link :: home.earthlink.net/~jordsvi...ticle.htm
by Jordsvin
For this article, we’ll be traveling to the south of most Heathens’ usual Scandinavian spiritual homelands. Other than possible place names in Denmark (Ashliman), Ostara is unknown in those more northern climes, at least under that name. Further south, she is so incompletely attested that some scholars have suggested that the churchman Bede may essentially have invented the Goddesses Rheda and Eostre = Ostara to explain the Old English names for the months March and April (Hutton, 180-181). However, given how close Bede was in time to living and openly practiced English Heathenism, this seems unlikely in the view of many scholars (Branston, 51-52), and I personally agree with that conclusion, while making the note that this ongoing debate, due to the length of time which has elapsed and the paucity of surviving records, will almost certainly never be definitively settled.
Some have also pronounced similar caveats about the works of Snorri Sturluson, especially the Prose Edda. I don’t see that as likely either, at least on a large scale (with the exception of that “the Gods are old dead Trojans” business, which was probably either to avoid trouble with the church or just to try to tie Germanic and biblical lore together). Too many of his contemporaries, like Bede’s, knew too much of the old lore. The examples of lore-rewriting of which I am aware are the works of the 19th century Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg and the contemporary Heathen group “Skergard.” You might add the early Danish churchman Saxo Grammaticus to that list but his work is nevertheless very useful. Please note: since the publication of this article, I have concluded, due to the influence of a couple of Heathens I really respect, that Viktor Rydberg's works might be worth reading after all. They can serve as a source of inspiration and new ideas, although not IMHO as a scholarly source.
In any case, from the Heathen perspective it is important that, for the now slightly more than thirty years of the public Heathen revival, there is, according to the large number of people who have habitually blóted Ostara, someone “out there” answering to that name and fitting well into the overall fabric of contemporary Heathenism. As far as the accurate reconstruction of Heathenry is concerned, the very worst-case scenario is that the cult of Iðunn has moved “south” into contemporary Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic Heathenism, where she has assumed, or perhaps more accurately been given the ancient if mysterious name “Eostre” or “Ostara.”
In any case, many modern Heathens see Ostara as a sort of southern Iðunn (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 584; Coulter, 75; Sheil, 61). Others identify her as a local form or hypostasis of either Frigg (McNallen, v. 2, p. 12) or Freyja. My friend Lisa Wilson, who was gyðja for Hammerstead Kindred, holds to the Freyja = Ostara option. I am inclined to the idea that Ostara is either essentially the same Goddess as Iðunn, or else shares in many if not most of her functions. Finally, of course, all of these could be completely separate Goddesses. While all these options are possible, none of them is proven or perhaps even provable. Ostara, with her eggs, rabbits and springtime festival, has definite fertility aspects which Frigg lacks, while Freyja’s fertility seems to have more to do with eroticism (Post, 36).
The Wight in (extant) Scandinavian mythology with the name closest to “Ostara” is the (male) dwarf “Austri,” whose name, like Ostara’s also means “East.” In Germany and England, however, Ostara (the main German variant) took a variety of forms, including Eostra, Eostrae, Eostre, Eástre, and Austra (Ashliman).
Despite her relative obscurity today, Ostara’s name has an impeccable Indo-European pedigree, with cognates in Sanskrit, Avestan (an Old Persian tongue), and Lithuanian. All of these have to do with the idea of “East,” or “dawn” and evidently derive from the Indo-European reconstructed root-word “*aus-“ meaning “shine” (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 584). She was remembered in several German place-names (Grimm, 1371). However, it is hard to be sure in this case since her name is so similar to words for “East” that it is hard to be sure which element is behind a place-name (Wodening, 88). The Latin Aurora and Greek Eos (as in Eohippus = “dawn-horse”) – both also Goddesses by the way (Hutton, 180-181) – are from the same root (Grimm, 1520). Hence, Ostara can be seen as a Goddess of the Dawn, and of the East, the direction of the Sun’s rising.
Within the Germanic world itself, a cognate of the name is present in the name of the Austriahenae matrones, a group of Goddesses to whom over 150 dedicatory inscriptions survive in Morken-Harff. Their name is usually translated as “the eastern ones” (Simek, 25). The cult of various Goddesses identified as matrones = “mothers” was widespread in areas of Germania and adjacent Celtic areas under Roman control (Simek, 204-208).
Fascinatingly, there is some evidence of a parallel Goddess “Westara,” associated with the opposite direction and hence with the sunset. This is also echoed, for instance, in the Latin “Vespera” (Grimm, 1372). “Oestre”, the form of Ostara/Eostre’s name in the book Asyniur seems to me to have been mistakenly based on this “western” Goddess (McGrath, 66).
Ostara is well-known in the larger Pagan community, mostly due to the fact that the late Gerald Gardner borrowed her name for the Wiccan Spring Equinox holiday. While Wicca borrows much more extensively from Celtic lore than from Anglo-Saxon sources, only four of its Sabbats have Celtic names (Imbolc, Beltaine, Mabon, and Samhain). Three of the others have Germanic names (Ostara, Litha and Yule) while the eighth is known both by the Celtic Lugnasad and the (post-Christianization) English name of Lammas (= “Loaf-Mass”). Why this should be the case I have no idea, except that when all is said and done, Gardner was still an Englishman, not a Celt!
We don’t know a great deal about Ostara/Eostre. Much of what we do know is from Chapter 13 of the early medieval English churchman Bede’s De temporum ratione, where we also learn that the Heathen English called the month of March “Rhedmonath” after a Goddess “Rheda,” elsewhere unattested, although possible German cognates exist (Grimm 289-291). Her name was probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “hreð(a)” and thus meant “glory” or “fame” (Owen, 37).
From that same medieval text, we learn that in Heathen England, April was called “Esturmonath” after the Goddess Eostra, whose festival was celebrated at that time. She was evidently quite important as were her spring rites, important enough that the Christianized English and Germans kept her name for one of their new religion’s two most holy festivals. In the case of England, as those familiar with Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People will recall, by direct orders from the Pope himself the missionaries there were fairly accommodating of Heathen customs and worship sites in their mission to convert England, a policy which from their perspective worked quite well in the long run, considering how little we know first-hand of English Heathenry. For instance, we know absolutely nothing about the rites by which Eostre was honored in England (Wilson, 36).
From the time of her traditional rites comes the notion of Ostara as a Goddess of Spring, or perhaps more specifically of the Spring Equinox. Of course, this does not have to be an either/or situation, as Germanic Deities tend to be multifunctional. Some contemporary Heathens believe that the fact that March and April, the only months dedicated to Goddesses (Rheda and Eostre/Ostara), are together in the calendar is no coincidence. For them, Rheda (the Latinized form used by Bede probably represents an original “Hreð” or “Hreða”) represents the blustery early Spring, soon to be superceded by fertile, lovely, and blooming Ostara (Herbert, 21).
In the other Germanic languages, spoken in lands where Ostara was not known, and in the languages of Western Europe in general, the name for Easter is derived from some form of the Hebrew “pasah,” “to pass over,” hence “Passover,” the Jewish feast borrowed and re-theologized by the early Christian church (Ashliman).
The other main primary source for information about Ostara is Jacob Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology, a massive, four-volume 19th century work which I have already found it necessary to cite. For Grimm, Ostara/Eostre was a Goddess “of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing” (Grimm, 291). Obviously, this was a Deity whose festivities the incoming Church found easy to assimilate to its own feast of Jesus’ resurrection. Bonfires were lit at Easter-tide in Frankish and Saxon areas where as elsewhere in Germany they were lit at Midsummer (Grimm, 615). Note that both of these tribes, especially the latter, were involved in the settlement of England. By the way, small indoor Easter fires are still lit in Catholic churches; I remember one in particular that burned a good bit higher than intended, although no one was harmed and the church didn’t have to be evacuated!
Water drawn on Easter morning was said to have healing properties. Maidens clothed in white and seen in clefts of big rock formations and on mountains may be echoes of the Goddess Ostara (Grimm, 615). From folklore survivals unattested in extant lore, it appears that there may have also been a play or ritual representing the battle between the seasons. This involved a sword, which Grimm reminds us was, surprisingly also brandished in honor of “Fricka” = Frigg. Hence, Ostara can be and is often seen as a Goddess of Springtime (Grimm, 779-781).
Cakes shaped, among other things, like lunar crescents were baked at this time (Grimm, 779-781). Hot cross buns might also be appropriate at this time, with the marks on top of them being (re-?) Heathenized as the Rune Gebo or a Sunwheel (Wodening, 89). Mayflowers, i.e. lilies of the valley bloom at this time of year and in some Hessian areas certain townships had to pay a bunch of them as a sort of rent (Grimm, 58), which may have in itself been a remnant of an ancient offering to Ostara (Grimm, 968). These early, delicate, fragrant, and very white blossoms to me recall the previously mentioned maidens in white. In these same Hessian areas, games and sporting events also continued to be held on Easter Day and were evidently survivals of Heathen custom (Post, 553).
In addition to the hares and rabbits (rather similar creatures, the main difference being that newborn hares are fully furred and have their eyes open), the squirrel may also be an animal associated with Ostara. In certain Hartz mountain villages the people engaged in a sort of ritual squirrel hunt with sticks and stones on Easter day (Grimm, 615-616; Gundarsson, Our Troth, 586). This echoes the annual ritual hunt of the “Cutty Wren” in parts of England (Stewart, 15-23). Please don’t try the squirrel or wren hunt at home. It would be more than a little cruel and would also constitute game poaching or killing of protected songbirds!
Another fascinating old folk custom for Ostara-tide is the Easter egg fight. We still have the Peters Hollow Egg Fight every Easter Sunday in my native Carter County, in Northeast Tennessee. Since one Heathen descended from Lake Ladoga Russians, from an area originally settled from Sweden, recalls this same custom in his family, who knows how far this rite may go back (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 587). Ostara-eggs are seen by some as having magical powers to bring strength, health and for children, good growth in the coming year (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 588). This would no doubt be even truer of eggs dedicated to Ostara at a blót in her honor and charged with her megin.
Since by Ostara-tide Sunna’s might has grown far stronger since reaching her weakest point at Yule, it comes as no surprise that fire, which like Sunna gives warmth and light, evidently played a part in Ostara’s festivities. There were bonfires and burning sun-wheels as well. In both Germany and Czechoslovakia, an egg laid on Thorsday was dyed green and buried in the largest wheat field, with burning “hail-cross” on either side. The ashes were then spread on the fields to make them fertile, and burnt sticks were kept to protect against hail, fire, and lightning. Here, the might of Asa-Þórr is added to that of Ostara, so that Earth, Þórr’s Mother, might yield bounteously and folks could thrive (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 588). By the way, the custom of decorating eggs at this time of year is evidently known only in Germanic and Slavic areas; even today it is not seen in Celtic or mostly-Celtic places like Ireland and Scotland (Gundarsson, Teutonic Religion, 291).
After the coming of Christianity, the old Gods (and their Heathen followers) were made out by followers of the new faith to be very wicked wights. In Sweden, witches were thought to be especially active at Ostara-tide (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 589). In Germany however, their season was Walpurgisnacht, May 1st. In either case, these “witches” may well be distorted memories of Goddesses and/or the folks who worshipped them (op. cit., 596-597). At least one prominent and very knowledgeable modern Heathen, Winifred Hodge Rose, believes that the Goddess worshipped on Walpurgisnacht was also Ostara (Wodening, 89). It is also worth mentioning that the ritual journey of Nerthus’ image and cart, as recounted in Tacitus’ Germania, may have had parallel’s in Ostara’s cult (Anglo-Saxon Heathenism Webpage; Herbert, 18-19). However, it is not known whether there is any connection between Nerthus and Ostara (Anglo-Saxon Heathenism Webpage). While most modern Heathens seem to blót Nerthus in Spring, Tacitus does not mention in what particular season, if any, that her cart made its procession among the folk (Tacitus, 133-134).
Two items attributed to Ostara in the modern era are the waxing moon (McGrath, 159) and the Rune Dagaz (McGrath, 153). The first seems especially problematical. The Moon in Germanic languages has masculine grammatical gender and as an at least semi-personified Deity is also male. However, if you go from the viewpoint that the Germanic masculine Moon is not “right” and the Greco-Roman feminine Moon is not “wrong” in an absolute, Truth-with-a-capital-“T” sense, it could then follow that the Moon has both “masculine” and “feminine” energies, and that some cultures for various reasons pick up (mostly) on one, and others on the other. Thus, if looking for feminine lunar energy manifested discretely in a Germanic mythological context, Ostara might be one Goddess where this would show up. Another Goddess with lunar overtones, according to my teacher, Thor Sheil, is Frigg (Sheil, 36).
The association with the Rune Dagaz = “Day” seems more feasible. Ostara was/is among other things the Goddess of the Dawn, that is, the new Day. While I would not call Dagaz “Ostara’s Rune” to the exclusion of any other God or Goddess (neither does McGrath; she also associates Syn with this Rune as a Goddess of the door), I would recommend pathworking and other work with Dagaz for those seeking to uncover and explore Ostara’s mysteries. More academic scholarship of Germanic religion would support this association as well (Simek, 309).
Ostara’s blót, now as in ancient times, is around the time of the Spring Equinox. However, she is not the only Goddess worshipped at that time. Heathens working very strictly within a (Viking Age) Scandinavian framework typically do not honor Goddesses such as Ostara and Nerthus, since there is no evidence that they were worshipped at that place and in that time period. Others choose to do a blót at this time to Iðunn (as the Northern equivalent of Ostara in their theology), Freyja, Frigg, and/or Nerthus. Some honor Þórr and Sif (Jerome). Ostara was called “Sigrblót,” meaning “Victory-Blessing” by the Norse. Since one of Oðinn’s heiti (nicknames) is “Sig-Father,” meaning “Father of Victory,” many call upon him at this time (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 591).
The “Hail Day” section of the poem “Sigrdrífumal,” found in the Poetic (Elder) Edda, appears with great frequency in Ostara-blótar (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 591). My own composite “liturgical” translation, compiled from several others and slightly modified by me, is as follows:
“Hail Day! Hail the Sons of Day!
Hail Night and the Daughter of Night!
Gaze on us with gracious eyes,
Award us victory, we who wait.
Hail the Gods! Hail the Goddesses!
Hail Earth who gives to all!
Wisdom and fair speech give to us
And healing hands while we live.”
In conclusion, what we know about Ostara comes from the early English churchman Bede and the bits and pieces of surviving, mostly German folklore, the majority of which was gathered together and preserved for us by Jacob Grimm. In assembling and annotating the large book-hoard you are about to read, I noted that the same information from these two authors tends to recur over and over. As I previously mentioned, we don’t know a lot about this Goddess, but we do know enough for individual Heathens and Heathen groups to explore, restore, and with her help re-create for our own times Ostara’s ancient mysteries. These “mysteries” are not scientific or even historical facts, but rather more subtle truths to be pondered in one’s own heart and experienced in one’s own life. Not everyone will hear her whisper the same things, but those things which many different worshippers keep hearing are deserving of special attention as this process continues to unfold.
May Ostara bring you her timeless gifts of light, joy, health, abundance, and renewal of life!
by Jordsvin
For this article, we’ll be traveling to the south of most Heathens’ usual Scandinavian spiritual homelands. Other than possible place names in Denmark (Ashliman), Ostara is unknown in those more northern climes, at least under that name. Further south, she is so incompletely attested that some scholars have suggested that the churchman Bede may essentially have invented the Goddesses Rheda and Eostre = Ostara to explain the Old English names for the months March and April (Hutton, 180-181). However, given how close Bede was in time to living and openly practiced English Heathenism, this seems unlikely in the view of many scholars (Branston, 51-52), and I personally agree with that conclusion, while making the note that this ongoing debate, due to the length of time which has elapsed and the paucity of surviving records, will almost certainly never be definitively settled.
Some have also pronounced similar caveats about the works of Snorri Sturluson, especially the Prose Edda. I don’t see that as likely either, at least on a large scale (with the exception of that “the Gods are old dead Trojans” business, which was probably either to avoid trouble with the church or just to try to tie Germanic and biblical lore together). Too many of his contemporaries, like Bede’s, knew too much of the old lore. The examples of lore-rewriting of which I am aware are the works of the 19th century Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg and the contemporary Heathen group “Skergard.” You might add the early Danish churchman Saxo Grammaticus to that list but his work is nevertheless very useful. Please note: since the publication of this article, I have concluded, due to the influence of a couple of Heathens I really respect, that Viktor Rydberg's works might be worth reading after all. They can serve as a source of inspiration and new ideas, although not IMHO as a scholarly source.
In any case, from the Heathen perspective it is important that, for the now slightly more than thirty years of the public Heathen revival, there is, according to the large number of people who have habitually blóted Ostara, someone “out there” answering to that name and fitting well into the overall fabric of contemporary Heathenism. As far as the accurate reconstruction of Heathenry is concerned, the very worst-case scenario is that the cult of Iðunn has moved “south” into contemporary Anglo-Saxon and Continental Germanic Heathenism, where she has assumed, or perhaps more accurately been given the ancient if mysterious name “Eostre” or “Ostara.”
In any case, many modern Heathens see Ostara as a sort of southern Iðunn (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 584; Coulter, 75; Sheil, 61). Others identify her as a local form or hypostasis of either Frigg (McNallen, v. 2, p. 12) or Freyja. My friend Lisa Wilson, who was gyðja for Hammerstead Kindred, holds to the Freyja = Ostara option. I am inclined to the idea that Ostara is either essentially the same Goddess as Iðunn, or else shares in many if not most of her functions. Finally, of course, all of these could be completely separate Goddesses. While all these options are possible, none of them is proven or perhaps even provable. Ostara, with her eggs, rabbits and springtime festival, has definite fertility aspects which Frigg lacks, while Freyja’s fertility seems to have more to do with eroticism (Post, 36).
The Wight in (extant) Scandinavian mythology with the name closest to “Ostara” is the (male) dwarf “Austri,” whose name, like Ostara’s also means “East.” In Germany and England, however, Ostara (the main German variant) took a variety of forms, including Eostra, Eostrae, Eostre, Eástre, and Austra (Ashliman).
Despite her relative obscurity today, Ostara’s name has an impeccable Indo-European pedigree, with cognates in Sanskrit, Avestan (an Old Persian tongue), and Lithuanian. All of these have to do with the idea of “East,” or “dawn” and evidently derive from the Indo-European reconstructed root-word “*aus-“ meaning “shine” (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 584). She was remembered in several German place-names (Grimm, 1371). However, it is hard to be sure in this case since her name is so similar to words for “East” that it is hard to be sure which element is behind a place-name (Wodening, 88). The Latin Aurora and Greek Eos (as in Eohippus = “dawn-horse”) – both also Goddesses by the way (Hutton, 180-181) – are from the same root (Grimm, 1520). Hence, Ostara can be seen as a Goddess of the Dawn, and of the East, the direction of the Sun’s rising.
Within the Germanic world itself, a cognate of the name is present in the name of the Austriahenae matrones, a group of Goddesses to whom over 150 dedicatory inscriptions survive in Morken-Harff. Their name is usually translated as “the eastern ones” (Simek, 25). The cult of various Goddesses identified as matrones = “mothers” was widespread in areas of Germania and adjacent Celtic areas under Roman control (Simek, 204-208).
Fascinatingly, there is some evidence of a parallel Goddess “Westara,” associated with the opposite direction and hence with the sunset. This is also echoed, for instance, in the Latin “Vespera” (Grimm, 1372). “Oestre”, the form of Ostara/Eostre’s name in the book Asyniur seems to me to have been mistakenly based on this “western” Goddess (McGrath, 66).
Ostara is well-known in the larger Pagan community, mostly due to the fact that the late Gerald Gardner borrowed her name for the Wiccan Spring Equinox holiday. While Wicca borrows much more extensively from Celtic lore than from Anglo-Saxon sources, only four of its Sabbats have Celtic names (Imbolc, Beltaine, Mabon, and Samhain). Three of the others have Germanic names (Ostara, Litha and Yule) while the eighth is known both by the Celtic Lugnasad and the (post-Christianization) English name of Lammas (= “Loaf-Mass”). Why this should be the case I have no idea, except that when all is said and done, Gardner was still an Englishman, not a Celt!
We don’t know a great deal about Ostara/Eostre. Much of what we do know is from Chapter 13 of the early medieval English churchman Bede’s De temporum ratione, where we also learn that the Heathen English called the month of March “Rhedmonath” after a Goddess “Rheda,” elsewhere unattested, although possible German cognates exist (Grimm 289-291). Her name was probably derived from the Anglo-Saxon word “hreð(a)” and thus meant “glory” or “fame” (Owen, 37).
From that same medieval text, we learn that in Heathen England, April was called “Esturmonath” after the Goddess Eostra, whose festival was celebrated at that time. She was evidently quite important as were her spring rites, important enough that the Christianized English and Germans kept her name for one of their new religion’s two most holy festivals. In the case of England, as those familiar with Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People will recall, by direct orders from the Pope himself the missionaries there were fairly accommodating of Heathen customs and worship sites in their mission to convert England, a policy which from their perspective worked quite well in the long run, considering how little we know first-hand of English Heathenry. For instance, we know absolutely nothing about the rites by which Eostre was honored in England (Wilson, 36).
From the time of her traditional rites comes the notion of Ostara as a Goddess of Spring, or perhaps more specifically of the Spring Equinox. Of course, this does not have to be an either/or situation, as Germanic Deities tend to be multifunctional. Some contemporary Heathens believe that the fact that March and April, the only months dedicated to Goddesses (Rheda and Eostre/Ostara), are together in the calendar is no coincidence. For them, Rheda (the Latinized form used by Bede probably represents an original “Hreð” or “Hreða”) represents the blustery early Spring, soon to be superceded by fertile, lovely, and blooming Ostara (Herbert, 21).
In the other Germanic languages, spoken in lands where Ostara was not known, and in the languages of Western Europe in general, the name for Easter is derived from some form of the Hebrew “pasah,” “to pass over,” hence “Passover,” the Jewish feast borrowed and re-theologized by the early Christian church (Ashliman).
The other main primary source for information about Ostara is Jacob Grimm’s Teutonic Mythology, a massive, four-volume 19th century work which I have already found it necessary to cite. For Grimm, Ostara/Eostre was a Goddess “of the radiant dawn, of upspringing light, a spectacle that brings joy and blessing” (Grimm, 291). Obviously, this was a Deity whose festivities the incoming Church found easy to assimilate to its own feast of Jesus’ resurrection. Bonfires were lit at Easter-tide in Frankish and Saxon areas where as elsewhere in Germany they were lit at Midsummer (Grimm, 615). Note that both of these tribes, especially the latter, were involved in the settlement of England. By the way, small indoor Easter fires are still lit in Catholic churches; I remember one in particular that burned a good bit higher than intended, although no one was harmed and the church didn’t have to be evacuated!
Water drawn on Easter morning was said to have healing properties. Maidens clothed in white and seen in clefts of big rock formations and on mountains may be echoes of the Goddess Ostara (Grimm, 615). From folklore survivals unattested in extant lore, it appears that there may have also been a play or ritual representing the battle between the seasons. This involved a sword, which Grimm reminds us was, surprisingly also brandished in honor of “Fricka” = Frigg. Hence, Ostara can be and is often seen as a Goddess of Springtime (Grimm, 779-781).
Cakes shaped, among other things, like lunar crescents were baked at this time (Grimm, 779-781). Hot cross buns might also be appropriate at this time, with the marks on top of them being (re-?) Heathenized as the Rune Gebo or a Sunwheel (Wodening, 89). Mayflowers, i.e. lilies of the valley bloom at this time of year and in some Hessian areas certain townships had to pay a bunch of them as a sort of rent (Grimm, 58), which may have in itself been a remnant of an ancient offering to Ostara (Grimm, 968). These early, delicate, fragrant, and very white blossoms to me recall the previously mentioned maidens in white. In these same Hessian areas, games and sporting events also continued to be held on Easter Day and were evidently survivals of Heathen custom (Post, 553).
In addition to the hares and rabbits (rather similar creatures, the main difference being that newborn hares are fully furred and have their eyes open), the squirrel may also be an animal associated with Ostara. In certain Hartz mountain villages the people engaged in a sort of ritual squirrel hunt with sticks and stones on Easter day (Grimm, 615-616; Gundarsson, Our Troth, 586). This echoes the annual ritual hunt of the “Cutty Wren” in parts of England (Stewart, 15-23). Please don’t try the squirrel or wren hunt at home. It would be more than a little cruel and would also constitute game poaching or killing of protected songbirds!
Another fascinating old folk custom for Ostara-tide is the Easter egg fight. We still have the Peters Hollow Egg Fight every Easter Sunday in my native Carter County, in Northeast Tennessee. Since one Heathen descended from Lake Ladoga Russians, from an area originally settled from Sweden, recalls this same custom in his family, who knows how far this rite may go back (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 587). Ostara-eggs are seen by some as having magical powers to bring strength, health and for children, good growth in the coming year (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 588). This would no doubt be even truer of eggs dedicated to Ostara at a blót in her honor and charged with her megin.
Since by Ostara-tide Sunna’s might has grown far stronger since reaching her weakest point at Yule, it comes as no surprise that fire, which like Sunna gives warmth and light, evidently played a part in Ostara’s festivities. There were bonfires and burning sun-wheels as well. In both Germany and Czechoslovakia, an egg laid on Thorsday was dyed green and buried in the largest wheat field, with burning “hail-cross” on either side. The ashes were then spread on the fields to make them fertile, and burnt sticks were kept to protect against hail, fire, and lightning. Here, the might of Asa-Þórr is added to that of Ostara, so that Earth, Þórr’s Mother, might yield bounteously and folks could thrive (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 588). By the way, the custom of decorating eggs at this time of year is evidently known only in Germanic and Slavic areas; even today it is not seen in Celtic or mostly-Celtic places like Ireland and Scotland (Gundarsson, Teutonic Religion, 291).
After the coming of Christianity, the old Gods (and their Heathen followers) were made out by followers of the new faith to be very wicked wights. In Sweden, witches were thought to be especially active at Ostara-tide (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 589). In Germany however, their season was Walpurgisnacht, May 1st. In either case, these “witches” may well be distorted memories of Goddesses and/or the folks who worshipped them (op. cit., 596-597). At least one prominent and very knowledgeable modern Heathen, Winifred Hodge Rose, believes that the Goddess worshipped on Walpurgisnacht was also Ostara (Wodening, 89). It is also worth mentioning that the ritual journey of Nerthus’ image and cart, as recounted in Tacitus’ Germania, may have had parallel’s in Ostara’s cult (Anglo-Saxon Heathenism Webpage; Herbert, 18-19). However, it is not known whether there is any connection between Nerthus and Ostara (Anglo-Saxon Heathenism Webpage). While most modern Heathens seem to blót Nerthus in Spring, Tacitus does not mention in what particular season, if any, that her cart made its procession among the folk (Tacitus, 133-134).
Two items attributed to Ostara in the modern era are the waxing moon (McGrath, 159) and the Rune Dagaz (McGrath, 153). The first seems especially problematical. The Moon in Germanic languages has masculine grammatical gender and as an at least semi-personified Deity is also male. However, if you go from the viewpoint that the Germanic masculine Moon is not “right” and the Greco-Roman feminine Moon is not “wrong” in an absolute, Truth-with-a-capital-“T” sense, it could then follow that the Moon has both “masculine” and “feminine” energies, and that some cultures for various reasons pick up (mostly) on one, and others on the other. Thus, if looking for feminine lunar energy manifested discretely in a Germanic mythological context, Ostara might be one Goddess where this would show up. Another Goddess with lunar overtones, according to my teacher, Thor Sheil, is Frigg (Sheil, 36).
The association with the Rune Dagaz = “Day” seems more feasible. Ostara was/is among other things the Goddess of the Dawn, that is, the new Day. While I would not call Dagaz “Ostara’s Rune” to the exclusion of any other God or Goddess (neither does McGrath; she also associates Syn with this Rune as a Goddess of the door), I would recommend pathworking and other work with Dagaz for those seeking to uncover and explore Ostara’s mysteries. More academic scholarship of Germanic religion would support this association as well (Simek, 309).
Ostara’s blót, now as in ancient times, is around the time of the Spring Equinox. However, she is not the only Goddess worshipped at that time. Heathens working very strictly within a (Viking Age) Scandinavian framework typically do not honor Goddesses such as Ostara and Nerthus, since there is no evidence that they were worshipped at that place and in that time period. Others choose to do a blót at this time to Iðunn (as the Northern equivalent of Ostara in their theology), Freyja, Frigg, and/or Nerthus. Some honor Þórr and Sif (Jerome). Ostara was called “Sigrblót,” meaning “Victory-Blessing” by the Norse. Since one of Oðinn’s heiti (nicknames) is “Sig-Father,” meaning “Father of Victory,” many call upon him at this time (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 591).
The “Hail Day” section of the poem “Sigrdrífumal,” found in the Poetic (Elder) Edda, appears with great frequency in Ostara-blótar (Gundarsson, Our Troth, 591). My own composite “liturgical” translation, compiled from several others and slightly modified by me, is as follows:
“Hail Day! Hail the Sons of Day!
Hail Night and the Daughter of Night!
Gaze on us with gracious eyes,
Award us victory, we who wait.
Hail the Gods! Hail the Goddesses!
Hail Earth who gives to all!
Wisdom and fair speech give to us
And healing hands while we live.”
In conclusion, what we know about Ostara comes from the early English churchman Bede and the bits and pieces of surviving, mostly German folklore, the majority of which was gathered together and preserved for us by Jacob Grimm. In assembling and annotating the large book-hoard you are about to read, I noted that the same information from these two authors tends to recur over and over. As I previously mentioned, we don’t know a lot about this Goddess, but we do know enough for individual Heathens and Heathen groups to explore, restore, and with her help re-create for our own times Ostara’s ancient mysteries. These “mysteries” are not scientific or even historical facts, but rather more subtle truths to be pondered in one’s own heart and experienced in one’s own life. Not everyone will hear her whisper the same things, but those things which many different worshippers keep hearing are deserving of special attention as this process continues to unfold.
May Ostara bring you her timeless gifts of light, joy, health, abundance, and renewal of life!
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Re: The Goddess Ostara, an Overview
Tue, March 18, 2008 - 12:12 PMOstara
by Kveldulf Hagan Gundarsson and Gunnora Hallakarva, from Mountain Thunder
www.vinland.org/heathen/mt/ostara.html -
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Re: The Goddess Ostara, an Overview
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 6:49 PM -
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Re: The Goddess Ostara, an Overview
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 6:51 PMthe way i heard it...
The vernal equinox, the world is poised on the brink, suspended between the cold months and the new warmth of the growing season. The world is coming alive with green shoots and animals seeking mates. Ostara is one of the Lesser Sabbats, usually celebrated anywhere from March 19th to 21st. Some celebrated on the fixed date of March 25 (Lady Day), while others celebrate on the next full moon (a time of increased births). While the equinox is a solar holiday, Eostre is a lunar goddess. This may be viewed as symbolic of the goddess (the moon) and the god (the sun) coming together in completion. Other names by which this Sabbat may be known are Oestara, Esther, Eostre's Day, the Rite of Eostre or Rites of Spring, Alban Eilir, Festival of the Trees, and the Bacchanalia. The Christian holiday of Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox.
According to the Venerable Bede (673-735), the Anglo-Saxons called the fourth month "Esturmonath" for the goddess Eostra. Her festival became the celebration of Christ's resurrection when Anglo-Saxon and German peoples were converted to Christianity. While English and German Christians still attach the name of Eostra to their most sacred holiday (Easter or Ostern), other European languages base the name on the Hebrew word "pasah," to pass over, reflecting the Christian holiday's Biblical connection with the Jewish Passover.
All cultures living in temperate climates celebrate the coming of spring with rituals and festivals. This was one of the most important of spring festivals among pre-Christian Germanic tribes, dedicated to the goddess Ostara, a goddess associated with the "east" and thus "dawn" and "morning light." Ostara is a time to celebrate the renewal and rebirth of Nature herself, and the coming Summer. Light and darkness are in balance, as are masculine and feminine energy, yin and yang. Ostara is a fertility festival celebrating the rebirth of the God and the awakening of life from the Earth. Some Wiccan traditions worship the Green Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood.
The Spring-cleaning tradition derived from the old witches who engaged in a cleansing each spring followed by setting up a hedge of protection. All motions involving scrubbing of stains or hand rubbing the floors should be done "clockwise." This custom aids in filling the home with good energy for growth. Another Spring tradition for ancient pagans and magicians was to dig a small trench around the outer perimeter of their home. At each quarter they would bury an egg. A modern practitioner might also add iron, old rusty nails, metal keys, old razor blades, pins and needles or witch bottles filled with the above items to diffuse magical attacks and spiritual negativity. (If you are unable to dig a perimeter, you can improvise by placing iron keys above your door, and pentacles and sigils drawn on pewter or parchment paper under your carpet or floorboards.
As a time of cleansing and renewal, Ostara is an excellent time to begin some new project. It is an excellent month for prosperity rituals or rituals that have anything to do with growth. Spells for improving communications, fertility, and abundance are especially strong at this time. Some Pagan customs include ringing bells and lighting new fires at dawn for cures, renewed life, and protection of the crops. A common belief in nineteenth century Germany touted the curative properties of water drawn early on Easter morning. One nearly universal craft is decorating hard-boiled eggs.
Eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth. They have been found among the grave goods of Anglo-Saxons, within the tombs of the Egyptians, and were placed on the fresh graves of the deceased Greeks. In ancient time, eggs were gathered for use in the creation of talismans and ritually eaten. The gathering of different colored eggs from the nests of a variety of birds has given rise to two traditions still observed today, the Easter egg hunt and coloring eggs in imitation of the various pastel colors of wild birds. Some believed that humankind was inspired by watching birds weave nests to begin weaving the first baskets. This is perhaps the origin of the association between colored Easter eggs and Easter baskets.
The custom of coloring eggs seems to be limited to the Germanic countries, Slavic countries, and America. In Scotland and Ireland, the custom is virtually unknown. Each spring in Germany, bakery windows are filled with elaborately painted eggs. Eggs are also hung from flowering branches to make "egg trees." Easter is celebrated in Germany more enthusiastically than it is anywhere else in the world with decorations up a good month before the festival. There are parties, egg hunts, and other celebrations weeks in advance of Easter itself.
In many places, it is traditional to keep Easter eggs or shells all year to ward the family and cattle against harm. They are also used specifically as a charm against hail and lightning. For this reason, great care and thought goes into the creation of egg decorations, egg-trees, boiled and decorated eggs for eating, and hare cakes.
Eostre is a goddess of the moon, an ancient measurer of time. The lunar month of 28 days gives us thirteen periods in 364 days, equivalent to the solar year. The hare, though viewed as a symbol of fertility, is also a symbol of the moon. Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of the moon, midwifery and weaving, has a rabbit totem. Mexican panels of 600-900 AD show her giving birth to and suckling a rabbit, and another shows the rabbit representing phases of the moon.
The Egyptians called the hare Un, which means open, to open, and the opener. The month of April, the first month of the spring season, comes from the Latin “to open.” Un also means period of time. The hare as "opener" symbolizes the New Year at Easter, and fertility and the beginning of new life within the young. Since the hare can sleep with its eyes open, the Romans equated it with vigilance and believed that rabbits watched over everything. According to one story, Buddha placed the rabbit in the moon after it voluntarily gave itself as food for one of Buddha's hungry friends. In another, a rabbit jumped into a fire to feed a hungry Indra and out of gratitude, Indra placed the rabbit in the moon. Rabbits were significant totem animals however and eating them was prohibited in Britain and Egypt. A Scottish superstition suggested that eating rabbit was equivalent to eating one's grandmother.
In Asian myth, rabbits and the moon are virtually identical. The Rabbit in the Moon sweeps its surface clean with bound horsetails according to Japanese stories. The rabbit pounds rice into flour, making mochi which means both rice flour and full moon. The Sanskrit word, cacadharas also means both moon, and "that which carries the hare."
Rabbits also represent immortality and vitality. Pliny the Elder stated that rabbit meat enhanced one's beauty and radiance for a week afterwards, and Chinese myth believed rabbit meat was essential for vitality. According to Chinese myth, the rabbit is a symbol of longevity. Its fur turns white at age 100 and blue at 500. In Eastern Asian myth, rabbits created an elixir of immortality. The Algonquin trickster rabbit, Manabozho, is thought to embody all life-giving energy.
In Greece, live rabbits were popular love gifts, indicating sexual intentions. European wedded couples in the Middle Ages exchanged rabbit-shaped rings. Rabbit's popularity as a sex charm or fertility totem is related to its' natural cycle. A rabbit's gestation period is approximately one month, and it tends to be the first animal to give birth in the springtime, continuing to have litters of kits during the year. In Asian folklore, a rabbit may become pregnant simply by staring at a full moon, licking a male rabbit's fur under a full moon, or running across a moon-lit water's surface. -
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Re: The Goddess Ostara, an Overview
Thu, March 20, 2008 - 1:55 PMThank you Sizzle for the added information on lore, practices, traditions and festivities ...
The video is also very beautiful, it puts one in the mood, gratitude for sharing ...
Depending on culture, country, tradition, etc., Spring is celebrated very differently, the two articles I posted previously really focus on the etymology of Ostara, and the Goddess Eostre. It is also known as Lady Day, Alban Eiler (Druidic), Eostara (Teutonic), Oestara, Eostra, Eos (Greek), Spring Equinox, Vernal Equinox, Summer Finding (Asatru), Naw Ruz (Persian New Year), New Year, or the 'day of rites' (Mesopotamia), Festival of Trees, No Ruz, Ostra, Rites of Spring; and many others....
Other Goddesses that are worshipped include Kore*, Persephone*, Aphrodite, Gaia, Isis*, Hathor, Ereshkigal*, Ishtar*, Inanna*, Astarte*, Blodeuwedd, all Green Goddesses, the Great Goddess in Her Virgin/Maiden aspect etc. ...
*Basically, all those that are associated with fertility and death and rebirth, and descent and return journeys, in which gaining of wisdom and knowledge is granted only after extreme sacrifice.
:: a few more links to check out ::
www.twpt.com/ostara.htm
members.tripod.com/infernal...tara.html
www.ishtartemple.org/sacredIshtar.htm
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