The Witch's Yearbook by Clare Gogerty

Author:Clare Gogerty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: David & Charles

OSTARA TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS

Many of the ways the Christian festival of Easter is celebrated have their origins in pagan or Druidic customs. As a modern witch, you can work with this blending of beliefs, customizing traditions and rituals to suit your own practice.

The Easter Bunny

At this time of year, you cannot avoid rabbits in the shops. There are chocolate ones, fluffy soft toy ones, ceramic ones shaped like egg cups and anything else you can think of! The cheeky Easter Bunny has become knitted into the fabric of Easter celebrations. Where this originated is uncertain, but it may have come from ancient reverence for the hare. To birth its young, known as leverets, this lunar animal (see Magical Creatures) creates a shelter, called a form, in a depression in the soil. The form is often lined with fur, which the mother plucks from her own coat. Once the leverets leave their birthplace, partridges and pheasants sometimes lay their eggs in the empty form. This may account for the association of hares/rabbits and eggs at springtime. The hare is nocturnal, with a gestation period of 28 days (the length of a lunar cycle) and a symbol of the moon.

Easter eggs

The egg is where life begins and as such has always been a powerful magical symbol. It symbolizes potential, promise, fertility and things yet to come: the perfect emblem for spring. In Christianity, the egg, with its hard exterior protecting embryonic life within, is associated with the resurrection of Jesus and his emergence from the tomb. Giving eggs at Easter goes further back than the advent of Christianity, however. The Chinese gave painted eggs as gifts at the beginning of spring around 5,000 years ago, and in Ancient Greece and Rome it was customary to hang decorated eggs to celebrate the March equinox. Placing a chocolate or decorated egg on your altar is a reminder of the potency and potential of this time of year.

Witch way: decorate some eggs to put on your altar. Empty the contents by making holes in either end – one larger than the other – and blowing through the small hole until everything comes out. Then either colour the eggs with a natural dye, or paint and decorate them with symbols and patterns that resonate with you.

Hot cross buns

Baking a spicy bun marked with a pastry cross is a Christian custom that marks the end of Lent. A 14th century monk from St. Albans is said to have started the tradition by baking buns to distribute to the poor on Good Friday, although they were not widely produced until the 17th century. The cross represents the crucifixion of Jesus, and the spices are said to signify those used to embalm him at his burial. Tucking into a freshly-baked bun was a welcome treat after days of fasting. Modern witches, who also like a warm pastry, could see the bun as a Celtic cross with four equal arms. Four is a potent number: it symbolizes the four sacred directions – north, east, south and west – that are acknowledged at the start of rituals.

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