Ostara

Infobox Holiday
holiday_name=Ostara


caption="Osterfeuer" in Sankt Peter-Ording
observedby=Neopagans
Wiccans
date=Spring Equinox on
March 20 or 21
in the Northern Hemisphere
September 21 or 22
in the Southern Hemisphere
celebrations=Celebrating the new life and fertility of the land
type=Pagan
significance=Marks the Celtic Mid-Spring, and the Astronomical beginning of Spring
relatedto=Eostre, Spring Equinox, Quarter days
nickname=Egg Day, Eostre, Spring Equinox
date2007=March 21 (North) or Sept 23 (South)
date2008=March 20 (North) or Sept 22 (South)
date2009=March 20 (North) or Sept 22 (South)
date2010=March 20 (UTC Northern) or Sept 23 ( [South)

Ostara is a modern pagan festival.

Etymology

The name "Ostara" goes back to Jacob Grimm, who, in his "Deutsche Mythologie", speculated about an ancient German goddess Ostara, after whom the Easter festival ( _de. Ostern) could have been named. Grimm's main source is De temporum ratione by the Venerable Bede. Bede had put forward the thesis that the Anglo-Saxon name for the month of April, "Eostur-monath", was named after a goddess "Eostre" [Grimm, Jacob (1835). "Deutsche Mythologie" (German Mythology); From English released version "Grimm's Teutonic Mythology" (1888); Available online by Northvegr © 2004-2007, Chapter 13, page [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/grimmst/013_10.php 10+] ] .

Wiccan festival

Ostara is one of the four lesser Wiccan holidays or "sabbats" of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is celebrated on the spring equinox, in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox. Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane.

In the book "Eight Sabbats for Witches" by Janet and Stewart Farrar, the festival Ostara is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death. Other variations include the young God regaining strength in his youth after being born at Yule, and the Goddess returning to her Maiden aspect.

References

ee also

Holidays

*Litha
*Lughnasadh
*Mabon
*Samhain
*Walpurgis Night
*Yule
*Christian Passover

Calendars

* Celtic calendar
* Wheel of the year

External links

* [http://www.wicca.com/celtic/akasha/ostara.htm Ostara Wicca.com]
* [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/ostara.html Germanic Pagan Info]
* [http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=holidays&id=1991 The Witches Voice]
* [http://www.pantheon.org/articles/o/ostara.html The Encyclopedia Mythica]