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This week I have been searching online for a few bits of information and getting more and more annoyed with the stuff available on the internet. I found a massive number of websites touting what amounts to the wrong information solely because they state “This is what this is...” rather than “In our tradition we do this...” or “Some people believe this ...” What am I on about? Well for me this weekend is Ostara.... Ostara for me being the first full moon after the vernal equinox. This is not the Vernal Equinox or any other date as many websites dictate. Now for some Pagans Ostara may very well be the Vernal Equinox but for me the Vernal Equinox is a festival of it's own and Ostara is the festival of the full moon after the equinox and the goddess feast day. The history of the festival of Ostara as sourced from Germanic legends about Ostara has her as a Germanic goddess of spring and fertility, and the name of her Anglo-Saxon equivalent, Eostre, was used to derive the term Easter by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. Eostre is a lunar goddess, and her symbols include the egg and the rabbit, both of which are obvious fertility symbols. In addition, the egg represents the Cosmic Egg of Creation and the rabbit is symbolic of the moon (it used to be thought that an image of a hare could be seen in the full moon). Eostre's festival was held on the first full moon on or next after the vernal equinox, so this fertility goddess lends her festival, her symbols and her name to the Christian celebration of the Resurrection. “According to the Venerable Bede, Eostre was the Saxon version of the Germanic goddess Ostara. Her feast day was held on the full moon following the vernal equinox -- almost the identical calculation as for the Christian Easter in the west. “ http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/ostarathespringequinox/p/Ostara_History.htm So why is this what my article is about this month? Because it is a bit difficult to teach your children to be openminded and inclusive in their practices and daily life if the very sources of their data is exclusive in nature. What we need to do as Pagan Parents is always inform them in terms of “Some people believe this...”, “We practice this as a family this way because....” and “ I believe this because...” else we fall into the dogmatism of the Christian Churches. The way a lot of fundamentalist christian churches teach for example says “this is the way it is...” Less fundamantal churches state “we believe this to be the truth....” and their approach in that way is a lot more inclusive and less judgemental. So what happens for me is that I get invited to an “Ostara” celebration on the equinox and I would attend however for me it was the equinox... a festival with it's own name and I would celebrate it by it's name. Same traditions different name. Then a few days to a few weeks later I would have my egg festival... No harm in that? Well you would hope but I was treated like a loony! Loony? Haha thats funny.... loony luny Luna. See I am a Cancerian... my ruling planet is the moon... the moon is one of my major deities. So why would I undermine the value of the most important Lunar Festival in my personal calendar by bowing to another person's beliefs? This does not mean they are not entitled to believe what they personally do either because they most certainly are. What I am objecting to is this idea that for someone to be right others must be wrong. Why can we not have everyone being right? I feel we do our children a great misservice when we raise them to believe they follow the only right path. How is our path less valid if we raise them to believe we follow a particular path that is the right one for us. And how do we set about including all faith and practices into our diverse world? By educating our youngsters to be accepting of others beliefs and traditions. Wonderfully though this becomes more simple when there are festivals that celebrate the full moon on the date of that moon and become more open and accessible. The last few years here in Adelaide we have had the Moon Lantern Festival.... a beautiful Japanese(Asian) cultural festival celebrating the First Full Moon of Spring (well it is Autumn in Japan)
“Gather your family and friends and admire the beauty of the moon at its fullest and brightest on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.”
I was lucky enough to capture some photos of the Ostara Moon this year and they worked very well. The second one has a massive flare because it was so cold at the time I took it.
So this week I am off to the Child Care Centre to help educate little people that not everyone does the same thing armed with fun things to do with them. I have done this in the past for all my kids when they were at Kindy but kindy is on holidays at the moment. I hope to video some of it too so I will upload that to my Youtube channel if it works out. Finally, I would like to welcome into the world my gorgeous little nephew Daniel Jack... born on the last day of September and on my beautiful boy Alexander's 15th birthday... what a birthday present. Congratulations to my beautiful sister and her family!
Blessed Ostara! May the Lady Moon watch over you and protect you on your journey! *******************************************************
Once upon a time there lived a beautiful young lady. her hair was the colour of the morning sun in spring time and her smile would light up the room. She was the favourite of everyone who met her and she was loved by all the animals of the fields. When she walked across the land flowers would sprout in her footprints. She was a child of the spring and daughter of the moon. She talked with the birds that flew, and all the animals that crawled. But of all her animal friends she adored the hare above all others. One day she was out walking and a young prince came by. He thought she was beautiful and went to talk to her but she was scared and called all the wild animals come save her. So the young man turned himself into a beautiful big white hare and came up to her. She saw him and picked him up to give him a cuddle. The prince was happy but wanted to give the girl a present and so he laid a big coloured egg for her. The lady was so taken with this gift that she wanted to share it with the world. She asked the hare if he would share his gift with all the people of the world who would love such a beautiful gift. The hare responded that he would if she did him one favour. The lady said yes absolutely and so the hare said I only wish your companionship for all time. The lady said is that all, then done. As a sign of our promise together I shall place the sign of the hare on the Moon so that even when people forget this agreement they will know that you are always with me. At this point the hare revealed himself in his true form and the lady was overwhelmed with affection and said we shall be companions for all time. And to this day if you look at the moon you can see the hare in the shadows on the face of the moon.
************************************************** Colouring Eggs Two ways... stock up on conventional dyes at Easter time. Greek Easter Egg Red Dye is very cool and very strong in colour or using regular food stuff around the house. As for how to do it I will not even bother to type It as I found this VERY informative site (yes it is for Easter Eggs but really there is no difference in method is there?) http://hubpages.com/hub/Painting--decorating--waxing-and-colouring-Easter-Eggs Here is information about some choices you may have at hand. NATURAL DYES Yellow Yellow-orange Yellow-green Orange Rusty Orange Red Rose Pinkish Blue Purple Blue Green Tan The meaning behind major colours of eggs White:
Cosmic Blessings (Auntie)
Dragonfly http://twitter.com/DragonflyLouise http://www.youtube.com/user/DragonflyHaven http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1440522543&ref=profile An organization that I am happy to support is Autism SA. I have many family members and friends who have Autism spectrum disorders and other such disorders and when I found out about this event I though how completely appropriate. Click on the link and register if you are in Australia as it is happening all round the country. http://drawtism.com.au Dragonfly
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© July 2009 by Louise O'Brien |
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