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Spring Equinox
March 20th/21st - Spring has sprung!
Alban Eiler The Spring or Vernal Equinox marks the point when
day and night are of the same length - 12 hours. After the Winter Solstice
the days lengthen and the nights shorten , and 'Equinox' means equal
night and 'Vernal' comes from the Latin word for 'bloom', as in the
northern hemisphere the Spring Equinox marks the end of Winter and
the beginning of Spring. Light and dark are in balance now, but light
is gaining.
The earth awakens... new life emerges, sap rises, buds shoot and spring
flowers are celebrated as gifts from nature. Spring returns and rejuvenates
our own life force.
 This equinox is also known as Ostara or Eostre - and is celebrated
as a festival of new growth, renewal, a re-balancing of energies and
the return of longer days. It is also known as the day of equilibrium.
Now is a good time to consider the balance of our lives - work, play
and relationships.
Ostara, also known as - Oestara, Eostra, Eostre was the pagan goddess
of fertility and Spring, and the Christian festival of Easter derives
its name from her.
Easter is calculated by the moon, and occurs on the first Sunday after
the first full moon after the equinox.
This is the time when the young Sun God now celebrates a sacred marriage
with the young Maiden Goddess. We celebrate the return of the spring
goddess from her long season of dormant sleep.
The egg symbolized Eostre's wholeness and fertility - the female hormone
oestrogen is named after her - and is offered at this equinox as a
symbol of fertility and new life. The golden yolk represents the Sun
God, its white shell is seen as the White Goddess.
Easter
Decorated eggs, egg rolling and egg hunts originate from
pagan fertility rites dedicated to Eostre - symbolising fertility and
re-birth, eggs are offered to the earth to ensure a fecund future harvest.
Nature is 'hatching out' with new life.
In Greece, it is traditional at Easter (Paschal ) to exchange red
dyed hard-boiled eggs - a symbol of new life. The red colour is believed
to have a protective power and to Christians signifies the blood of
Christ.
The hare was regarded as the sacred animal of the lunar goddess, because
of its fertility and activity at this time. Witches were once believed
to shape-shift into hares. Now rabbits have become one of the symbols
of Easter - they are these days more prolific and common than the graceful
hare.
 Another symbol of the Goddess at Ostara is the snake, which emerges
from winter hibernation to bask in the Spring sunshine. Due to the
shedding
of its skin the snake was a symbol of new life.
Loughcrew
Equinox - brilliant video of the Spring Equinox sunlight
illuminating the backstone - wow!
Knowth - Equinox passage tomb
This Neolithic tomb has two passages, aligned to face East and West
and contains 197 magnificent carved stones. The passages at Knowth
are aligned to the rising and setting sun of the Equinoxes in March
and September - when day and night are equal in length. At certain
times moonlight shines down the eastern passage of the tomb.
Dr Philip
Stooke, of the University of Western Ontario, Canada has identified
one of the carvings as a map of the moon - the most ancient map ever
discovered - the carved stone is known as Orthostat 47. The remains
of 200 people were found in Knowth. This huge chambered mound is
surrounded by 17 chambered tombs.
 
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