Ostara and Heathenism

So this year the oldest kidlet brought up Easter and Ostara herself. We were sitting around and she asked us what our version of Easter was and when it was. I wasn't sure when Easter was but I knew that Mardi Gras was early this year so Easter was going to be early. I also knew that Wiccans and many other pagans celebrate Ostara on the Spring Equinox but I wasn't actually sure if Asatru and Heathens do as well.

During my research I found a couple of things. I found a blog called A Heathen's Day which basically says that many celebrate on the Spring Equinox but Vikings didn't have calendars and it's possible that they celebrated Ostara when the first signs of spring appeared instead of a set date. The first signs of spring change from year to year so the celebration of Ostara would also change from year to year much like Easter changes as well.

To be honest this makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes a lot of the country is still going to experience a cold snap after the Spring Equinox that could damage certain plants. The country is also split up into different planting zones. So while the Pacific Northwest where I'm living can plant something at one time Texas can plant something else at another time. So sometime in April seems safer to celebrate Ostara to me because spring will be in full bloom.

Now I'm not one for full blown out rituals where you call all the elements of the four directions and blah, blah, blah. It makes me feel rather silly and self conscious. Which is my issue but it also doesn't feel personal enough to me. I've looked up different rituals online and I have some books that have some as well but I don't like to use them completely. For one they tend not to account for having only one or two people, they need this insane list of tools and they don't seem to have anything that is child friendly.

My husband has a book of rituals he got from the Troth and they are interesting I like reading through them but I'm not exactly fond of the ones I get in books aimed directly to Wicca. I do like the books that have spells in them. Not for the spells exactly but mostly for learning how to structure a spell so I can make my own and the same with rituals so I can try and make my own. I suppose I need to start making child friendly rituals and spells that will help my children learn about our spirituality.

So for now I search through Pinterest for coloring pages, egg dying projects, cooking and bread making ideas that will get my girls interested in the season. Things that related to the fertility and goddess so I can explain what this season is about. So I can explain why our ancestors and ancient pagans celebrated Ostara. Then I come up with a small ritual that we can do that will hopefully be child friendly and as we always do with holiday feasts we will leave an offering from our meal for the gods and spirits.

Because what is our is theirs. We share the bounty of our work and for the blessings they have laid upon us.