The Spring Equinox – called Ostara by many neopagans – is not a major holiday for me but it is one I celebrate. In my form of witchcraft we acknowledge the equinoxes as balancing points which come right before the major shifts from light to dark or dark to light. In the case of the spring equinox it falls just before Bealtaine which is the start of the light half of the year. Even though it is one of the lesser holidays it is still important, and it has its place in the proper cycle of things.
The area I live in is often a rough one for spring. We seem to either have winter linger right into June or we go directly into summer somewhere in April, depending on whether the winter was hard or mild. The last several years have been hard winters, with the cold hanging on late and little feel of spring until well after Bealtaine, which has made celebrating the spring equinox challenging recently. This year, however, the winter was more mild with less snow and warmer temperatures and so far spring seems to be on its usual early course; the crocuses are up and blooming already, the willows are starting to bud which means they will be in leaf quickly, and the birds are already winging back northwards overhead. As someone who personally is no lover of hot weather and bright sunlight, I am doing my best to get out and enjoy as much of this mild springtime as I can before it passes.
In my own tradition of witchcraft we celebrate the equinox as a time when the aos sidhe move from one home to another¹ and so special offerings of milk, butter, and bread are left out for them on the night of the equinox. Although the solstices have much stronger folklore relating to the Fey folk attached to them the equinoxes do have their share as well, with the spring equinox falling close to La na Cailleach – the day of the Cailleach (25th March). La na Cailleach itself has both pagan and fairy connections, being a day in folklore when some believe the primal goddess the Cailleach relents and allows spring to arrive, or others say transforms into the goddess Bride; the Cailleach is also a figure connected directly and indirectly to the Queen of Elphame. Christopher Scott Thompson wrote about that in depth several years ago in his blog The Loop of Brighid, and I recommend anyone interested check it out here.
Since we celebrate the equinox as a time to honor the arrival of spring the themes we emphasize are those of transition and nurturing. In ritual we may focus on a goal we want to manifest and literally plant a seed to grow which will represent that goal. Another common ritual we do at this time is to get three different colors of yarn also representing a goal we want to manifest and during our equinox rite we weave them together as part of our ceremony to make a bracelet which we wear until the autumn equinox. Offerings, as I mentioned, as made to the aos sidhe, and also to the liminal Gods, specifically the Queen of the Wind and the Hunter.
And, of course, because I have three kids we do the usual fun kid stuff – coloring eggs, egg hunts, and telling stories of the magic of spring and renewal. The kids choose one egg they have colored to leave as an offering of their own, and they really enjoy choosing the one they think is the best to put out for the Gods and spirits. This is also usually the time of year when we transition back to celebrating outside, and so, we make cleaning up and decorating our outdoor altar part of our spring equinox celebrations.
Spring is in the air and I can feel the shift from winter’s dark to summer’s light, as the slow movement that began at the winter solstice with the lengthening days, and strengthened at Imbolc with the first surges of new life, reaches a tipping point. We will do what we do every year at this time to acknowledge the rhythm of the seasons and our part in it and in the world around us. We will dance and tell stories, plant seeds and weave yarn, make offerings to the Gods and spirits, sing and celebrate what it is to be alive. And our celebration, our ritual acknowledgement of the changes in the world that follow the pattern of the sun and of the reproductive cycles of the plants and animals, will ground us in our place in the world, even as we connect to the magic that exists beyond the boundaries of it.
1. based, admittedly, on a confusion between the Irish use of the term “cross-quarter” days to describe the solar festivals, and the Scottish use of the same term to describe the fire festivals. It is said in McNeil’s Silver Bough that the fairy folk are believed to move from one hill to another on the cross-quarter days, which is more properly read as the fire festivals however it was taken and misunderstood as meaning the solar festivals and has been celebrated that way for so long now that its become part of my tradition’s practices. In any event the aos sidhe don’t seem to mind the extra offerings. (back)
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