What is Ostara?

Celebrating Spring Equinox

On the Celtic Wheel of the Year, Ostara is the second fertility festival and for many marks the first day of Spring. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s traditionally celebrated on September 21st but can actually fall on the 22nd or 23rd. For the Northern Hemisphere, it’s celebrated anywhere between March 19th and 22nd (the dates change year to year).

What does the word Ostara mean or refer to?

Ostara was a spring Goddess revered by the native pre-Christian Germanic tribes of northern Europe, called Eostre by the Saxon tribes of ancient Britain.

She is known as a goddess of the dawn, the awakening earth, growing light and fertility. It is believed (though there is little information recorded) that she is the namesake for the Christian holy day of Easter. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the spring equinox, much like the modern Easter.

What are the themes and symbolism associated with Ostara?

With equal parts light and dark, Ostara represents balance, harmony, and the duality of feminine and masculine, day and night, above and below.

For us, it’s not just a celebration of fertility and the resurrection of Spring but also a feast day that honours the Spring Goddess and Earth Mother. It is at this time that the Horned God is born again, resurrected to wed the Goddess in the never-ending wheel of the seasons.

Themes of rebirth, renewal, hope, intention setting, and sacred union abound at this time. We can pause to revere and honour the seedlings as they burst forth from the soil, heralding new life and new beginnings - whether literal or metaphorical.

Some simple ways you to celebrate Ostara can include:

Head outdoors for a nature walk. As you take in the blossoming beauty of spring growth around you, give thanks as you do for all that abundance that Mother Earth offers so generously.
Plant seeds! Spring is a great time to grow things so why not harness this budding energy to grow herbs, flowers, or vegetables. Even if all you have space for is a pot on a windowsill, there is something so magical about growing something from seed and watching it bloom. You can even offer your intentions into the seeds before you plant them and see them blossom too!
Create an altar purely devoted to the season of Spring: Find a space in your home (or perhaps even outside), clear away any clutter and cleanse the space thoroughly. Next, gather items that represent Spring for you and intuitively arrange these items - maybe including a candle, flowers, or anything else sacred to you.
Spring Clean – if you weren’t feeling the desire to do a big clean out over Imbolc, then now is the time! Give your home a good once over, being sure to also clear it energetically. This might also be a great time for a physical cleanse of your body too.
Baking Ostara Bread & Hot Cross Buns – not only do these goodies taste and smell delicious, with the gift of yeast their rising can be symbolic of the new life we see blossoming in the earth. We can hold the intention as we bake that the next cycle and season is overflowing with goodness and abundance.
Watch the Sunrise – a simple yet potent way to greet the new day. You may like to whisper some prayers or gratitude to Ostara, who was goddess of the dawn.
Take aligned action – after time spent inward and reflecting over the darker months, and especially if you set intentions back at Imbolc, then this is the time to take action to support them to come into fruition.
Reflect and journal on your relationship to and with balance.

All of these celebrations can be enhanced by weaving in a Sacred Earth Medicine Ceremonial Cacao. Whether it’s simply sipping as you celebrate or adding in a full Cacao Ceremony before you start – either way it’s going to amplify the goodness and send those ripples out…

Blessed Be your Ostara Celebrations! xx