Celebrating Oestara!

It's almost time for Oestara (more commonly known as Ostara) aka the Spring Equinox! This year it's on Monday 20th March. 

Note: For those in the Southern Hemisphere it's nearly time for Madron/Mabon aka the Autumn Equinox. You might like these posts:

 Madron Round-up + Autumn Baking: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2021/09/madron-round-up-autumn-baking.html

Celebrating Madron!: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/09/happy-madron.html

 

For the past few years, I've written posts sharing celebration ideas for the sabbats and last year I did a post rounding them up. During 2022 I also started writing a series of posts sharing some ideas and inspiration for celebrating and links to other sites, rather than in-depth posts and have continued that into 2023. As I said in my Yule 2022 one, I feel that I've pretty much covered them all now, since each festival has several posts. 

This Oestara post completes my current round of sabbat ones (which I started last Beltane), so going forward I will probably just write about my celebrations and maybe write short posts before the sabbats. I do appreciate everyone who has read them and plan to continue blogging about seasonal festivals here. I just don't want to keep rehashing the same thing. :) (As with my most recent Madron post, I've previously written a post called Happy Oestara!, so that's why this title is a bit different.)

Oestara (often spelt as "Ostara" but I first heard about it with the alternative spelling) is the 2nd of 3 spring festivals in the Wheel of the Year, coming after Imbolg/Imbolc (which marks the transition from winter to spring) at the start of February and before Beltane (mid-spring) in late April/early May. It's also the Spring Equinox, which is often seen as the "official" start of spring. 

The Spring Equinox is an astrological event where day and night are fairly equal, due to the position of the Earth moving around the sun. It's the opposite to the Autumn Equinox (also known as Madron/Mabon) in September. After this time the days will continue to get longer until the Summer Solstice (known as Litha to some pagans). I wrote a bit about it in my 2019 Oestara Celebration Ideas post.

In the UK the scientific time of the Spring Equinox will be 9.24pm GMT/UT on Monday and 5.24pm EDT (US Eastern Daylight Time).You can work out your local time compared to universal here: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/universal-time

Oestara themes include spring, rebirth, fertility, and balance. The name for this sabbat is thought to have come from the Goddess Eostre and it also has links to the Christian festival Easter. 

 

Here is my 2022 round-up of Oestara posts: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2022/03/oestara-round-up.html

 

And here are some posts from other sites:

History of Ostara and 10 ways to honour the season: https://www.outdoorapothecary.com/ostara/

Ostara blessing and spring rituals from Otherworldly Oracle: https://otherworldlyoracle.com/ostara-blessings-spring-rituals/

Ideas for Ostara rituals and decorating with eggs (The Peculiar Brunette):  https://www.thepeculiarbrunette.com/spring-equinox-ritual-ideas-for-ostara-and-decorating-with-eggs/

Podcast/video from Afura Nefertiti Fareed (of The Writing Witch) with early spring bucket list and Ostara/Spring Equinox celebration ideas: https://writingwitch.com/2023/03/11/early-spring-bucket-list/

My main celebration for sabbats is making food and drink. For the past few years, I've made some form of "no-bake" Malteser slice/fridge cake for Oestara, but a few times I baked cakes, such as fairy cakes (cupcakes) in 2014, sugar cookie bars (most recently in 2017) and a white chocolate Malteser cake in 2018.

This year I'm making some spicy carrot cupcakes for a change! Here is the recipe: https://natalie-mason.com/2011/03/spicy-carrot-cake-cupcakes.html

I thought it fit the spring theme because of carrots being associated with rabbits and spring! I will put Cadbury's Mini Eggs on top. :)

 

If you'd like more food/baking ideas, check out these links:

Ostara recipes from Otherworldly Oracle: https://otherworldlyoracle.com/ostara-recipes/

I shared a baking section in the 2018 Celebrating Oestara/Spring post: https://livingseasonal.blogspot.com/2018/03/celebrating-oestara-spring.html

If you're vegan, you can find some Ostara recipes on Vegan Kitchen Magick (and a couple of gluten free recipes as well): https://www.vegankitchenmagick.com/category/recipes-2/holidays/ostara/

 

Another thing I like to do for sabbats (mostly during the warmer months or when it's not too cold!) is go out in the country or to the beach, and take sunset pics. This year I'm planing to go to the park for sunset.

Hope that gave you some inspiration!! I will do a post about my celebrations next week. Happy Oestara/Spring Equinox! (Or Happy Madron/Autumn Equinox!) :)

Photo: Local daffodils. Moonsparkle 2023.