Date: Spring Equinox, usually March 20 or 21

Symbols: Egg, Rabbit, Equilateral Cross, Butterfly

Deities: Youthful Deities, Warriour Gods, Deities awakening to sexuality

Colors: Pastels

Herbs: celandine, cinquefoil, jasmine, rue, tansy, and violets may be burned; acorn, crocus, daffodil, dogwood, honesuckle, iris, lily, and strawberry may be decorations.

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*Modern Celtic Pagan practice has adopted Ostara whole-heartedly, and different Celtic traditions have different ways of observing this Sabbat. Primarily it is a night of balance in which night and day are equal, with the forces of light gaining power over the darknes. One tradition honors the God in his guise as a warrior on this date, while another views it as a time of the courtship between the God and Goddess, a relationship to be consummated at Beltaine.

Another Ostara custom of uncertain origin which has gained popularity in Celtic circles is that of awakening Mother Earth. The youngest person present is often asked to take a stick or wand and walk to the far northern point of the circle, the coldest compass point in the northen hemisphere, the place where the sun never travels, and tap on the ground three times. The youngest then entreats Mother Earth to "wake up". In keeping with the Celtic beiefs about the sacredness of three times three, this gesture is repeated twice more. After this is done you may wish to evoke or invoke the Earth Mother and make her the center of your Ostara festivities, celebrating her presence as the embodiment of Spring.

*Taken from Celtic Myth and Magick - Edain McCoy

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There are some modern Witches and pagans who follow traditions that integrate the faery lore of the Celtic countries. It is customary to leave food and drink out for the fairies on the nights of our festivals, and it is believed that if the fairies are not honored with gifts at these times, they will work mischief in our lives. Certain holidays call for particular "fairy favorites." At Imbolc/Oimelc (February 2nd), for example, we leave gifts of dairy origin, like cheese, butter or fresh cream. At Lammas/Lughnasa (August 1st) we leave fresh grains or newly-baked bread. At Samhain, nuts and apples are traditional. And at Ostara, it is customary to leave something sweet (honey, or mead, or candy)--could this be connected to the Easter basket tradition? Perhaps a gift of sweets corresponds to the sweet nectar gathering in new spring flowers?

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*Here are a few suggestions for activities that may be part of the Sabbat celebration or something to do during the day:

Make Hot Cross Buns to honor the union of the Earth and Sun for spring. Slash the 'X' with your bolline and bless the bread.

Have a traditional breakfast of buns, ham, and eggs. Save the eggshells and after breakfast, throw the crushed eggshells into the garden and say:

For fairy for flowers, for herbs in the bowers,
The shells pass fertility with springtime showers.

Wear green clothing.

Bless seeds planted in the garden.

Color hard-boiled eggs and add the symbols for the Fertility God, the Goddess, the Sun God, unity, fire, water, agriculture, prosperity and growth, strength and wisdom, spring, love and affection, and protection.

Consecrate the eggs by saying:

In the name of the Goddess of spring (name),
And the ever-returning God of the sun, (name),
By the powers of the four elements - earth, air, fire, and water,
I do consecrate these eggs of Ostara.

Point your athame at the eggs, make the sign of the pentagram, and see the energy flow through the blade into the eggs, and say:

New life withing as new life shall enter the soil.
Let those who see this life find it and consume it,
for all life feeds on life.

The eggs may be hidden and the Ostara Egg Hunt commences.

On Ostara Eve, light a purple or violet candle and burn patchouli incense. Carry them both through the house, saying:

Farewell to wintry spirits and friends;
On morrow we greet the spirits of spring;
Our blessings to thee as your way you wend;
And merry we'll meet next winter again.

Blow out the candle and say:

Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again!

*Activities from "Green Witchcraft" by Anne Moura (Aoumiel)