Spring Equinox / Ostara
20th - 23rd March.  Sun enters Aries
Ostara - Eostre - Eosta - Alban Eilir (Welsh.  Eilir meaning regeneration, or spring) - Easter

The Festival Of Awakening

Day and night are of equal length, all over the world.
In the Northern hemisphere, it is celebrated as the first day of spring.
From now on, the days will grow longer and warmer.
Birds are singing and nest buiding, the buds on the trees are opening their light green leaves, the colour hich signifies spring.

To the ancient Germans, this was the festival of the goddess, Ostara, whose name comes from the same root as the female hormone, oestrogen.
Ostaras symbol is an egg.  A symbol that appears today, in some countries, in the form of chocolate easter eggs and in others, as green painted aggs, symbolic of spring fertility.

The Underlying Energy

Everything in nature is coming alive and the days are getting warmer.
It is a time to throw off the restraints of winter.  A time to reach out for what it is, that we want for ourselves.

It is not so much a celebration, as an emerging and moving forwards.
Seeds are germinating above the ground now and so with us.  We feel empowered to take risks, strike out on our own, get on with things, make things happen.
The plans and ideas, we have formulated at Imbolc, can now be given energy and life.
There is an underlying excitement and joy.

Spring Equinox Celebrations

Eggs are painted and rolled down hills...the fastest egg wins the race!
Gardens are tended.  Seeds are planted.
be outside all day.  Enjoy the elements...the wind, the rain.
Run wild and be expansive.  Look for the arrival of spring everywhere.  celebrate the end of winter.
Put your back against a tree and feel the earths energy.
Plant the seeds of yourself and look at where you're going now.  Affirm your most positive wishes.