Ostara, or as we call it, Pagan Easter is the day of the Vernal Equinox or the First day of Spring. It is a time when day and night are equal. It symbolizes balance and equilibrium. Ostara also marks the season of fertility and growth. It’s the time when plants begin to grow and animals begin to mate. The energy of renewal and re-birth is honored after the long harsh winter.
Pagan vs Christian
Christian Easter commemorates the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, who according to Christian theology, died so that we could have eternal life.
(When I was a young mom, before I found my path, I agreed to raise my 3 oldest in the Catholic Church. I took that vow seriously and learned as much as I could about the beliefs and practices of the church)
Pagan Easter also know as the Vernal Equinox, usually falls around March 20th give or take a day. While Christan Easter is held on (deep breath)
The first Sunday
after the Pachal full moon
after the vernal equinox.
So every year it is celebrated sometime between March 22nd and April 25th.
This date was determined and set into law during the Council of Nicea in 325 CE. According to the bible, Jesus was crucified during the Jewish Passover which is celebrated during the first full moon after the vernal equinox. At the time, Easter was celebrated anytime from Passover to the following Sunday depending on your local church.
This didn’t sit well with the Church who wanted a set date. Interestingly enough, the date of Easter is still up for debate and there have been many proposals over the years, the most recently in 1997. They are still in discussions, 2000+ years later.
Leave it to old men to make it complicated.
Jesus and the Easter Bunny
As interesting as that is, I’m not Christian and I wasn’t raising our two youngest to be Christian either.
“Hey mom? Why is there a dead guy on that Giant T?”
Dark&Twisty was 4 years old when she asked me this as we drove past the cemetery. Sweet little heathen baby. That’s when I knew I would have to eventually tell her about Jesus and Christianity even if I didn’t practice it.
“But what does Jesus have to do with bunnies and chocolate eggs?”
And this is what she asked at the age of 6. It’s a good question. It needed a good answer. There was no pussy-footing around this kid. I had no choice but to tell her my understanding of history.
The Holy Roman Catholic Church spread through Europe, taking over the small villages and converting the masses. In order to peacefully assimilate these villages, The Church overlooked and even incorporated traditional pagan practices.
Ostara was a celebration of life and rebirth after the cold hard death of winter, similarly Easter is the celebration of life and the rebirth of Jesus as well as eternal life of our human souls…if you believe in Jesus.
Sounds pretty good, eh?
As long as those villagers professed their belief in Jesus, paid their tithes and went to church, they could keep decorating eggs and baking hot crossed buns. The Church would just skew the meaning to fit their agenda.
For a while they lived almost harmoniously until it was no longer clear where the Pagan ended and the Christian began.
The Cross-over
Many of the Easter symbols and tradition are actually pagan in origin.
Eggs represented new life and possibilities. Rabbits represent fertility and abundance for obvious reasons.
Lambs were born early in the year. If the herd was healthy, a lamb or two would be slaughtered to feed the village during the Spring Celebration. Later they became associated with Christianity as the Church depicted Jesus as the ‘Lamb of God’ because he preached peace, followed obediently and was also sacrificed for the masses.
Hot crossed buns were made from the last of the grain and marked with a cross to honor the balance between day and night. It was later turned into a sweet bread to celebrate the end of Lent which put restrictions on what the people ate. The church insisted the people limit sweets and fats* in service to God. The cross on the the top of the bread was attributed to the cross that Jesus died on.
(*this may also be a end of winter survival tactic. The people would have left the animal milk for the new baby animals. No milk = no cream = no butter. )
Sunrise services is so very pagan in nature. It was easily adopted by the Church who held the service suggesting that watching the sun rise was the same as remembering the ‘Son’ who rose from his grave.
Even the resurrection story of Jesus was first attached to pagan myths such as that of Ishtar, Attis and Horus.
Our Pagan Easter practices
At the Farm we usually celebrate Pagan Easter with a big village dinner and an egg hunt for every one. Since everyone works, I usually plan it for a Sunday after the Equinox. However, I stretch out my own celebration for a few weeks, with spring cleaning and gardening rituals.
Activities
Many of the activities we do in the spring are a perfect way to celebrate Ostara.
- Set up an altar and decorate in spring colors. Consecrate you altar with a Blessing Ritual on Ostara. This would also a good time to bless your seeds or seedlings.
- Start your spring flowers or vegetables by sowing some seed indoors. I usually start my tomatoes and peppers earlier but I like to start flower and herb seeds around the Spring Equinox.
- The Witchlings get really excited about dying eggs. They’re creative and curious and like to experiment with the food coloring. We dye them before we celebrate so they can show off their works of art to the rest of the family
- Have a feast. Celebration and food go hand in hand. I like plan our seasonal celebrations with seasonal and traditional foods. Asparagus is usually in season as well as spring greens. Carrots and cabbage would have survived through the winter. The last of the grains would have been used up to make cakes and sweet breads.
- My favorite part of Spring is the days lengthening. I seem to get up earlier in the spring and summer and I realize it’s because the Sun comes up earlier and shines through the curtains. Watching the Sun rise is always a sacred activity, no matter what time of year.
- Nature walk are on our Spring Bucket list. After the long cold Midwest winter, time spent outdoors is therapy for even the crankiest soul (Yes, I’m calling out the Renaissance Man). I look for signs of spring; new plants sprouting, migrating bird returning.
- Spring cleaning and purification. My spring cleaning takes much longer than a day but weather permitting, I most definitely open the windows and put cut daffodils in a vase.
- The beginning of each season is also a great time to reflect on life, dream of the future and reassess your own development. Take time this Ostara to do a spirtual Grounding. I’ve added a few journal prompts at the end of this post.
Altar Decorations
I have a working alter in my room that no one is allowed to touch (although the cat and the padawan haven’t got the memo). I also have a number of smaller spots around the house that I set up to honor the deities or energies of the season.
Seasonally, I like to set up small altars in every room. By small I mean enough space to add a candle and a crystal and a few symbolic artifacts.
For Ostara I’ll add a few colored and consecrated eggs as well as fresh daffodils and hyacinth from the yard.
I love Easter lily’s but keep them away from your pets, they’re poisonous to animals.
I decorate with pastel colors and altar cloths, light green, pink or lavender candles, baskets, chicks, rabbits, lambs, and other things that might remind me of Spring, new life or balance.
Don’t forget some crystals such as Rose quartz, aquamarine, and amazonite.
Ostara Blessing Rituals
In addition to dedicating altars and blessing seeds, I’ve also done house and garden blessings as part of my Ostara ritual.
As much as I love to write, I really suck at poetry and rhyming. I’ve been using this blessing for a few years now. You can also find it on Katrina’s Blog here. (BTW, “ita fiat” is Latin for so be it)
Ostara Blessing – By Katrina Rasbold
To the seasons of life and beginnings
The egg, the bud and the seed
To a successful harvest yet to come; and the meeting of every need
Ita fiat!
To all earth’s beings great and small
To promise of blessings to be
We lift our cup in savored praise; And honor results we can’t yet see.
Ita Fiat!
We plant our seeds; they germinate
In our hearts and in our minds
They manifest in reality; And the Gods respond in kind.
Ita fiat!
Our seeds prosper and grow to greatest good
With the care and love we give
With the blessings of Water, Earth Fire and Air; A better life to live!
Ita Fiat!
We ask the Ancient Ones of old
The lord and lady of the field
To bless our harvest in this seed; The best results to yield.
Ita Fiat!
Goddess Ostara.
I found this myth when Dark&Twisty was questioning me about Easter. It’s the story of the Goddess Ostara, who is tasked with overseeing the budding of plants and fertility of the earth.
Of course, because its a story and I’m Irish, I embellished.
The Myth: Ostara and Lepus.
A long, long time ago, The Gods realized they needed more order on Earth. They needed to set a time when life would grow and a time when life would stop growing and everything in between. They needed to put someone in charge of these times. The Great Council of Elders called all the Gods and Goddesses together to find volunteers.
One young Goddess volunteered to bring Spring time to earth every year. This Goddess was named Ostara. She was very good at her job. She loved stirring the earth to wake up the plants. First the crocus would peek through the snow, then the daffodils would sway through the rain storms. Soon the chick weed would peek its green leaves.
She loved to wake the hibernating animals, coaxing them out of their dens and helping them find the last of the winter berries. She was giddy with joy as she welcomed the birds and shared seeds leftover from the previous autumn.
As good as she was at her job, she was not always perfect. One year she was late to start. The earth stayed cold and the plants didn’t grow as quickly. The hibernating animals didn’t wake up as soon. The birds returned to find the air still frigid and no food to be found. Most hunkered down in the crook of trees and waited.
One did not.
Ostara returned, a little flustered and discombobulated. She hoped no one would notice her tardiness as she quickly began her ritual to warm the ground and stir the earth.
She soon discovered there were consequences to her mistake. Ostara found a wee little bird, slowly dying from the cold. Its wings were frozen to the ground.
Feeling guilty, she cradled it with care, warming it slowly until She was able to lift it off the ground. Ostara carried this bird with her, tucked into her sweater, right next to her heart. She continued to urge the plants to grow and the animals to wake, while sparking the little bird with her magic. They young Goddess hand picked the best berries and seed to feed her little patient. She stopped at every creek to offer it a drink.
Meet Lepus
Ostara’s compassion and care succeeded and the bird regained its health but never regained the use of its wings. As everyone knows, a bird without functioning wings is in great danger so She kept it as a pet and named it Lepus.
Ostara still felt bad about its wings. She knew it was her fault and that it wasn’t fair to keep a bird in a cage so she decided to turn Lepus into a snow hare and made sure it would run faster than any animal.
Lepus was happy and grateful to be free and safe but still a little sad to lose its bird traits. Ostara understood and gave Lepus the ability to lay eggs of all colors in honor of the bird that it once was.
However, she only allowed this one day of the year because you just can’t have rabbits laying eggs all year long!
Now every year Ostara’s Bunny will leave colored eggs and treats in a little nest to remind us that Spring is here and to love the Earth and all its creatures.
Ostara Journal Questions
These are straight out of my own Book of Shadows.
1) The Goddess Ostara gives you three seeds. She tells you to lovingly whisper your deepest desires to them before you plant them and again as you tend to the growng plant. What are you wishes?
2) The Spring Equinox is a time of balance; the days are as long as the nights. Do you feel like your life is balanced as well? What changes do you need to make to live a more balanced life?
3) The egg symbolizes fertility. It can also symbolize ideas and plans that are hatching and can now be put into action. What idea in your life is ready to hatch? What actions to you need to take?
Do you have any special way of Welcoming Spring? I’d love to hear about it! Leave me a comment!
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