reminder...Vernal Equinox: Tuesday March 20th 2007@ 8:07 pm est
The vernal equinox, the world is poised on the brink, suspended between the cold months and the new warmth of the growing season. The world is coming alive with green shoots and animals seeking mates. Ostara is one of the Lesser Sabbats, usually celebrated anywhere from March 19th to 21st. Some celebrated on the fixed date of March 25 (Lady Day), while others celebrate on the next full moon (a time of increased births). While the equinox is a solar holiday, Eostre is a lunar goddess. This may be viewed as symbolic of the goddess (the moon) and the god (the sun) coming together in completion. Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Esther, Eostre's Day, the Rite of Eostre or Rites of Spring, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and the Bacchanalia. The Christian holiday of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.
According to the Venerable Bede (673-735), the Anglo-Saxons called the fourth month "Esturmonath" for the goddess Eostra. Her festival became the celebration of Christ's resurrection when Anglo-Saxon and German peoples were converted to Christianity. While English and German Christians still attach the name of Eostra to their most sacred holiday (Easter or Ostern), other European languages base the name on the Hebrew word "pasah," to pass over, reflecting the Christian holiday's Biblical connection with the Jewish Passover.
All cultures living in temperate climates celebrate the coming of spring with rituals and festivals. This was one of the most important of spring festivals among pre-Christian Germanic tribes, dedicated to the goddess Ostara, a goddess associated with the "east" and thus "dawn" and "morning light." Ostara is a time to celebrate the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming Summer. Light and darkness are in balance, as are masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang. Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the rebirth of the God and the awakening of life from the Earth. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood.
The Spring-cleaning tradition derived from the old witches who engaged in a cleansing each spring followed by setting up a hedge of protection. All motions involving scrubbing of stains or hand rubbing the floors should be done "clockwise." This custom aids in filling the home with good energy for growth. Another Spring tradition for ancient pagans and magicians was to dig a small trench around the outer perimeter of their home. At each quarter they would bury an egg. A modern practitioner might also add iron, old rusty nails, metal keys, old razor blades, pins and needles or witch bottles filled with the above items to diffuse magical attacks and spiritual negativity. (If you are unable to dig a perimeter, you can improvise by placing iron keys above your door, and pentacles and sigils drawn on pewter or parchment paper under your carpet or floorboards.
As a time of cleansing and renewal, Ostara is an excellent time to begin some new project. It is an excellent month for prosperity rituals or rituals that have anything to do with growth. Spells for improving communications, fertility, and abundance are especially strong at this time. Some Pagan customs include ringing bells and lighting new fires at dawn for cures, renewed life, and protection of the crops. A common belief in nineteenth century Germany touted the curative properties of water drawn early on Easter morning. One nearly universal craft is decorating hard-boiled eggs.
Eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth. They have been found among the grave goods of Anglo-Saxons, within the tombs of the Egyptians, and were placed on the fresh graves of the deceased Greeks. In ancient time, eggs were gathered for use in the creation of talismans and ritually eaten. The gathering of different colored eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has given rise to two traditions still observed today, the Easter egg hunt and coloring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colors of wild birds. Some believed that humankind was inspired by watching birds weave nests to begin weaving the first baskets. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets.
The custom of coloring eggs seems to be limited to the Germanic countries, Slavic countries, and America. In Scotland and Ireland, the custom is virtually unknown. Each spring in Germany, bakery windows are filled with elaborately painted eggs. Eggs are also hung from flowering branches to make "egg trees." Easter is celebrated in Germany more enthusiastically than it is anywhere else in the world with decorations up a good month before the festival. There are parties, egg hunts, and other celebrations weeks in advance of Easter itself.
In many places, it is traditional to keep Easter eggs or shells all year to ward the family and cattle against harm. They are also used specifically as a charm against hail and lightning. For this reason, great care and thought goes into the creation of egg decorations, egg-trees, boiled and decorated eggs for eating, and hare cakes.
Eostre is a goddess of the moon, an ancient measurer of time. The lunar month of 28 days gives us thirteen periods in 364 days, equivalent to the solar year. The hare, though viewed as a symbol of fertility, is also a symbol of the moon. Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of the moon, midwifery and weaving, has a rabbit totem. Mexican panels of 600-900 AD show her giving birth to and suckling a rabbit, and another shows the rabbit representing phases of the moon.
The Egyptians called the hare Un, which means open, to open, and the opener. The month of April, the first month of the spring season, comes from the Latin “to open.” Un also means period of time. The hare as "opener" symbolizes the New Year at Easter, and fertility and the beginning of new life within the young. Since the hare can sleep with its eyes open, the Romans equated it with vigilance and believed that rabbits watched over everything. According to one story, Buddha placed the rabbit in the moon after it voluntarily gave itself as food for one of Buddha's hungry friends. In another, a rabbit jumped into a fire to feed a hungry Indra and out of gratitude, Indra placed the rabbit in the moon. Rabbits were significant totem animals however and eating them was prohibited in Britain and Egypt. A Scottish superstition suggested that eating rabbit was equivalent to eating one's grandmother.
In Asian myth, rabbits and the moon are virtually identical. The Rabbit in the Moon sweeps its surface clean with bound horsetails according to Japanese stories. The rabbit pounds rice into flour, making mochi which means both rice flour and full moon. The Sanskrit word, cacadharas also means both moon, and "that which carries the hare."
Rabbits also represent immortality and vitality. Pliny the Elder stated that rabbit meat enhanced one's beauty and radiance for a week afterwards, and Chinese myth believed rabbit meat was essential for vitality. According to Chinese myth, the rabbit is a symbol of longevity. Its fur turns white at age 100 and blue at 500. In Eastern Asian myth, rabbits created an elixir of immortality. The Algonquin trickster rabbit, Manabozho, is thought to embody all life-giving energy.
In Greece, live rabbits were popular love gifts, indicating sexual intentions. European wedded couples in the Middle Ages exchanged rabbit-shaped rings. Rabbit's popularity as a sex charm or fertility totem is related to its' natural cycle. A rabbit's gestation period is approximately one month, and it tends to be the first animal to give birth in the springtime, continuing to have litters of kits during the year. In Asian folklore, a rabbit may become pregnant simply by staring at a full moon, licking a male rabbit's fur under a full moon, or running across a moon-lit water's surface.
The vernal equinox, the world is poised on the brink, suspended between the cold months and the new warmth of the growing season. The world is coming alive with green shoots and animals seeking mates. Ostara is one of the Lesser Sabbats, usually celebrated anywhere from March 19th to 21st. Some celebrated on the fixed date of March 25 (Lady Day), while others celebrate on the next full moon (a time of increased births). While the equinox is a solar holiday, Eostre is a lunar goddess. This may be viewed as symbolic of the goddess (the moon) and the god (the sun) coming together in completion. Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Esther, Eostre's Day, the Rite of Eostre or Rites of Spring, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and the Bacchanalia. The Christian holiday of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.
According to the Venerable Bede (673-735), the Anglo-Saxons called the fourth month "Esturmonath" for the goddess Eostra. Her festival became the celebration of Christ's resurrection when Anglo-Saxon and German peoples were converted to Christianity. While English and German Christians still attach the name of Eostra to their most sacred holiday (Easter or Ostern), other European languages base the name on the Hebrew word "pasah," to pass over, reflecting the Christian holiday's Biblical connection with the Jewish Passover.
All cultures living in temperate climates celebrate the coming of spring with rituals and festivals. This was one of the most important of spring festivals among pre-Christian Germanic tribes, dedicated to the goddess Ostara, a goddess associated with the "east" and thus "dawn" and "morning light." Ostara is a time to celebrate the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming Summer. Light and darkness are in balance, as are masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang. Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the rebirth of the God and the awakening of life from the Earth. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood.
The Spring-cleaning tradition derived from the old witches who engaged in a cleansing each spring followed by setting up a hedge of protection. All motions involving scrubbing of stains or hand rubbing the floors should be done "clockwise." This custom aids in filling the home with good energy for growth. Another Spring tradition for ancient pagans and magicians was to dig a small trench around the outer perimeter of their home. At each quarter they would bury an egg. A modern practitioner might also add iron, old rusty nails, metal keys, old razor blades, pins and needles or witch bottles filled with the above items to diffuse magical attacks and spiritual negativity. (If you are unable to dig a perimeter, you can improvise by placing iron keys above your door, and pentacles and sigils drawn on pewter or parchment paper under your carpet or floorboards.
As a time of cleansing and renewal, Ostara is an excellent time to begin some new project. It is an excellent month for prosperity rituals or rituals that have anything to do with growth. Spells for improving communications, fertility, and abundance are especially strong at this time. Some Pagan customs include ringing bells and lighting new fires at dawn for cures, renewed life, and protection of the crops. A common belief in nineteenth century Germany touted the curative properties of water drawn early on Easter morning. One nearly universal craft is decorating hard-boiled eggs.
Eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth. They have been found among the grave goods of Anglo-Saxons, within the tombs of the Egyptians, and were placed on the fresh graves of the deceased Greeks. In ancient time, eggs were gathered for use in the creation of talismans and ritually eaten. The gathering of different colored eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has given rise to two traditions still observed today, the Easter egg hunt and coloring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colors of wild birds. Some believed that humankind was inspired by watching birds weave nests to begin weaving the first baskets. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets.
The custom of coloring eggs seems to be limited to the Germanic countries, Slavic countries, and America. In Scotland and Ireland, the custom is virtually unknown. Each spring in Germany, bakery windows are filled with elaborately painted eggs. Eggs are also hung from flowering branches to make "egg trees." Easter is celebrated in Germany more enthusiastically than it is anywhere else in the world with decorations up a good month before the festival. There are parties, egg hunts, and other celebrations weeks in advance of Easter itself.
In many places, it is traditional to keep Easter eggs or shells all year to ward the family and cattle against harm. They are also used specifically as a charm against hail and lightning. For this reason, great care and thought goes into the creation of egg decorations, egg-trees, boiled and decorated eggs for eating, and hare cakes.
Eostre is a goddess of the moon, an ancient measurer of time. The lunar month of 28 days gives us thirteen periods in 364 days, equivalent to the solar year. The hare, though viewed as a symbol of fertility, is also a symbol of the moon. Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of the moon, midwifery and weaving, has a rabbit totem. Mexican panels of 600-900 AD show her giving birth to and suckling a rabbit, and another shows the rabbit representing phases of the moon.
The Egyptians called the hare Un, which means open, to open, and the opener. The month of April, the first month of the spring season, comes from the Latin “to open.” Un also means period of time. The hare as "opener" symbolizes the New Year at Easter, and fertility and the beginning of new life within the young. Since the hare can sleep with its eyes open, the Romans equated it with vigilance and believed that rabbits watched over everything. According to one story, Buddha placed the rabbit in the moon after it voluntarily gave itself as food for one of Buddha's hungry friends. In another, a rabbit jumped into a fire to feed a hungry Indra and out of gratitude, Indra placed the rabbit in the moon. Rabbits were significant totem animals however and eating them was prohibited in Britain and Egypt. A Scottish superstition suggested that eating rabbit was equivalent to eating one's grandmother.
In Asian myth, rabbits and the moon are virtually identical. The Rabbit in the Moon sweeps its surface clean with bound horsetails according to Japanese stories. The rabbit pounds rice into flour, making mochi which means both rice flour and full moon. The Sanskrit word, cacadharas also means both moon, and "that which carries the hare."
Rabbits also represent immortality and vitality. Pliny the Elder stated that rabbit meat enhanced one's beauty and radiance for a week afterwards, and Chinese myth believed rabbit meat was essential for vitality. According to Chinese myth, the rabbit is a symbol of longevity. Its fur turns white at age 100 and blue at 500. In Eastern Asian myth, rabbits created an elixir of immortality. The Algonquin trickster rabbit, Manabozho, is thought to embody all life-giving energy.
In Greece, live rabbits were popular love gifts, indicating sexual intentions. European wedded couples in the Middle Ages exchanged rabbit-shaped rings. Rabbit's popularity as a sex charm or fertility totem is related to its' natural cycle. A rabbit's gestation period is approximately one month, and it tends to be the first animal to give birth in the springtime, continuing to have litters of kits during the year. In Asian folklore, a rabbit may become pregnant simply by staring at a full moon, licking a male rabbit's fur under a full moon, or running across a moon-lit water's surface.
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Washington, D.C.
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