Ostara | History and How to Celebrate

In this video, we explore the significance of Ostara, a celebration of spring's arrival, rooted in pagan traditions predating Christianity's influence in Britain. Ostara, occurring around the Spring Equinox, symbolises renewal and abundance, with legends attributing its name to the Germanic goddess Eostre and the egg-laying hare.
We look at modern ways to honour Ostara, from indulging in chocolate eggs and baking hot cross buns to foraging for seasonal delights and cleansing rituals for both home and energy. Embracing this time of new beginnings, let's tap into the season's fertile energy through spell-work, utilising crystals like green aventurine and rose quartz, and symbols like the rune Berkanen to manifest prosperity and growth. Join me in celebrating Ostara with intention, magic, and reverence for the cycles of nature 💜
💜Chapters 💜-
✨ 00:00 - Intro
✨ 00:45 - When is Ostara?
✨ 01:04 - What is Ostara?
✨ 01:20 - Who is Eostre?
✨ 02:01 - How to Celebrate
✨ 03:23 - Witchcraft and Spells
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[@wanderplea]

I love this! Thank you!

[@Bramble_Fairy]

You're very welcome! Thank you so much for watching! 💜

[@JosephFry-hj4oe]

I grave this stuff thanks bramble fairy

[@Bramble_Fairy]

Thank you! 💜

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

Just a few notes - Ēostra is/was the West Germanic goddess of dawn. Though she is usually accredited with being the goddess of Spring, there is little evidence to suggest this was the case. She is, of course, not the goddess of fertility as many assert. The etymology of her name comes from the Indo-European root word *hewsôs, meaning “to shine, glow red” - a reference to dawn. In Proto-Germanic, the name has been reconstructed as *Austrô(n). To the early Germans, she was Ostara, from which modern German gets “Oster” for Easter. Ēostra’s name has also given us the name of the cardinal direction “East”, many place names in England, and even a few female first names (none of which I believe are used anymore). The tale of Eostra and the bird is a great story, but is actually a fairly modern one. It dates to about the late 1800's. It's no older than that. Neither the hare or eggs were associated with Eostra - they are both considerably later additions to her story/mythos. Blessed Ostara!

[@Bramble_Fairy]

That's really interesting and certainly worth looking more into, thank you! Blessed Ostara! 💕

[@Wotsitorlabart]

Actually, other than one line written by the 8th century Anglo-Saxon monk Bede (and it is clear this is his interpretation of the information - he is perhaps assuming the month was named after a pagan goddess) we have no other evidence that a goddess called Eostre ever 'existed'. There is no corroborative evidence at all. Also there is little evidence that a pagan festival was celebrated so early in spring. The word Eostre being linked to east and dawn may simply refer to the month of April with its longer days being the dawn of the year - Eosturmonath. A goddess named Eostre certainly does not appear in any Anglo-Saxon folklore.

[@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474]

@@Wotsitorlabart Some will claim that because Ēostra’s name only appears in one written source; a text from the works of the Venerable Bede, that he invented her, and this Germanic deity never existed. The place and personal names based on her name in the areas she was worshiped however, completely contradict this claim. In addition, the Brothers Grimm, more famous for their collecting of fairy tales, also conducted important work in the burgeoning field of Folklore. The brothers surveyed the local people all around Germany and in neighboring German speaking regions. Through his study of oral history, they discovered that the goddess Ostara was to be found in nearly *all* German speaking areas. The folklore recorded by the Grimms demonstrated that people miles and miles apart retained shared cultural memories of the same goddess. If Bede invented her in England, then how did illiterate peasants in Germany know of her over one thousand years later? Either she was genuinely worshiped, or Bede had an excellent PR team! Bede was born during the early stages of the Christianization of England, when the names of the Anglo-Saxon gods and goddesses would have been common knowledge, and still worshiped in many places. The highly respected father of English history would have been unlikely to invent a goddess of that name. He would have been "called out" on it had he done so. Furthermore, a number of English place names of Saxon origin, such as Eastry in Kent, Eastrea in Cambridgeshire and Eastrington in East Yorkshire, are derived from Ēostra. The Indo-European root of this name is cognate to other dawn goddesses in Europe; for example, the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, has the same root. There are many names of gods and goddesses that still survive in the oral traditions, but are either not evidenced, or very sparsely evidenced in the written tradition. The fact that Ēostra does not appear in the written corpus, does not exclude her existence. The Norse Vanir, for example, appear in only three written sources. The Egyptian ritual of the Five Gifts of Hathor only survives in the oral tradition of Egypt; it is very poorly documented in actual texts. Further, Ostara (in another form, ‘Austra’) was verified in 1958 with the discovery of more than 150 Roman-Germanic votive inscriptions to the matronae (female deities) Austria-hena near Bonn, Germany which were dated to the 2nd century AD, well before the Christian era in that part of Europe. The evidence of her existence appears to be rather strong. In addition, the mere fact that in the very places she was most prevalent (Anglo-Saxon England and northwest Germany), the name for the pre-Christian spring celebration is still called by her name (Easter and Oster) and was not overtaken by English and German forms of what in Dutch is “paask”, (Easter - derived for Hebrew “pesach” - Passover) strongly speaks to her existence. Clearly, this was not someone merely 'invented' by Bede as some would suggest. It would seem that such a deity did exist in the Anglo-Saxon and northern German pantheon. Ēosturmônað is one of two A/S month names named for a deity. The other is Hreðmônað (March). named after Hreth.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

@@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474 There is so much that is dubious in your post. But typical are the place names. From 'The English Place-Name Society'; Eastry in Kent was the capital of the eastern province of the Kingdom of Kent (the Lathe of Eastry). Eastrea was originally in the more easterly part of the island of Whittlesea. Eastrington - 'those living to the east' (of Howden). Do you notice a common denominator in these names? Hint - it's not a goddess called Eostre. PS. Austria - originally Ostmark the Eastern March of the Holy Roman Empire.

[@Bramble_Fairy]

@@kavikv.d.hexenholtz3474 thank you so much for the interesting information! I'll definitely learning from this for a future video!