Celebrating Spring

Celebrating Spring

It seems that my last post on holidays really riled up some of my followers, but that was not the purpose of the post. The point in my religious journey is finding the truth, or what is closest to it. With that being said, this is how my family and I welcome in the spring.

Food:

For the most part we still abide by a more Easter like dinner, but more because if the timing. In this part of year you would most likely see small animals like rabbits, dove, or pheasant being hunted. My grandmother's cookbook has recipes for squirrel, but I don't think I could find enough let alone find the patience to properly check and butcher them. My husband, who's family is from Mexico, would usually kill a goat, but it's a lot of meat and I'm not keen on the grease. So we're most likely going for a traditional ham unless I can find pheasant. Spring time is best for root vegetables, peas, beans, and leafy greens. For dessert, a nice pear or strawberry crumble is best for this really season. Now a days, these items would simply be as the best price in grocery stores, so stock up if you can.

Ritual:

This month we don't really see anything special going on ritual wise. Maybe the March of Nerthus would be appropriate, but I think giving an offering of grain and fruit to our tree in the backyard is plenty. I plan on making corn husk dolls of Nerthus with her veil and then sitting her high in the tree branches just barely seen. This will mostly be a very busy time in the old days because these are planting and harvesting months. Little time for anything outside of the usual monthly Thing. With that being said, take the month to decorate your altar and clean your house and worship space. Take a ritual bath. Start working out or dieting. This would be the opportune season to start new habits. Plant any new crops or plants and dedicate them to the Gods. Because the nights are often still cold, many may still be lighting fires to guide spring in. Light a white candle at night or use a battery operated ones and keep them in the window sills. Never leave a burning candle unattended and always extinguish it before going to bed.

Decor:

Tulips, daffodils, lilies, hyacinth, and bluebells are common flowers of the season. Pick up some fake ones for season long decor (or if you have allergies from Hel like I do) and place them in cases with long grasses or wheat. If you can afford it, change out fresh ones weekly. Create dollies, perfumes and oils, and besoms to hang. Use the besom to sweep ito negative energy and always keep the close to a main door. Baskets, eggs, small birds and animals are still a very common sight, so use them to brighten your home. I just bought some cute carrot garland and I'm working on my besoms now. The best colors are of course yellow, lavender, pink, and light blue, but also all greens and browns. Have fun and comment what you're doing to be creative and festive. ❤️

  © 2016, Copyright The Dame and The Devil Business Blog - Writer The Dame

Eostre - Myth or Mythology?

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this rather popular holiday, but why?

Bede: 

In his reconstruction of the faith, Bede talks about a possible Old Germanic Goddess, Eostre, from the name ôstarâ and the month ôstarmânoth, not Eosturmanoth in Germany. So the stretch isn't a long one, especially considering that in my own studies I have found that almost every month holds some kind of Blôt. The problem is, this is not backed up in any other known texts, such as Germania by Tacitus, or in any art from the time. In fact, the only other text to mention her was by Jacob Grimm, which was based off of Bede's reconstruction. However, it is plausible she existed in some form given that she was important enough to name a month after. Could it be possible that they were just naming the season though? We trace the root of her name to "East" often referring to dawn or spring time.

Grimm:

While some regard his book on German mythology to be a good reference, you'll find that much of it could be considered as influenced by his time and opinions rather than fact. He made the connection between Bede's shortly mentioned goddess Eostre and Easter then proclaiming her Ôstarâ. In fact, the earliest known story about her and a hare came about from the 19th century in the Ukraine. Now, while the Easter Bunny does trace back to Germany, this still isn't enough evidence to convince me that she was a goddess.

My Personal Conclusion:

I don't think Eostre was a Goddess. I believe that the Proto-Germanic tribes did worship the sun and fertility though, which is seen through their worship of goddessess like Freyja and Nerthus, along with the twins Alcis. I do think that this time was a celebration of the sun itself and the lengthening of days. We see around this time Nerthus being paraded and the Charming of the Plow, so it's very likely that this was just a continuation of that celebration. Or that one holiday was one month and the other this month, like I said they usually have something almost every full moon. There is also no known worship of any Goddess throughout the evolution of the Proto-Germanic Traditions and with something like that being rather important to the Germans, you'd expect her to show up in later forms such as through the Norse. So my conclusion is simple, celebrate spring, the dawn of the year.

©016, Copyright The Dame and The Devil Business Blog - Writer The Dame

Sites:
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/category/jacob-grimm/
http://www.koshabq.org/2012/03/09/celebrating-eostre/
https://archive.org/stream/tacitusagricolag00taciiala/tacitusagricolag00taciiala_djvu.txt