Evolutionary Spirituality
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The Spring Equinox, ≈ March 20th

Ostara celebrates the new life bursting forth from ground after being frozen all winter. It corresponds to the energy and happiness of young children, when lives begin to take visible shape. In our earth's history, it celebrates when multicellular life - macroscopically visible life - burst forth in the many forms seen in the Cambrian explosion around 500 to 400 million years ago.

This rebirth of life is celebrated with traditional symbols of emerging life, such as eggs. Being the spring equinox, this day is when there is now more light than dark, and thus the light has burst forth from the dark of winter. Bright or pastel colors of purple, yellow, green, blue, etc. are common.

For Ostara, we color eggs (see natural dyes [1]). Another practice is to place a little leaf on the egg, then put it in a 4” section of cut pantyhose and secure with a rubber band then dye normally. This makes a white leaf on the dyed egg. We also have an egg hunt, make Equinox cookies (half light/half dark) and such. We hide and have the kids look for Ostara baskets, which have colored eggs, candy, small gifts, etc. The baskets are like the life bursting forth - not hard to find, and filled with wonder.

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