Ostara (Earth, quiz, Celtic, holiday)

[KSojourner]

Ostara (or Spring Equinox) is in a couple of days and I was wondering what people were doing to celebrate the day. Will you be celebrating on the day, or will you be waiting for the weekend? Will you be celebrating alone or with a group? What will you be doing?


Also, I thought that I would throw out some quiz type questions to get people thinking about the day.

1. Which God/Goddess was this holiday named after and which pantheon does he/she come from?

2.What are some of the symbols used within the celebration and why do we use them?

3. What can you do with an egg during the few minutes before and after the actual time of the equinox? Why can you do this?

4. What is the date and time of the equinox this year?

5.What colors are used during the celebration of this holiday and what do they symbolize?

6. What is the major "theme" of this holiday and why?

[Gentoo]

Ostara and Midsummer are my favorite sabbats I'm not sure what I'll be doing exactly, but I will be doing something. Guitar's Cry and I were thinking about coloring some eggs, hopefully we'll still get to do that.

As for the questions, I think I know the answers but I'm not sure... I'll wait

[KSojourner]

Ah, go ahead and answer them, Gentoo! Don't worry whether your right or not.

[Victor]

Cool, you guys made me look it up.

[Gentoo]

Alright, let's see how far off I am

Originally Posted by KSojourner

1. Which God/Goddess was this holiday named after and which pantheon does he/she come from?

The goddess is Eostre from Celtic/Anglo-Saxons or the goddess Ostara from Germanic tribes.

2.What are some of the symbols used within the celebration and why do we use them?

Eggs, chicks, rabbits. From my understanding they're mostly used to show fertility since the earth is renewing itself after the barren winter months, and a general celebration of youth and new life.

3. What can you do with an egg during the few minutes before and after the actual time of the equinox? Why can you do this?

Balance it? I had never heard of this until this morning when Guitar's Cry called me from work saying that he wanted to try it at his boss' suggestion. I personally don't believe it until I see it, I don't see how the sun passing over the equator can influence an egg to balance inside a building. I guess I'll find out that night then.

4. What is the date and time of the equinox this year?

From the same phone call, he said that it was 8:09pm tomorrow (the 21st). OMG it's tomorrow?! My internal calander is off, I thought it was still a week off!

5.What colors are used during the celebration of this holiday and what do they symbolize?

Green - the earth itself, new growth, healing after a hard winter.
Yellow - new beginnings, youth, creativity, subtle warmth
Light purple - higher sense of being

6. What is the major "theme" of this holiday and why?

Fertility as far as I'm aware of. The earth is being warmed by the sun (in the northern hemisphere anyway) promoting new growth, the animals are reproducing.

[KSojourner]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Alright, let's see how far off I am

You did good! I'll be posting a little more about the symbolism tomorrow. Anybody else want to add anything?

Originally Posted by Gentoo

the animals are reproducing.

Yeah, right in my backyard, too. I may just have to disconnect the sercurity light in my side yard. Those darn rabbits keep turing on the light and freeze in mid- ..... ah, motion. Yeah, that's it - motion.

[Gentoo]

The phrase "crazy as a March Hare" definately still has meaning