The Annual Ostara Shirk...er...Post

So it's Ostara again, and once again I have not written a post about what Ostara is besides the Equinox.

I know you're terribly disappointed. How 'bout I make it up to you with some chocolate? It's on the table in the kitchen, help yourself.

Meanwhile, we're at Mum's, coloring eggs and celebrating Spring. What're y'all up to today?

Spring!

Happy Ostara, y'all. Wait, what? Umm...Ostara is the Vernal Equinox to them what's not pagan. You know, when the days are no longer shorter than the nights and it warms up and we thaw out and rabbits lay chocolate eggs in plastic baskets because that's what bunnies do when...oh, whoops...sorry.

It IS the equinox, though, and we're dying eggs and enjoying the day here at Casa de Crazy. I scored some hockey tickets from a friend, so I'm dragging Someone out on an actual date tonight...score!

Usually I'd explain what a pagan holiday is all about, but I'm kinda tired from telling fortunes at the New Moon release party at Borders (gaggles of giggling girls, good grief)(but also awesome), so I'll just leave you wondering and wish you a happy Spring.

Happy Ostara

For last year's long posts, look here and here.
~~~~~
Considering the greater-than-usual chaos going on at Casa de Crazy, we needed a day like today. T is working over at the track, something he wasn't able to do when employed. He's missed it and is happy to be over there with the sight, sound, and smell of racing all around.

Bird, Mum, and I slept until we were done, got up nice and easy, went outside an colored eggs, and blew bubbles. We soaked up the sun, enjoyed the bright blue sky, and just enjoyed each other.

The Ostara Hare brought by a basket of goodies for the Evil Genius.

He nibbled the marshmallow bunny's ears first. Yes, it is a bunny. Hush.

It may not be rocket science, but making egg dye baths is serious business. As an aside - doesn't my Mum have awesome hands??


The first egg had to be green, Bird's current favorite color.



While we played down below, a hawk (that speck in the middle) circled high above.



We scaled down to one dozen this year, but we have supplies for more if we feel so moved.



Then it was bubble time...



...and of course, Bird/Evil Genius had to chase and pop.

For once, reality and spirit/shadow were juxtaposed, in agreement, content with sun and simple joy. It's a bubble-Zen thing.

I hope you all have a lovely day, rich with blessings large and small, bright with sun, and spent with congenial company.

Ostara Eggs, part two (with photos)

Mum came down for the fun, and even T and our roommate J joined in. I did two eggs for a personal ritual tomorrow, and the rest were for fun. All told? 24 chickens won't be hatching.

The scene of the crime fun, this morning before I tidied a bit. Good Housekeeping, we ain't.

That's better.

Ready to...wait, we need eggs...

Two-dozen Four Grain Omega 3 eggs, ready to roll...er...dye.

Note the clean, white t-shirt.

Still clean. Wait for it.

Sun...

Moon...

Equinox.

Oh, my goodness, my hand looks huge in those pictures! After we were done with the eggs, we still had all that dye. What could we do with it? Hmm...what, what, what...?

Oh, yeah, great idea! Actually, we do this every year - paint his t-shirt with the leftover dye. It helps assuage his upset over the eggs being all done. Plus, let's be honest, there's no way a kid this age will keep clean during this, so why not go with the chaos instead of fighting it? Mum and T wiped their dye-stained hands on it and we all painted a little. I'll put it away with the others, maybe some day make a quilt from them or something.

Our eggs.

Tomorrow, when the Evil Genius awakes, he'll have a basket of toys and treats waiting for him. I The Ostara Rabbit put it together tonight after he was asleep.

Yeah this'll keep him busy for twenty, maybe thirty seconds. I know it looks like a lot of candy, but trust me - there're toys, too. I try to make sure it's more toys than sweets. Also, I ran out of room for the chalk eggs, so they're sitting on the table next to the basket.

Happy Spring, y'all!

Painting Ostara (NOT Easter) Eggs

Tomorrow is the Vernal Equinox...Ostara for those who speak Pagan. I promise, this isn't going to turn into one of those blogs that continually natter on about religion and how "somebody done us wrong" and all that. I know I just left that huge pile of steaming rant about St. Patrick's day, but that was more about history than spirituality. I knew all that stuff long before I shifted gears spiritually. This, however, is about religion and history.

So tomorrow is Ostara, and today mum, Bird, and I are going to paint eggs. Tomorrow, Bird will wake to find a little basket with a tiny chocolate bunny or two, some jelly beans, a couple of little toys in it. I'll probably hang it from his doorknob.

Ostara was (and still is) a sacred day - the returning of the sun's strength, the coming of Spring, the beginning of new life. After long winters - short, cold days and long, bitter nights, bare trees, no food, nothing to do but huddle in the back of the cave/hut/two-storey brick-and-board neo-colonial and scromp (if you don't know what scromping is, think about it a while. You'll figure it out.)(Pagans liked to scromp a lot, which may be one of the reasons certain other religions started frowning on the whole scromping thing). It's a celebration of new life. That's why the rabbits - 'cause, you know, they breed like...well...themselves. Ostara is/was a time to go out into the fields and bless them, invite fertility in some fun and interesting ways. It's also why the eggs. Again with the invoking of bounty in the coming year.

When Christianity was getting its toe-hold in the world, the "church" did something quite smart. It took note of when the prevailing religions of the time had their biggest shindigs, and it began holding high holy days then, too. It went hand-in-hand with building churches on sacred space, and it was sound (if rather rude) logic - build where they already worship and they'll come hang out. Celebrate when they do, and it isn't too foreign to them - more likely to convert peacefully. If you go to Europe and visit some of the oldest churches, you'll see interesting things in the rafters and darker corners - some very pagan critters staring at you with a wink and a grin. Hey, who do you think built those churches? Locals, of course!

Bird loves to color eggs. I put him in a white t-shirt and let him loose, and he ends up with a festive shirt and a big ol' grin on his face. I write blessings on the ones I do, and the things I hope for in the coming year. I like to think that when I eat the egg, I'm taking those blessings into myself. We talk about how the days will be getting longer, hotter, and how it's spring - flowers coming out, trees blooming, time for gardens (if you do that sort of thing, which we don't really, but should) and things hatching and being born. It's such an optimistic time of year.

It doesn't bother me that people color eggs, have egg-finds, give baskets when they aren't pagan. Sometimes I think it's downright funny, especially when it's someone who is sort of...rabid...about their faith. They can't possibly know what they're doing, or they's stop. I just want folks to understand what they do, the history of it, the reasoning behind it. I don't do blind faith (which isn't to say that I won't take a leap of faith), and I wish other wouldn't do it, either. I don't think any God wants sheeple worshiping "because they should, that's why", but would rather have thinking folk, well aware of the intent behind what they do and why they do it.

I'm into that Zen mindfulness, can you tell? So I'll leave you with this, because laughter unites us, whoever we worship: