Ostara, also known as Eostar, Eostre and the Festival of Trees, Alban Eilir, is the Vernal Equinox, that occurs between March 19th and March 23rd, generally around March 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. This year, March 1998, the equinox occurred on the 20th at 20:00 U.T.C. (Greenwich Mean Time).

Ostara is a time of balance. At the time the solar ecliptic crosses equator days and nights are perfectly in balance in terms of hours. It is said that at the equinox an egg can be balanced on end easily.

Ostara is also a time that heralds new beginnings, new life. It is the second of the fertility festivals. By the time we celebrate Ostara the deeply hidden stirrings of life reverenced during Imbolc are inchoate, green plant tips peeping from winter hiding places.

This is the time of the return of the vegetation God who gave His life in the autumnal harvest in order to preserve our lives during the long, dark times of winter. By now most of the flour has been used, most of the ales drunk, and most of the dried meats consumed. As if by magick, the grains rise from the fields where winter wheat was sown, animals emerge from their wintry dens, and farm animals begin the lambing, calving and egg-laying seasons.

The virginal (unmarried) Goddess of Imbolc, who welcomed the young Sun God's attentions will now conceive the child to be born at the next Winter Solstice. In Christian mythology this is the time of year Mary is informed by an angel that she has been impregnated by deity. Some pagan traditions move the date of impregnation to Beltane, a far milder time for romping in the fields.

Christians have designated the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Vernal equinox as Easter Sunday, the date identified as the resurrection of Christ. Yet long before Christ, in ancient Egypt, this time of year commemorated the return of Osiris from the land of the dead. And before the Egyptians honored the return of Osiris the Sumerians celebrated the return of Tammuz, the grain god, from the land of the dead - a passage hard won by Ishtar. The Phoenicians celebrated the return of Adonis, another name for Tammuz. Later, Dionysus became a God of resurrection, in both the Greek and Roman traditions.

Eostre, a Germanic Goddess, is associated with both spring and sunrise. Tradition has it that Eostre, saved a bird whose wings were frozen from the harsh winter by turning it into a magickal, egg laying hare. Eostre was a maiden whose aspects of renewal and rebirth brought about the reappearance of bright spring flowers, baby chickens fresh from the shell, baby bunnies from their winter dens and the reoccurrence of the plow in the field. In some European traditions flowers grew from her footprints.

Pagans lit new fires at dawn to cure ills, renew life and protect the new crops. In some cultures this sacred day included the ringing of bells, singing of songs, and decorating of hard boiled eggs. Eggs were a symbol of both the sun god (the golden yolk) and fertility (the white shell symbolizing the White Goddess) and were used both as talismans and eaten in ritual. The eggs of wild birds were gathered and these eggs are recreated today with the dyes used in Easter celebrations. The weaving of Easter baskets harks back to the weaving of birds' nests, a necessity prior to egg laying and the continuation of the life cycle.

Equinox is an ideal time to clean your home and welcome the new season. More than physical cleaning, it is a time to remove negative energies and problems that have built up over the winter months. A common belief is that all cleaning/scrubbing should be done in a clockwise motion to fill the home with energy for growth.