Hi, my loves and welcome to WiccaNow. Recently I talked a bit about one of my favourite sabbats, namely Imbolc. If you’re interested, check out these posts on the history and meaning of Imbolc, some tips on setting up your Imbolc altar, some Imbolc recipes and my favourite Imbolc ritual along with some common symbols of Imbolc. Continuing on from this, I’d like to talk about our next spring sabbat, Ostara.
Ostara falls on the spring equinox, meaning that it straddles the midpoint of the year where the days are of equal length. The spring equinox ushers in the warmer and lighter months of the year, with the days continually growing longer and the nights shorter from this point on until the summer solstice. Did you know that the word “equinox” literally means “equal night”? It derives from the Latin “aequus” meaning equal and “nox” meaning night.
In the northern hemisphere, Ostara is celebrated around the 21st of March (the dates vary a little year to year) or on the 21st of September in the Southern Hemisphere. It represents the midpoint between Imbolc and Beltane and is considered a celebration of the emergence of the world from the cold winter months.
What is Ostara?
For me, heading out of February and into March heralds the true arrival of my favourite season. I’m a huge spring lover and am always completely enamoured by the neon green shoots and leaves that start arriving in March. While Imbolc tells us that the Winter has come to an end and spring is coming, March IS spring. Because Ostara occurs on the day that light and dark are equal, it is a symbolic celebration of the mid-point between the extremes of the hottest and the coldest seasons.
To Wiccans, the fact that the daylight hours are about to outweigh the night hours is symbolic of the Horned Gods journey from death to re-birth and now indicates the strengthening of his powers as he moves onwards in his yearly cycle. The new green shoots and warmer weather are signs that the Triple Goddess is reaching the peak of her Maiden aspect and will soon join with the Horned God in order to fulfil her Mother aspect later in the year. Ostara is all about celebrating the balance of female and male energies.
Ostara is a gentle festival which aims to capture the child-like joy of the abundance of spring and the end of winter. It’s a time to celebrate that being outside is starting to be more of a pleasure and that the sun finally has some warmth again.
Other Names for Ostara
Ostara can be known by a few different names, these being:
- Eostra’s Day
- Rites of Spring
- Vernal Equinox
- March Equinox
- Spring Equinox
How do you Pronounce Ostara?
This one isn’t nearly as difficult to pronounce as Samhain, which is pronounced very differently to how it’s written. Ostara is pronounced “OH-star-ah”.
Who is the Goddess of Ostara?
This really depends on who you choose to worship. While a lot of Wiccans will celebrate the Horned God and Triple Goddess for this festival, the other Goddess very commonly associated with Ostara is the goddess Ēostre. She is the goddess of the dawn, fertility and growth.
Before the rise of Christianity, which took over and dominated many of the older religions, Pagans would celebrate this goddess of fertility and abundance. She was originally worshipped by Germanic tribes in Northern Europe. Jacob Grimm wrote about here in his book “Deutsche Mythologie” in 1835 and Bede also mentions her in his writings from 725AD.
Fun Fact: Because Christianity realised early on that trying to completely eliminate the old ways might prove very difficult, they chose instead to claim certain rites and festivals as their own in order to absorb and re-brand them and make them “Christian festivals”. Easter is a classic example of this.
There has been some debate about whether this goddess actually existed in folklore or not, as there is little supporting evidence of her worship in older traditions. There is debate as to whether she might have been a Celtic goddess rather than a Germanic one but there is very little evidence for both opinions. Scholars suggest that Grimm was attempting to record verbally passed down folklore which was slowly dying out as the older generation passed away. Despite these conflicting opinions, folklorist Dr Jonathan Young states
“Easter has deep roots in the mythic past. Long before it was imported into the Christian tradition, the Spring festival honoured the goddess Eostre or Eastre”
Justine Hankins of The Guardian Uk also states
“Eostre – the…
Click here to read this complete article.
