Spring Equinox: Ostara Myths, History and How to Celebrate
The wheel turns, and the world shifts.
Winter’s hand, white-knuckled and grasping, begins to slip. Frost retreats to the shadowed hollows, to the deep places where cold still lingers. But light comes creeping, slow and golden, stretching across the hills, spilling into the bones of the land.
This is spring —the door standing half ajar, the hush between breaths.
Beneath the soil, roots tremble. Seeds, tight-fisted through the long dark, begin to awaken. Green fingers claw their way to the first light - tentative, then wild and unstoppable.
The earth exhales and stirs beneath its sodden sheets, winter’s weight pressing, pounding, pushing - but light seeps into bog-mound and crevice, molten gold pooling in the fields.
The hare watches from the hedgerow, ears twitching, waiting. It knows the old magic, the pulse of the waking world. The eggs lie nestled in the undergrowth, warm and rested, heavy with the promise of life.
Spring is a hunger - an ache, a stretch beneath the lilac dawn. It is the quickening, the moment before the leap. The sap in the trees, the blood in the veins, the drumbeat beneath the ribs.
Spring stands at the threshold, one hand in the dark, one in the light. Step forward. The wheel has turned.
What is the Spring Equinox?
The Spring Equinox (also called the Vernal Equinox) occurs when the sun is directly above the Earth’s equator, resulting in nearly equal daylight and darkness across the planet. This astronomical event marks the official arrival of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and the shift towards longer, warmer days.
When does it happen? The exact date varies slightly each year but typically falls between March 19th and 21st in the Northern Hemisphere.
What happens?
The Earth’s axis is neither tilted towards nor away from the Sun.
Day and night are of almost equal length.
After the Equinox, days become longer than nights until the Summer Solstice in June.
Ancient Celebrations of the Spring Equinox
Unlike some of the other seasonal celebrations, traditions for the spring equinox are actually quite hard to dig out in history. The internet is awash with lots of misinformation about this time of year and various goddesses associated with it, but in fact, the actual evidence is scarce.
One of the only things we can find is ancient civilisations building monuments and structures aligned with the equinox, showing it must have had deep significance for these people in human history.
Ancient Monuments Aligned with the Equinox
Cairn T at Loughcrew (Ireland)
This Neolithic passage tomb, older than the Egyptian pyramids, was designed so that on the Spring Equinox, the rising sun illuminates the inner chamber, revealing intricate carvings on the stones. The stone first illuminated by the rays of the rising Sun is etched with more than a dozen symbols which are thought to represent the Sun, as well as ‘fish-bone,’ or ‘rib-cage’ patterns. It has been suggested that these may have represented stars against the darker surface of the stone ‘sky.’
Temple at Stanydale in Shetland Islands
As the sun rises at this Neolithic temple, it rises in almost perfect alignment with a narrow doorway in the temple and two standing stones set a short distance from the door.
Image from https://shetlandwithlaurie.com/
Chichen Itza (Mexico)
I wanted to include this one too even though it is not from Ireland or the British Isles, as I just found it to be so beautiful and incredible. The ancient Maya built the Temple of Kukulcán, also known as El Castillo, in such a way that during the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, the sunlight creates a serpent-like shadow moving down the pyramid’s steps, symbolizing the return of the feathered serpent god Kukulcán.
Equinox in Mythology and Folklore
We can look to calendars and tales from folklore around spring to shed light on the idea of the spring equinox and what this time of the year meant to people.
In ancient Rome, the year began with March (named Martius, after the Roman god of war). This time of light and life again in springtime would start off the calendar and the new year.
The Babylonian calendar began with the first new moon after the March equinox, the day after the return of the Sumerian goddess (known now as Ishtar) from the underworld.
This idea can also be seen in Greek Mythology, with the return of Persephone from the underworld where she had been residing with Hades, to rejoin her mother Demeter. This myth reflects the seasonal shift from the dormancy of winter to spring’s new life, as this was believed to bring new life to the earth.
The Iranian calendar is also based around the spring equinox, and the ancient Iranian peoples' new year's festival of Nowruz is celebrated on 20 March or 21 March.
The Ostara Myth
The first page of Google (and its wonderful AI summary…) will tell you all about the goddess Ostara, exactly who she was, how she was worshipped, and that she was associated with hares and eggs. This information is simply not true and is a good lesson that we should always be discerning with what we find online.
The Anglo-Saxon monk Bede writing in the 8th century, mentions that the month of Eosturmonath (April) was named after the goddess Eostre in the following words:
Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated "Paschal month", and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre, in whose honour feasts were celebrated in that month.
This is the only historical information we ever have about this goddess, and being a monk, Bede was certainly not keen to spend any longer than necessary educating people on the pagans.
The translation of this word is linked to dawn or morning, so it’s highly probable she is a goddess of springtime and new life, however, we have no detailed evidence of this or how she was worshipped.
Jacob Grimm, a German linguist and folklorist, theorised in his 1835 book Deutsche Mythologie, that Eostre must have been a local version of a more widespread Germanic goddess, and he called this goddess Ostara.
In 1874, in another book also titled Deutsche Mythologie, Adolf Holtzmann speculated that the German tradition of the “Easter hare” (the tradition from which our Easter bunny derives) must also be associated with this goddess. He wrote: The Easter Hare is inexplicable to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara.
Between the 1950s to the 1970s, the modern pagan wheel of the year was developed for Neopaganism and Wicca which marked the year into eight seasonal festivals, and named Ostara as the name of the spring equinox festival.
The truth is that we know very little about Ostara and the goddess, but this day is truly the spring equinox, and that should not stop us from enjoying our own form of spring equinox celebrations in the modern day. Follow your heart and intuition!
How to Celebrate the Spring Equinox in the Modern World
Things don’t have to be ancient and rooted in folklore to have meaning - after all, folklore is something that was created by everyday people for their own everyday purposes. It’s still a great way to connect deeper with the rhythms of the earth and the landscape, so I enjoy taking time to pause during these seasonal events.
Bringing seasonal awareness and ancient traditions into your own life doesn’t require elaborate rituals. Here are meaningful ways to celebrate the Equinox today:
1. Plant Seeds & Begin New Projects
The Equinox is a time of fertility and growth and is a great time to plant seeds literally and figuratively.
Plant flowers, herbs, or vegetables to symbolise renewal
Start a new creative or personal project, mirroring nature’s awakening
Set intentions—what do you want to nurture and grow in your life?
2. Light a Fire or Candle
Fire has long been used in seasonal celebrations to celebrate the sun’s light and warmth,
Light a spring candle or a small outdoor fire to honour the return of warmth and light
Write down something you wish to release (from winter’s stagnation) and burn it
3. Prepare a Seasonal Meal
Eating seasonally and locally helps us reconnect with nature - bonus points if the food is foraged or from a local farm.
Make a meal with spring greens, eggs, fresh herbs, or honey
Bake hot cross buns or braided bread
Share the meal with others in a seasonal celebration
4. Go Outside & Observe Nature
The most simple and accessible way to connect with the landscape is to go out into it, even if you only have access to a local park or garden.
Take a mindful walk and note what is awakening - look for signs of the season like new buds, birds, and scents in the air
Keep a nature journal to track seasonal changes - sketch, draw, write poetry, reflections, anything that helps you tune in and look in detail
Watch the sunrise or sunset, honouring the balance of light and dark.
5. Craft and Create
Spring is a time of fertility and life - so use this energy to create something with your hands.
Dye eggs naturally with onion skins, turmeric, or beet juice
Paint or draw something you have seen in nature
Craft items to create a seasonal spring altar
6. Consume Seasonal Media
One of my favourite (and very simple) ways to connect with seasons is to consume media related to this time of year!
Read and watch The Secret Garden - a lovely tale about a sour young girl in Yorkshire who ‘comes back to life’ herself after discovering a secret garden
Extra suggestions: All Creatures Great and Small, Anne with an E, anything Studio Ghibli
So there you have it - the true history and background of Ostara and the spring equinox, as well as ideas on how to celebrate this in the modern day. I hope you found this valuable, please share with a friend if you did!
I’m so pleased that spring is here once more and am wishing you a wonderful equinox.
