When is the Festival of Easter?

 This might seem a daft question, but for many Pagans and Witches this can be very confusing - and even contentious.

The eight main festivals of the Witches year are spaced roughly every six weeks or so throughout the year. The four main festivals are called the Cross Quarter Days - Samhain, Beltane, Imbolg and Llughnassadh. The four minor festivals are timed by the Sun, so they are the two Solstices at Midsummer and Midwinter and the two Equinoxes at Spring and Autumn.

The Spring Equinox falls around the 21st of March and (surprise, surprise!) celebrates the re-awakening of the Earth and the return of Spring.

The Spring goddess is known as Ostara, Eostre or Easter. So her festival is obviously the Spring Equinox.

But hang on a minute, there is another festival around this time which also bears the name of the Spring goddess. 

Yes, we are talking about the christian festival of Easter, which moves about each year because it is timed, not by the Sun, but by the Moon.

Now this starts to get messy as the christian festival is dealing with the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is: the death and resurrection of a god, but it has been given the name of the Goddess who welcomes the resurrection of the Earth.

So is this a christian festival, timed by the Moon?

Or is it a Pagan festival, originally timed by the Moon, which has been hijacked by the early christians?

Now I must admit, I don't have a problem with there being two festivals of Eostre, because I believe 'The more the merrier!'. That is why my facebook page is dedicated mainly to listing festivals for as many days of the year as I can find something for!

I am all in favour of a party and if the christians want to celebrate Eostre with eggs (ancient Pagan symbol of resurrection) and bunnies (messengers of the Moon Goddess) then I am all for it!

Traditional Witches (and I am one) have always celebrated both Witchy festivals and festivals of other religions too. Largely, I must admit, as a means of self-preservation in times of Witch persecutions - you are less likely to appear to be a Witch if you attend church regularly and participate in christian festivals.

But why limit yourself to four festivals, or eight or even twenty-four, when you can have something to celebrate every day of the year?

Spring is a Season, not a day.

So I reckon our Goddess of the Season is entitled to be celebrated more than once.

Happy Easter!

Eostre Eggs

At this time of year the shops are full of chocolate easter eggs and bunnies.
    Around this time, the Spring Equinox, is the feast of the Spring Goddess known as Eostre or Ostara. The christian Easter festival takes both its name and its timing by the moon from this ancient Goddess.
     In many cultures the egg is the obvious symbol of new life. At this season the birds are nesting and laying eggs, and there are many ancient legends which say that the Universe first appeared in the form of an egg, which then cracks open to reveal and release the stars and planets.
     In ancient Greek myth it was Cronos, Old Father Time, who was originally a giant serpent, who wrapped his coils around the cosmic egg, together with his wife the equally serpentine Ananke (Inevitability). Their movements cracked open the egg, giving birth to the Universe and it is said that it is their undulations which keep the planets rotating and spinning about the sun.
     This is a very similar tale to one of the ancient Egyptian myths which says that the Great Cackler, a giant goose, laid the cosmic egg on the only piece of dry land which had risen from the waters of chaos.
     In Voodoo the serpents are Damballah and his wife Aida-Wedo, the Rainbow Serpent. The pictograph or veve for Damballah is an egg with a serpent wrapped around it.
     So why do we have eggs and rabbits in our shops? From all the foregoing it would seem that we should have chocolate serpents to go with our eggs.
     The rabbit or hare is another creature associated with Spring time. If you are very lucky, at this time of year you may come across pairs of hares boxing in the fields, these were known as Mad March Hares. It was thought that these were male hares, competing for the right to mate, but we now know that these are pairs of male and female hares. The female is fending off the amorous male by boxing him until she is ready to mate.
     The hare or rabbit is also associated with the Moon and the Moon Goddess. In China it is the shape of the Moon Hare that people can pick out on the surface of the Moon. The rabbit/hare is said to be the messenger of the Moon Goddess - although he is not altogether a reliable one.
     One story I heard is that the Goddess was awake in early Spring and walking through the forest came across a little bird which had died from the cold.The Goddess felt that at this time of new life, no creature should die, so she breathed into the bird and brought it back to life. But then she thought to herself, that as it was still liable to be cold and frosty, to give the creature a better chance of survival perhaps it ought to have a fur coat rather than feathers. So she turned it into a rabbit.
     But the little creature was now rather confused, and every year around the festival of Eostre, the rabbit of the Goddess lays a nest of eggs, and anyone who finds them is especially blessed.

Spring Equinox

Today is the Spring Equinox that time of balance when light and dark are literally in equilibrium, but now with the light advancing, bringing in the warmth of spring.

So how can you celebrate the feast of Eostre, Ostara or Alban Eilir? I saw one ritual where a small pot plant is placed on the altar and at a certain point the plant is touched gently so that you can 'connect with the energies of the plant and, through it, with all nature'.....

Go outside!

This really is the festival where you can see nature in action.

Take a walk in a park, or in the country, or even around your own garden and just look at how nature is renewing herself. Look at the newly unfurling leaves, they are fresh and a brighter colour than at any other time, see the plants which are magically reappearing after vanishing completely through the winter.

In our garden we have daffodils bright yellow and bold, a real 'in your face' spring flower, a few early Sorcerer's Violets (Periwinkle) peeping out from the mass of shiny deep green leaves, and a tufty orange flowers on a shrub which my mother gave me - and I have no idea what it is called.

The hazel trees are festooned with dangling catkins, dancing in the lightest breeze, showing off their ready sexuality to all and sundry.

The perennial oriental poppies and monkshood are pushing their leaves out into the world again as are the clumps of grape hyacinth which will soon be covered in tiny, bobbly blue flowers. I see we have some bluebells coming through too and the celedines are carpeting the ground through the nearby woods. And the shamrock has gone wild covering the statue of the hare crouched in amongst them.

Eostre is the original festival of hares and eggs. At this time of year, if you are very, very lucky you might catch sight of hares chasing across the fields or boxing. Which is basically the female hare fighting off the male until she is ready to receive him.

According to one legend the goddess found a little bird dieing in the cold of winter, so to save its life she gave it fur and transformed it into a hare. The hare lived, but as it was still a bird at heart, it found itself laying eggs in the spring time, so it decorated the eggs in bright colours as an offering to the goddess.

So how do you celebrate Eostre? Be with nature if you can, hard boil an egg or two and let your artistic nature rip, paint them, decorate them - and don't forget to eat them too.
Plant some seeds, or buy yourself a plant, any plant and look after it - a pot of basil can feature in many love spells, and growing an onion or other bulb and naming it after the one you desire is a very old spell to cause love to grow.

Have fun.