altars and temples on Ostara. Young men, playing the role of the lusty young God, would present them to the young woman they were courting. Accepting the lily in public meant much the same thing as accepting a diamond ring does now. The lamb was sacred to virtually all virgin Goddesses of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and was so ingrained in the mindset of the peoples of that region that it was carried over into Spring religious rituals of the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter.

In Wales, Ostara was the time of the official return of the young Goddess after her winter hibernation. On this day of balance, She was believed to be able to meet her youthful God on equal terms, mate with him and become impregnated with not only the God who will be born at Yule, but with the autumn harvest as well. The Norse also honored their Virgin Goddess and celebrated her mating with the young God. Sexual relations were almost obligatory on Ostara Eve. (this portion of the Sabbat has been moved to Beltane by most pagan circles)