Also known as the Vernal Equinox, this is a time where the day and night are of equal length. The first flowers push through the remaining snow and the ice and snow begin to melt away as the first rains of the year fall and the temperature rises. Although the Celts did not have a major celebration, they did recognize the change in season and begin to plant seeds. In the Norse tradition, this is the time of Eostre, the Teutonic Spring Goddess, who is celebrated at the following full moon. Also possibly a goddess of the dawn, Eostre had a month named after her, Eostremonath, during which feasts were held in her honour. There is only one source documenting Eostre, a few brief sentences by the Christian scholar Bede. As a fertility festival for Wiccans, who call it Ostara, many of the trappings of Easter such as flowers, chicks, bunnies and dyed eggs are part of the celebrations because they symbolize the fertility of the land. According to Graves, dyed eggs are also solar symbols. (Farrar 76) Wearing white and lighting a fire during ritual are symbolic actions that can be taken for Ostara (Cunningham 123). The heiros gamos is symbolic of the dying and resurrecting god who descends into the goddess to be reborn in various Mediterranean traditions at this time of year (Farrar 74), although human fertility is more suitable for Beltaine to most Neopagans.
Works Cited
Cunningham, Scott. Living Wicca. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 2002.
Farrar, Janet and Stuart. A Witches' Bible. Blaine, WA: Janet and Stuart Farrar, 1984.
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