Ostara, the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox, is one of the Lesser Sabbats of the Witch’s annual calendar and today, in the northern hemisphere, is celebrated on the 21st March, although this date may vary by a day or two depending upon the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. In the southern hemisphere the equivalent Sabbat is Mabon, the Autumn Equinox. Ostara is the Anglo-Saxon term for Eostre, the Teutonic Goddess of Spring and fertility whose festival of old was celebrated on the day of the Vernal Equinox (the equinoxes are the points in Spring and Autumn at which the Sun’s path crosses the celestial equator, at which time the periods of day and night become equal in length).



And the Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the spirit of Love felt everywhere
And each wild flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
Rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
The snowdrop and then the violet
Arose from the ground with the warm rain wet
And their breath was mixed with sweet odour sent
From the turf, like the voice and the instrument.


Percy Bysshe Shelley




Ostara is also known by various other names, such as: the Rites of Spring, Lady’s Day, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, Eostre’s Day. As was to happen with many popular pagan festivals, when Christianity arrived, Ostara was renamed and many of its customs and symbolism incorporated into the Christian holiday of Easter. Easter takes its name from Eostre, the same Goddess of Spring associated with Ostara, and like Ostara, its date is variable, being calculated as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon, after the Vernal Equinox.



In the mythology of the Witch’s Sabbats, Ostara celebrates the return of the Goddess from the Underworld. Warmed by the strengthening light of the Sun, she awakes bursting forth from her sleep and blankets the earth with fertility. As the Sun God stretches and grows to maturity, he and the Goddess walk the fields and forests and, delighted with the abundance of life and nature, inspire all living things to grow and reproduce.





"Ostara" (1901) by Johannes Gehrts.
(The goddess Ēostre/Ostara flies through the heavens surrounded by Roman-inspired putti, beams of light and animals. Germanic peoples look up at the goddess from the realm below).

Ostara is a time to celebrate the arrival of Spring and the renewal and rebirth of nature after the cold dark days of Winter. Since the early buds of nature appeared at Imbolc, the Sun has continued to climb and gain in strength until now, at Ostara, daylight and darkness are in equal balance. As days lengthen and overtake night, so too does the earth begin to thaw from the last freezing grip of winter. Now is the time our farmers make ready their ploughs and prepare their oxen to pull them, and seed corn saved from the last harvest is checked to ensure its quality and suitability for planting.

To our ancestors, the success of the planting season and the harvest to follow was of life and death importance, for the bounty to be gained from the new plantings would be needed to sustain them through the hardships of the next winter. Today, while agriculture is still a major contributor to our national economy, many of our winter food needs are subsidized by foreign imports, and given modern farming techniques and the mechanisation of the industry, the hardships of the old days are but a distant memory. Despite this, in some of the more remote parts of the country, the customs and practises of our ancestors are still being used.



Fire


Ostara is one of the Fire Festivals observed by our ancestors, who lit bonfires and torches as a focal point of the celebrations. Fire is especially symbolic of the rising Sun, and of old, it was customary to light bonfires on top of nearby hills in his honour. In Germany, Scandinavia and in the Norse traditions of England, wheels made from wood, straw and branches were assembled at the top of nearby hills. There at the appointed time, normally at sunrise, the wheels would be set aflame and rolled down the hill through the fields below; a ritual performed symbolic of the Sun warming and thawing the earth which would later be ploughed and planted. Charred sticks from the Sun-wheels would then be saved and taken home to protect the home against fire and lightning. Likewise, the ashes from the fires would be spread in the fields to protect them against future thunder storms.



Today, more out of health and safety reasons, modern pagans might use a Catherine Wheel attached to the top of a pole to symbolise the old Sun-wheel fires. Likewise, the custom of rolling a flaming wheel down a hill was replaced. Now instead, brightly coloured eggs painted to represent the sunlight of spring are rolled down hillsides at Easter. The egg is a potent symbol of fertility and is one of the sacred symbols associated with the Goddess Ostara.



Fertility


The main focus at Ostara was to honour the Gods and Goddesses whose blessings were invoked to promote fertility during the planting season. One of the fertility animals associated with the Goddess at Ostara is the Snake, which emerges from its winter hibernation to bask in the spring sunshine. Due to the constant shedding of its skin, the snake was seen as a symbol of new life. In many of the world’s creation myths, the Goddess in the form of a snake laid the “Egg of Original Beings”, better known as the “World Egg” or the “Cosmic Egg of Creation”, which was split open by the heat of the Sun God. The inside yolk of the egg represents the Sun God, while the outside shell is seen as the womb of the Goddess. The whole, therefore, is uniquely symbolic of creation, birth and new beginnings.



It was an old custom at Ostara to collect eggs, paint them to match those of the local wild birds and place them in baskets woven from straw, imitable of their nests. Birds were commonly believed to be the messengers of the Gods, so these baskets were given away to friends and neighbours as talismans for good luck and prosperity. Eggs were also ritually eaten at Ostara and the shells buried in the fields to promote fertility.







Another fertility animal associated with the Goddess at Ostara was the Hare, this due to its constant mating activity in spring. Hares mate while they are still very young, and the female can produce several litters each year, from which activity the expression “mad as a March hare” was derived. The hare has often been regarded as a sacred animal of the lunar Goddess, because an image of a hare can often be seen in the full moon. It was from this illusion that Witches were once believed to shape-shift into hares. Today the rabbit is more prolific and active at this time and is now one of the common symbols of Easter.



Food


As with all Sabbat celebrations, food plays an important part in the festivities. If we turn back the clock and look at the conditions our ancestors survived in, by the time of Spring many of their food stocks saved from the previous years harvest, and meat saved from the last cull and slaughter of their animals, would now be running out. With the arrival of a new Spring and the renewed regeneration of life and nature, many of their fears for survival were over. Ostara to them marked an end to eating cured and salted meat with dried vegetables. As animals came out of hibernation, fresh game became available, and as the Sun climbed higher, herbs and new young plants replaced the old. As such, the Ostara feast was always one to remember.



Ostara correspondences


Animals - Hares, Rabbits and Snakes.

Plants and Herbs - Crocus flowers, Daffodils, Jasmine, Irish Moss, Snowdrops and Ginger.

Incense - Jasmine, Frankincense, Myrrh, Dragon's Blood, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Aloes wood, Benzoin, Musk, African Violet, Sage, Strawberry, Lotus, Violet flowers, Orange peel or Rose petals.

Stones - Aquamarine, Rose Quartz and Moonstone.

Food - All food in tune with the season, including: eggs of all types, hard-boiled or in a salad, honey cakes, first fruits of the season, fish, cakes, biscuits, cheeses, honey and ham, and whatever game you can hunt.



In conclusion, metaphysically, Ostara - the Spring Equinox is a time of renewal and new beginnings, a time to plant your seeds and plan for future. Change is in the air and if you don’t do it now, the year will creep in and you never will. This is the ideal time to clean your home, to Spring clean, get rid of the old and welcome in the new. It may not be easy, but some simple physical work and mental effort can be focused to rid your life and home of negativity, clear the problems of the past and provide for a brighter future.