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Eostre in Britain and Around the World

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Eostre in Britain and Around the World I was delighted to recent- Eostre in Britain and ly discover that many of Around the World the Iranians who escaped from Khomeni’s funda- mentalist Islamic rule of 01991, Tana Culain ‘K’A’M terror into exile - and no doubt many still trapped - are actually quite Pa- I t is no coincidence that and the Old German Eos- gan in their beliefs. A the Spring Equinox, tre, Goddess of the East. friend of mine was kind Passover, and Easter all Eostre was originally the enough to explain to me fall at the same time of name of the prehistoric that March 21 remains year. west Germanic Pagan Noruz, the ancient Per- spring festival, which is sian New Year. Many Per- The Christian Easter is a not to say that this same sians grow new seeds at lunar holiday and always festival was not celebrated this time of year and each falls on the first Sunday world over by many other family member must after the first full moon af- names. jump over seven fires ter the Spring Equinox. If made of thorns and bush- the full moon is on a Sun- es in a purification ritual. day, Easter is the next Special treats of seven Sunday. Why don’t the dried fruits and nuts are powers that be allow East- given out, and eggs are er to occur on a full moon colored and put on a fam- Sunday? Probably the ily altar alongside a mir- Christian Easter is too ror, coins, sprouted masculine a day, being grains, water, salt, and tu- the resurrection of a mon- lips. Sound at all familiar? otheistic male god, to be allowed to occur on such Spring Equinox is the day a powerfully feminine when darkness and light time as the true full moon. are equal and it is a very clear marker of 1/4th of a Passover, also a lunar solar year. For this reason spring holiday, falls on it should be no surprise the first day after the first that hot cross buns are The Romans celebrated full moon after the Spring baked and sold at this their Spring holiday on Equinox. So while it too is time of year. The cross on March 15th as Hilaria, the never on a true full moon, top is clearly not a cruci- festival of Cybele. It was a Passover is always just fixion cross. It is equal- festival of fertility and one day after, which as armed and shows the four birth. In Greek tradition, magick goes is often close equal seasons divided by Persephone returned to enough for much of what the two solstices and two her mother Demeter on needs to be done. equinoxes. In fact, it looks March 21st or 22nd. In exactly like the symbol for modem England March If you look up Easter in the equinox, a cross inside Webster’s you will see the 25th is called Lady Day a circle. word has very little to do and is Persephone’s day, with Christianity. It is de- now disguised as the rived from the name for Feast of the Annunciation the Saxon goddess Eastre, of Mary. 03 The hot cross bun song goes something you’re English). The hare was also sacred like this: to the Saxon goddess Eastre. Later, hares became known as witch animals, or fa- IlliliZll-S. Hot Cross Buns! Hot Cross Buns! One a penny, two a penny, In Manchester and Yorkshire, which are Hot Cross Buns! in the North of England, people still per- form Pace Egg plays at Easter. (Pace is If you have no daughters, short for Paschal, or Passover). These Give them to your sons. plays are ancient mumming plays in One a penny, two a penny, which the Pagan rite of winter being Hot Cross Buns! killed by spring is acted out. Usually a fight is depicted, where a dragon (win- I would guess, although I ter) is killed. Someone else is have never read this any- also killed but gets resurrected, where. that these buns just as green things die and were originally cakes for are reborn each spring. the Goddess, baked on the Equinox, and handled by It’s hard not to see the myth the women in each family of Jesus and his death and because they were the resurrection as one more vari- Priestesses to the Goddess. ant on the ancient mummers If you were unlucky enough play, or a slightly-off version of to have no daughters, a son John Barleycorn. In the Christian could fill in in apinch. On the other instance an entire segment of the world hand, “sons” does rhyme with “buns” population became fixated on one facet and sometimes a snake is just a snake. of the resurrection myth until that fixa- tion blocked out all other Gods and God- Eostre is Goddess of the east and also of desses, all other stories. dawn, and as such Easter was and re- mains a time of birth, rebirth of the sun, In Lancashire, also in the North of Eng- fertility, and the return of spring to the land, the Britannia Coconutters dance land. The Saxons called the entire month through the streets on Easter Sunday. of April “Eosturmonath”. Eggs, a symbol The Coconutters are a Morris team of lo- of continuing life and resurrection long cals that dress in black, red, and white - before the legend of Christ became wide white for the Goddess, red for the blood spread, were colored yellow and gold in of fertility (you aren’t fertile if you don’t Egypt and Greece and exchanged as gifts bleed), and black for the end (death) of to honor both Eostre and the Sun god. winter. I’ve seen these north country The Chinese were painting their spring Morris teams perform and they really are eggs red as a symbol of new life as early the most vital and Pagan of all the teams as 900 B.C.E. in England. They positively reek of mys- tery combined with down-to-earth farm- The Easter rabbit, or Easter Hare as it is ing sensibility. called in Britain, also dates to B.C.E. The Hare was sacred in Celtic times and was The modem day Druids have a “Spring believed to chase away winter. That’s Equinox” ceremony annually at Tower why you eat hare pie at Easter (at least if Hill Terrace in London. It takes places *K’A*M’, A Journal of Traditional Wicca 13 Volume 10.2 Spring, 1991 the Equinox and begins at noon. But keep in mind that the Druids are not Wiccan (nor what our friends in ADF might rec- ognize as Druish either) and may not necessarily perform ceremonies to which you are accustomed. For us, the Equinox is a time to bless seeds for spring planting, balance raw eggs on one end, and generally celebrate the blossoming of Spring in all her glory. It is a time of promise, when the year stretches ahead of us like a vast green pasture unmarked by road or track, where only faint traces of the intentions of Candlemas part the grasses like a fin- ger of wind. We nurture our promise, give it shape and form, until the un- marked green matures to the well-tilled field and Harvest Home. Bibliography 1. Traditional Britain, Mark Martin,1983, London. 2. Festivals, Family and Food, Diana Carey and Judy Large, 1982, Stroud, Gloucester- shire. 3. Britain: Customs and Folklore, British Tourist Authority brochure, 1983, Lon- don. 4. The Goddess Book of Days, Diane Stein, 1989, Llewyllen Publications, St. Paul, MN. 5. The Magical Household, Scott Cunning- ham and David Harrington, 1987, Llewyl- len Publications, St. Paul, MN. 6. Dictionary of British Folk Customs, Christina Hole, 1978, London. 7. British Folklore, Myths and Legends, Marc Alexander, 1982, London. 8. In Search of Lost Gods, Ralph Whitlock, 1979, Oxford. 9. The Magic of Noruz, Yassaman Amir Moez, 1990, AmericanFolklife Center, Library of Congress K.A*M*, A Journal of Traditional Wicca 14 Volume 10.2 Spring, 1991.
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