NationStates Jolt Archive

This thread is NOT for debate on the merits of Paganism or Wicca.

Ostara: The Spring Equinox
March 20 or 21

Ostara, one of our lesser Sabbats is our day of spring and rebirth. Flowers begin to bloom and plants begin to sprout new life. Ostara is the Virgin Goddess of Spring in ancient Germany. As life begins in the spring certain deities would return from the Underworld and start a new life. A few of these deities are Odin, Attis, Osiris, Dagda, Mithras, Orpheus, Hera, and Persephone.

The Teutons (an early Germanic Tribe) honored their Goddess of Spring, Eostre. This is who the Christian Holiday of Easter is named after. The Norse honored their Virgin Goddess and celebrated her mating with the young God. The Greco-Roman tradition would celebrate Ceres, their Grain Goddess, from Ostara until first harvest. In Celtic Cornwall and Wales, Ostara was renamed "Lady Day," and was the time of the official return of the young Goddess after her winter sleep. This is a day of balance when all life returns and the God and Goddess create new life.

Other deities that are celebrated today are Isis of Egypt, Cybele of Italy, Aphrodite of Greece, Astarte of Greece, Rome and Persia, Athena of Greece, and Hilaria of Rome. In Slavic traditions Ostara is a day when death has no power over the living and if someone were to die on Ostara, they were thought to be favored by the gods.

The biggest symbol of Ostara is the egg, it is the universal symbol of new life, eternal life, and fertility. The Easter Bunny does in fact come from a Pagan background; the legend of the Goddess Eostre. A lowly rabbit wanted to please Eostre that he laid the sacred eggs in her honor, decorated them, then humbly presented them to her. She was so pleased with the rabbit that she wished all humankind to share in her joy. In honoring her wishes, the rabbit went through all the world and distributed these little decorated gifts of life.

To honor Eostre and celebrate Ostara, we should decorate eggs by giving them colors that have significant meaning. Easter Egg hunts in the US became popular in 1862 (the second year of our Civil War) when President Abraham Lincoln invited the children of Washington DC to hunt for eggs on the White House lawn. This practice has origins in Pagan China and India, where the belief in karma is strong. They believe that what happens in a past life returns threefold in their next life. The symbol of hunting for eggs shows that we are each responsible for ourselves and that we must find our own path to new life. The Teutons would bury eggs to infuse the earth with the life-giving properties of these objects.

Ostara is also a wonderful day to start your herb garden. For food purposes, eggs, fish, nuts, sprouts, and fruit are all delicious foods to prepare for your Sabbat meals. In the past I've made an egg lemon soup, a salad with nuts, eggs, and sprouts, or eggs benedict.

One of my favorite things to do on Ostara is to boil an egg and write/decorate it with things that I want to bring into my life this year: happiness, prosperity, peace, success, good health, etc. Once my egg is fully decorated, I bury it in my backyard to give back to the earth and allow it to "grow" into all those things I'm working toward in that year.

Ostara is a day of balance celebrate and enjoy this new day of spring.

I'd like to wish my Pagan friends here an early Happy Ostara, may the Goddess return in your life as well as your family. :)

http://www.goddessvision.net/Images/Ostara_altar.JPG

Now you're just making shit up...

:P

Though I'm not a Wiccan, thanks, Wilgrove, and same to you.

Err hurray for the sun or something.

Err hurray for the sun or something.
Pretty much my view of what neo-Paganism represents.

But, anyhoo, it's fun to party, so why not have one when the sun/moon is high/low in the sky.

Good on ye, pagans.

Pretty much my view of what neo-Paganism represents.
That and egg-painting it seems.
But, anyhoo, it's fun to party, so why not have one when the sun/moon is high/low in the sky.

Good on ye, pagans.
Aye, whatever. Having a barbeque myself tomorrow.

I just have to sit at a desk all day. But in the afternoon, I'll get to enact the ritual of calling the state to find out if I have to report for jury duty. Yeah, um...yay.

This thread is NOT for debate on the merits of Paganism or Wicca.


I predict it will happen by page 3.

I predict it will happen by page 3.

it's also a little odd, doncha think? To sorta so blatantly admit your own thread to be spam?

I mean, if this isn't a thread for discussion...why is it here?

Pretty much my view of what neo-Paganism represents.

But, anyhoo, it's fun to party, so why not have one when the sun/moon is high/low in the sky.

Good on ye, pagans.

Why not, the world needs more things to celebrate. As long as Kwanzaa is celebrated everything else goes.

That and egg-painting it seems.
As long as their not sacrificing too many virgins and still making magic potion for one small village of indomitable Gauls, I'm happy.

And I do like mucking about wi fire at Midwinter.

As long as their not sacrificing too many virgins and still making magic potion for one indomitable little village, I'm happy.
I'm pretty sure this god is a virgin or something?

Do they have to sacrifice other virgins or children or something to keep it happy?
And I do like mucking about wi fire at Midwinter.
Aye well it's cold so aye :tongue:

Happy Ostara Wil!

Happy Ostara Wil!

Hey, we don't take to kindly to that condescending tone around here... :D

As long as their not sacrificing too many virgins

I feel the same way about Atheists and baby eating.

I'm sure you were kidding, but in case ..

I wasn't being condescending lol.

oh and I like your sig. funny heh.

I don't know what Ostara is but whatever dude. I'm happy you're happy and something or another, is that bunny plastic?

I feel the same way about Atheists and baby eating.
I can only manage one a week these days...

Fattening.

As long as their not sacrificing too many virgins




Sacrificing virgins could be code. I know when I was in High School it meant dating Sophmores.

I predict it will happen by page 3.

Not if I have anything to say about it! Hey Wilgrove, Paganism and the Matrix suck!

See, only page 2.

j/k

Congratulations on your holiday or whatever.

Ahh the awesome sound of souped of Supras and Vipers filling the night as they rev up for TX2K9 ! Another thoroughly joyous noise.

And Blessed Be Wilgrove, and Happy Ostara indeed!

Merry met, and merry part, and merry meet again.

I don't know what Ostara is but whatever dude. I'm happy you're happy and something or another, is that bunny plastic?

Looks like it could be ceramic or wax. The lighting and size of the picture make it hard to tell.

And Ostara is your basic fertility festival, these days practiced as much to encourage figurative fertility (for example a writers fertile imagination) as literal fertility (for crops and livestock as well as people).

Figurative fertility is boring. As is this topic. Paganism is a joke, discuss. (because other wise this is some Forum 7 shit right here)

Figurative fertility is boring. As is this topic. Paganism is a joke, discuss. (because other wise this is some Forum 7 shit right here)

Talking about taking the piss out... ;)

Looks like it could be ceramic or wax. The lighting and size of the picture make it hard to tell.
He should have a real rabbit. *knows nothing of paganism*

And Ostara is your basic fertility festival, these days practiced as much to encourage figurative fertility (for example a writers fertile imagination) as literal fertility (for crops and livestock as well as people).
ah, well, learn something useless every day. how many holidays do the pagans have? can I get off work for them?

ah, well, learn something useless every day. how many holidays do the pagans have? can I get off work for them?

How many depends on the sort of Pagan you are. 8 is usual. If you're Pagan (which I know you're not) you can get time off work just like a Jewish person can get Jewish holidays off work (which in most places means an unpaid day off IIRC).

Well the one TRUE God says....

Hey! Can we borrow the rabbit and egg motif? I bet they'd be killer in chocolate.

(Enjoy, Wil.)

Well the one TRUE God says....

Hey! Can we borrow the rabbit and egg motif? I bet they'd be killer in chocolate.

(Enjoy, Wil.)

I think the Church "borrowed" them around the 2nd or 4th century. ;)

Thanks for all the good wishes NSG. :)

Happy EARLY Ostara?? Maaaan, between St. Paddy's and Spring Equinox, my birthday doesn't stand a chance. *grumbles*

Happy EARLY Ostara?? Maaaan, between St. Paddy's and Spring Equinox, my birthday doesn't stand a chance. *grumbles*

Heh, my birthday is on Beltane. My last BF's birthday was on Samhain - ah, good times.

The only thing I'm celebrating on March 21st is my mum's birthday.

Btw, from the OP:
Other deities that are celebrated today are Isis of Egypt, Cybele of Italy, Aphrodite of Greece, Astarte of Greece, Rome and Persia, Athena of Greece, and Hilaria of Rome. In Slavic traditions Ostara is a day when death has no power over the living and if someone were to die on Ostara, they were thought to be favored by the gods.

Meh.
Iirc Cybele and Hilaria weren't in the roman main pantheon, and Cybele hasn't exactly a "latin sound" around it. Astarte is not "of Greece, Rome" because the Greeks and the Romans identified the phoenician Ishtar/Astarte with Aphrodite/Venus.

By the way, wasn't Freya the Germanic deity of spring?

Thanks for the reminder Wil, soon to be the first day of autumn, actually that will be tomorrow.

I'd been wondering what the name of the Pagan Spring holiday was... and now I know!

And have a happy one ;)

So is oestrogen named after Oestre - all that fertility and eggs and so on?

I have dominoes pizza come celebrate with me and we shall dip the country wedges of prosperity :)

Ostara is also a wonderful day to start your herb garden.

One of my favorite things to do on Ostara is to boil an egg and write/decorate it with things that I want to bring into my life this year: happiness, prosperity, peace, success, good health, etc. Once my egg is fully decorated, I bury it in my backyard to give back to the earth and allow it to "grow" into all those things I'm working toward in that year.

I don't mean to sound intolerant but: GAAAY

I have dominoes pizza come celebrate with me and we shall dip the country wedges of prosperity :)



I don't mean to sound intolerant but: GAAAY

Bad! *Gets out Ostara whip*

Bad! *Gets out Ostara whip*

look your egg plant has sprouted!

*escapes wilgroves dungeon*

Damnit NSG. I said by page 3 we'd have a debate about the merits of Willies religion, and you jackasses all show up and be all tolerant and wish him well.

This is not the NSG I know. What happened? You used to be cool.


Happy Ostara Willie. My fiance has some weird ritual thing shes doing for it tomorrow. What do those rituals usually entail? Should I be afraid? Apathatic? Turned on?

SNIP

I hope you don't want eggs tomorrow...

How many depends on the sort of Pagan you are. 8 is usual. If you're Pagan (which I know you're not) you can get time off work just like a Jewish person can get Jewish holidays off work (which in most places means an unpaid day off IIRC).

I would convert maybe, I mean you get to run around naked and chant stuff and drink blood right? :confused:

I would convert maybe, I mean you get to run around naked and chant stuff and drink blood right? :confused:

have you tried catholicism?

I would convert maybe, I mean you get to run around naked and chant stuff and drink blood right? :confused:

Naked and chanting, yes. Blood drinking, not so much, we prefer wine or beer ... or ale. We do play with knives, though.

Naked and chanting, yes. Blood drinking, not so much, we prefer wine or beer ... or ale. We do play with knives, though.

I'm not a pagan, but painting yourself blue and dancing naked around bonfires while fucked off your face is pretty fucking fun.

This thread is NOT for debate on the merits of Paganism or Wicca.



I'd like to wish my Pagan friends here an early Happy Ostara, may the Goddess return in your life as well as your family. :)

http://www.goddessvision.net/Images/Ostara_altar.JPG

HAPPY OSTARA WIL and to all the others who observe this day!

I'm not a pagan, but painting yourself blue and dancing naked around bonfires while fucked off your face is pretty fucking fun.

I've never painted myself blue.

have you tried catholicism?
Yeah, I think I was confusing religions again.
Naked and chanting, yes. Blood drinking, not so much, we prefer wine or beer ... or ale. We do play with knives, though.
I'm not converting.....unless......is there sex?

I would convert maybe, I mean you get to run around naked and chant stuff and drink blood right? :confused:

hmmm.... *imagines a skyclad Smunkee*

ok, THAT'S IT...

where do I sign up!

*zen hugs*

Yeah, I think I was confusing religions again.

I'm not converting.....unless......is there sex?

Yes.

Well Wilgrove, I am not a Pagan by a long shot, but I hope you have a fruitful Ostara!

NOTE: To Wilgrove, et al: take that as you will:D

In Seax Wica, we don't really do the whole Death and Re-Birth of the God. In Seax Wica, the Goddess Freya was in a field, she laid down to rest, Loki happens across Freya and take her necklace, Brísingamen. She wakes up and notice that Loki has run away to the Barrow that leads to Dreun. Freya becomes distraught over her loss and seekers were sent to all corners to look for the necklace. So Freya decides to descend to Dreun herself to find the necklace.

Hearhden, a smiths of the God finds the necklace at the rock in front of his door. Loki tries several tricks to get the Necklace back, but all Hearhden has to do was raise his hammer and Loki was scared away. The necklace is returned to Freya, and everyone rejoices.

Ostara is when we prepare for the arrival of Freya on Beltane.

As for Skyclad ritual, it depends on the covens. I haven't really met a coven that does them. The only time I did a Skyclad ritual was to be dedicated into the Seax Wica path.

I would convert maybe, I mean you get to run around naked and chant stuff and drink blood right? :confused:

Smunky, i know you meant this as a joke, but would you come into a thread wishing people happy <insert Jewish holiday here> and start making cracks about them drinking the blood of gentile babies? Or walk into a happy Kwanza thread and make jokes about raping white women? How about lazy Mexican jokes in a Happy Cinco thread? Maybe it's my stress levels lately (which have been high due to family drama) but people in this thread seem to be getting a lot more offensive than usual. They also seem to be doing it on purpose, either because it's a thread about a Pagan holiday or because it's a thread written by Wilgrove. Either way far too many posts I read in this thread come off as flat out trolling.

Yeah, I think I was confusing religions again.

I'm not converting.....unless......is there sex?

Depends on the coven. Look up the term "Great Rite". Most are done symbolically, some . . . aren't.

here's a cool game for your Ostara.

i think this started in Jolly Olde, but it might be Norse.

two of you take eggs and smack them together.

the idea is to break the other one's egg without losing your own.

of course the end result is a smelly mess, which is made all the more delightful if the ritual is performed while standing on the family's retro shag rug.

enjoy!

He should have a real rabbit. *knows nothing of paganism*


ah, well, learn something useless every day. how many holidays do the pagans have? can I get off work for them?
A real rabbit would have eaten the flowers.

here's a cool game for your Ostara.

i think this started in Jolly Olde, but it might be Norse.

two of you take eggs and smack them together.

the idea is to break the other one's egg without losing your own.

of course the end result is a smelly mess, which is made all the more delightful if the ritual is performed while standing on the family's retro shag rug.

enjoy!
Greeks do that on Easter, with those "oh, yeah, we're totally Christian, sure" dark red eggs they make. I was told that the prize of the game is, the more eggs you can crack before getting your own egg cracked, the more good luck you'll have.

That so sounds like a string of euphemisms, doesn't it? What was Smunk saying about there being sex? ;) These spring holidays are all about the sex, baby. I wish I was in the Czech Republic this spring, for the "Oh, Of Course, You Bet We Converted -- Ages Ago! (*voodoo christianity*)" Easter Monday Spanking Festival, in which men chase random women through the streets, whipping them with braided willow switches until the women give them (a) a painted egg or (b) a drink or (c) both. The rationale is that if a woman does not get her annual spring flogging, she will "dry up." And we wouldn't want that, now would we? :D

By the way, in re my earlier post, jury duty has been canceled!! Why? Who cares? It'll get rescheduled some time in the future, but for now, the spirits were looking out for me this equinox! Yay! So now I can relax, burn a little incense tonight, and do a proper animist-style housecleaning for the holiday this weekend. I feel refreshed. I think I'll dye some eggs red.

By the way, in re my earlier post, jury duty has been canceled!! Why? Who cares? It'll get rescheduled some time in the future, but for now, the spirits were looking out for me this equinox! Yay! So now I can relax, burn a little incense tonight, and do a proper animist-style housecleaning for the holiday this weekend. I feel refreshed. I think I'll dye some eggs red.

IS there some significance for the colour red?

IS there some significance for the colour red?
Yes, there is.

IS there some significance for the colour red?

Linky (http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/colorselection/p/red.htm)

IS there some significance for the colour red?

It's the colour of aborted foetii.

Yes, there is.

Thanks.





Do you mind telling me what it is?

Thanks for the link Wilgrove but t doesn't really say much towards paganis or Wiccian, if indeed that is why Mur is going to use it for.

Thanks.





Do you mind telling me what it is?

Thanks for the link Wilgrove but t doesn't really say much towards paganis or Wiccian, if indeed that is why Mur is going to use it for.

Another Linky (http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art4559.asp)

Thanks.





Do you mind telling me what it is?

Thanks for the link Wilgrove but t doesn't really say much towards paganis or Wiccian, if indeed that is why Mur is going to use it for.
What I'm going to use it for? I'm going to use it for dying eggs, just like I said.

http://www.ultimate-guide-to-greek-food.com/images/tmp/red_eggs.jpg

From The Ultimate Guide to Greek Food:
A favourite game they play with the eggs is between two people, each one takes an egg in their hand, with one end of the egg sticking out. Taking it in turns with their partner, one will hit the opponents egg with their own egg. The person whose egg cracks first is the loser. The winner then goes on to another round with someone else and so on. This game with the red eggs - Kokkina Avga is called Tsougrisma.

Think about it, BE: Eggs...red...spring...new...life energy... Anything suggest itself yet?

Think about it, BE: Eggs...red...spring...new...life energy... Anything suggest itself yet?

You know me Mur I need things spelt out for me first. I don't subtlety unless I understand it. :)

But yes something is ticking in my head about what it is suggesting.

You know me Mur I need things spelt out for me first. I don't subtlety unless I understand it. :)

But yes something is ticking in my head about what it is suggesting.
Oh for crying out loud! Red = life, energy, vitality, fertility.

There. Now I'm tired. Good night.

Oh for crying out loud! Red = life, energy, vitality, fertility.

There. Now I'm tired. Good night.

Actually I did get it after the previous post.

Have a good sleep.

Wheeeeeeeeee......etc...

Same to you Wilgrove, although I simply refer to it as the equinox.

This is who the Christian Holiday of Easter is named after

... in English and German.

While respecting the OP's request not to debate the relative merits of paganism and other religions, there is a fairly interesting linguistic point there.

Many - probably most - Old World languages that encountered Christianity prior to the post-medieval expansion of European colonialism use a word etymologically related to the Jewish Passover, not to Eostre or Ostara.

A few quick off-the-cuff examples from the languages I'm most familiar with:

French - Paques
Welsh - Pasg
Russian - Paskha
Spanish - Pascua
Greek - Pascha
Icelandic - Páskar

English-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians still overwhelmingly use 'Pascha' over 'Easter' at least partially because of the latter term's pagan connections.

Note that I'm not disputing a syncretic connection of pre-Christian pagan festivals with the Christian Easter celebration in early medieval northern Germanic Europe, merely noting that the English etymological root tends to emphasise the pagan connection to English speakers over the Jewish passover connection etymologically emphasised by the more common non-Germanic linguistic term.

The Last Supper was, after all a Passover seder, and a major dispute in the early Christian Church was over how close to the Jewish Passover Easter should fall. That the eventual calculation chosen at the First Council of Nicea had some connections to the dating of a northwestern European pagan festival was more likely happy coincidence rather than an intentional appropriating of a Germanic equinox festival by an Eastern Roman Empire-dominated church council that would have been less than sympathetic to the religious practices of barbarians.

By the way, in re my earlier post, jury duty has been canceled!! Why? Who cares? It'll get rescheduled some time in the future, but for now, the spirits were looking out for me this equinox! Yay! So now I can relax, burn a little incense tonight, and do a proper animist-style housecleaning for the holiday this weekend. I feel refreshed. I think I'll dye some eggs red.
Congrats on the jury thing! tho I'm probably the ONLY one who wants to serve on a jury... all my chances ended up being cancelled... :(

Yes, there is.
Lol... and this has been another episode of short answers to seeking questions. :D

Smunky, i know you meant this as a joke, but would you come into a thread wishing people happy <insert Jewish holiday here> and start making cracks about them drinking the blood of gentile babies? Or walk into a happy Kwanza thread and make jokes about raping white women? How about lazy Mexican jokes in a Happy Cinco thread? Maybe it's my stress levels lately (which have been high due to family drama) but people in this thread seem to be getting a lot more offensive than usual. They also seem to be doing it on purpose, either because it's a thread about a Pagan holiday or because it's a thread written by Wilgrove. Either way far too many posts I read in this thread come off as flat out trolling.
Trolling? I didn't read it that way, I thought it was mostly good natured joshing.
As for Smunkee's comment, I giggled because in Christian denominations, taking communion you are ritually eating the body and blood of Christ.

Of course, if Wil feels it's derogatory, we'd give it another look.

Trolling? I didn't read it that way, I thought it was mostly good natured joshing.
As for Smunkee's comment, I giggled because in Christian denominations, taking communion you are ritually eating the body and blood of Christ.

Of course, if Wil feels it's derogatory, we'd give it another look.

Nah, I give you guys a friendly ribbing about Christianity, it's only fair that y'all give me a friendly ribbing back. :)

Trolling? I didn't read it that way, I thought it was mostly good natured joshing.
As for Smunkee's comment, I giggled because in Christian denominations, taking communion you are ritually eating the body and blood of Christ.

Of course, if Wil feels it's derogatory, we'd give it another look.

I was trying to set up for the Catholic joke. I didn't mean anything derogatory. Seriously.

I was trying to set up for the Catholic joke. I didn't mean anything derogatory. Seriously.

It's fine, I'm not offended, and I don't think any mod action should be taken.

What I'm going to use it for? I'm going to use it for dying eggs, just like I said.

http://www.ultimate-guide-to-greek-food.com/images/tmp/red_eggs.jpg
Sounds like a rather messy variant of conkers to me.

<snip rather fascinating information>

The Last Supper was, after all a Passover seder, and a major dispute in the early Christian Church was over how close to the Jewish Passover Easter should fall. That the eventual calculation chosen at the First Council of Nicea had some connections to the dating of a northwestern European pagan festival was more likely happy coincidence rather than an intentional appropriating of a Germanic equinox festival by an Eastern Roman Empire-dominated church council that would have been less than sympathetic to the religious practices of barbarians.
Thanks, Archy, I have often wondered about that difference in the holiday names, as well as other minor but noticeable (to me) differences, like the differences in the words for numbers among various European languages.

As for the overlap of the holidays, I personally do not think the co-opting of pagan traditions into Christianity was so much a matter of taking over pagan holidays, as allowing local people to apply their prior traditions to the new Christian holidays. Or perhaps of merely tolerating a certain syncretic co-existence of Christianity with older religious habits that carry on as "folk tradition." I would bet -- if it were possible to test it -- that if Christianity were ever to be supplanted by a new religion in the societies in question, those same "folk traditions" would somehow manage to be applied to the new religion, too, or else be carried on independently of it, if they could not be made to fit. I base that on my observations of how people relate to their "folk traditions."

Congrats on the jury thing! tho I'm probably the ONLY one who wants to serve on a jury... all my chances ended up being cancelled... :(

It's not so much that I don't want to serve on a jury -- I don't, but I'd rather just do it and get off the hook of being called up for it for a while. It's just it keeps coming up at grossly inconvenient times for me. I was supposed to appear yesterday, but I had just started a new job as of this past Monday. If I had gotten picked for a jury and had to take x-number of days off for trial, that would have been very awkward.

Sounds like a rather messy variant of conkers to me.
Essentially. Though the Greek-Americans I know who play that game use boiled eggs for it, so it's somewhat less messy. As a surrealist, however, I would rather it be played with raw eggs, for the visual symbolism. :)

Well I did a private ritual on Saturday, and on Sunday I did a public one with Carolina Grove. This is the Carolina Grove Altar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/PAY5353/0322091333.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v73/PAY5353/0322091334.jpg

I respect people's right to religious expression, no matter how hokey and absurd their religion is. So, a bland "whatever floats your boat" to you. Enjoy. :p

Is this the one where we get to put up the aluminum pole and amaze each other with feats of strength?