Rain, flowers, and sunshine are just some things we celebrate with spring. The celebration of Ostara is another. Ostara is a lesser sabbat but an important one none-the-less. This celebration occurs during the vernal or spring equinox when the day and night are equal in length. Ostara was celebrated on March 21st in the northern hemisphere. Ostara falls among the calendar year when Christians celebrate Easter and when those of Jewish faiths celebrate Passover. On this day we truly know spring is here.
The rituals performed during Ostara are different and unique for each participant
Depending on what path of Wicca you belong too. You may do rituals alone or with a coven. The ritual should be based on the coming fertility to the land as the sun grows longer. Decorating your altar for this ritual is very easy. Concentrate on live plants, animal symbols, eggs and brightly colored flowers to adorn your altar with. The best place for any rituals during Ostara is outside in the open where you can commune with nature.
Normal ritual items are used during the spring equinox also. Candles, Milk or Honey offerings, Salt for your circle, etc. During the ritual, your concentrations will be on the moving wheel of the year. Blessings on the Earth. During these rituals, you may also call on the Deities of Ostara for help infertility, birthing, earth matters such as farming and agriculture.
The Deities prayed to or who are summoned and asked for guidance at this time are many
Flora, Cybele, Ashanti, Freya, Isis, and Osiris just to name a few. During the rituals, they should be given offerings suitable to them as gods and goddesses’. Fruits, Honey, Sugar, Flowers, these should all be incorporated as symbols of spring and offerings.
Ostara dates back to a time of Persian Kings known as Achaemenians. They celebrated a festival called Noruz during the spring equinox. Noruz translates into a “new day”. There are many names that Ostara is called for many different nations but they all focus on the same ideas. Ostara was a lunar goddess the Germanic tribes honored during the spring equinox. This was also the time that she mated with the fertility god and gave birth 9 months later on Yule.
The rituals performed during the Sabbat of Ostara are great for renewal and rebirth. Dance with each other. Love one another. Get in touch with nature. Give yourself over to the joys of spring. Stop and smell the flowers or to touch the green grass. Spring is here.
May you always be blessed.
