It’s Springtime! Here comes the Sun …

*Ostara* is just one of the many names given to the celebration of the Spring Equinox that occurred on March 20th.  Because spring is the season of new life and revival, the peoples of Europe and Asia held festivals, accompanied by regeneration myths, and included magical and religious ceremonies to try to make their crops grow and prosper.

Throughout the European world, and even farther East, there are many records of spring-time festivals.  In fact, the name of "Easter" is probably derived from Eostre, or Eastre, an obscure anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and dawn. The festival of Eostre was even celebrated around the day of the Vernal Equinox.  Traditions associated with this Teutonic, Germanic or Anglo-Saxon fertility Goddess even survive today in stories of the Easter Bunny (or Easter rabbit, or March hare) and ideas surrounding eggs and baked goods. Hot cross buns were first baked by the Saxons in honor of Eostre. The word “bun” itself derives from boun, Saxon for “sacred ox”, which was sacrificed at the Eostre festival, and the image of its horns was carved into the little cakes.

Many of the traditions surrounding the season have survived relatively unchanged, yet subtly altered in their new surroundings to bear a "Christian" significance.  In fact, the season itself has, from the earliest times, has been the occasion of rites and observances having to do with the mysteries of death and resurrection among different peoples and religions.

The Germanic language descends from Proto-Indo-European languages, and linguists have connected this name with the goddess of the dawn, which accounts for some of the other names of the pagan goddess, like the Greek "Eos", Roman "Aurora", and Indian "Ushas".  But, most sources agree that a "fertility goddess" must be involved rather than just a "goddess of sunrise" because Germanic or Teutonic goddesses are mostly connected with prosperity and growth.

A popular part of the legend is that Eostre found a bird on the ground late in winter, frozen and wounded,. To save its life, she transformed it into a hare. But the transformation was not a complete one; the bird took the appearance of a hare, but retained the ability to lay eggs -- the hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as gifts to Eostre.

Worship of Eostre or Eástre, was so firmly rooted among the Germanic tribes that early Christian teachers kept the name “Easter” and applied it to their celebration of Christ instead.

The story of the Roman god Mithras is similar to the tale of Christ and his resurrection. Born at the winter solstice, he is resurrected in the spring.  In one legend, Mithras, who was popular amongst the military, was ordered by the Sun to sacrifice a white bull. He reluctantly obeyed, but at the moment when his knife entered the creature's body, the bull turned into the moon, and Mithras' cloak became the night sky. Where the bull's blood fell flowers grew, and stalks of grain sprouted from its tail.

In European countries, spring was the time to celebrate planting and new crops.  The Equinox is the signal for this fertility. Medieval societies in Europe thought of the March hare as a major fertility symbol -- this is a species of rabbit that is nocturnal most of the year, but in March when mating season begins, there are bunnies everywhere all day long.  The female of the species can conceive a second litter even while pregnant with a first.