- The Norse honored their Virgin Goddess and
celebrated her mating with the young God. Sexual relations were almost
obligatory on Ostara Eve, as was a communal meal featuring foods associated
with fertility (cake, honey, eggs)
- The Lily was a symbol of life in pagan Greece
and Rome, where it adorned Ostara altars and temples. Young men, playing
the role of the lusty young God, would present them to the young women
they were courting. Accepting the lily meant much the same thing as
accepting a diamond ring does now.
- In Cornwall and Wales, Ostara was renamed 'Lady
Day' and was the time of the official return of the young Goddess after
her winter hibernation. On this day of balance, they believed she was
able to meet her youthful God on equal terms, mate with him, and become
impregnated with not only the God who will be reborn at Yule, but with
the autumn harvest as well.
- In Slavic pagan traditions this was believed
to be a day when death had no power over the living, In their tradition,
a personification of Death is symbolically killed by throwing him into
moving water to drown. Flowers (symbols of life renewed) are tossed
in after him and he is sung to as he floats down river. After Death's
drowning, brightly painted red eggs were passed around during a procession
to the ritual site where the new life of spring was celebrated with
food, dance, and strong drink.
- In Mexico and the American Southwest, there
is a pagan custom revolving around cascarones. These are eggshells that
have been carefully hollowed out, painted, filled with traditional pagan
symbols for spring (perfume, confetti, lavender, sage) and then resealed
with tape. The object is to take your cascarones out on the morning
of Ostara, catch your loved ones by surprise and hit them over the head
with an egg. As the insides rain around you, you are blessed with the
love, luck, and new life of the season.
- There is an ancient legend in the Ukraine that
tells of a demon monster that would devour the world. This monster is
chained and as it strains and pulls, the links of its chains are weakened.
But every Spring the chain is strengthened in proportion to the number
of pysanky (intricately decorated eggs) that were made and exchanged
that season. (The word pysanky comes from the root word pysaty (to write)
because the signs are written on the surface of the egg in a rich language
of symbols almost endless in number and variation.)
Source: http://www.mysticmooncoven.org/ostara.htm
