Ostara is the solar festival that marks the transition from the dark to the light half of the year, a time when day and night are of equal length. By Ostara, life is returning to the land in noticeable ways. As such, Ostara is associated with revival and the increase of light.
Ostara is a celebration of conception, regeneration and the triumph of light over darkness. In terms of the Goddess cycle, it is the time when the Maiden of Imbolc conceives the child that will be born at Yule. The Christian church celebrates both aspects of Ostara as the day of the Annunciation (when Mary conceives Christ) and the day of the Resurrection (when Christ returns triumphant from the darkness of death). The latter, Easter, is celebrated in the Western Christian Church on the first Sunday after Paschal (Passover) Moon (usually the full Moon that occurs on or after the Vernal Equinox, taken as March 21).
Ostara is a Germanic Goddess of Spring and fertility and the name of her Anglo-Saxon equivalent, Eostre, was used to derive the term Easter by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. Eostre is a Lunar Goddess and her symbols include the egg and the rabbit, both of which are obvious fertility symbols. Eostre’s festival was held on the first full Moon on or next after the Vernal Equinox, so this fertility Goddess lends her festival, her symbols and her name to the Christian celebration of the Resurrection.
Ostara is a time to sow the seed that will be harvested later in the year. It is a time to act on new ideas and begin new ventures that will grow as the year proceeds. Ostara is also a time for renewal, when we should reaffirm our commitment to those things that are important to us and revitalize our journey towards our goals.
Wishing all a Happy and Blessed Ostara!
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