Rites of Spring

Cara/Andrea here,
Today is the spring equinox, the day when light and dark hangs in the balance (twelve hours of each)—before the sun grows ascendant over the moon as it rises to its zenith on the summer solstice. Now, it’s been a long, gray winter here where I live, so I’m all for for celebrating! The longer days will start to bring the barren earth into bloom, so it’s no wonder that for centuries, people of all cultures have celebrated the moment.

Spring is, of course, the season symbolizing rebirth—the earth comes to life again after the “death” of winter, with plants blossoming anew and trees unfurling fresh leaves. So it’s no wonder that fertility is also an elemental theme in how mankind welcomes the season.
 
In ancient Rome, the goddess Cybele had a consort named Attis who died and came back to life each year around the vernal equinox, and the Germanic tribes paid homage to Ostara, an earth goddess who mated with a fertility god every year in the spring and gave birth nine months later—around the winter solstice.

The ancient Mayans were also attuned to the cycle of the seasons. At the El Castillo, a grand ceremonial temple in present-day Mexico, its pyramid shape was designed for the spring equinox to cast a certain pattern of shadows on its stepped face, creating the illusion of a descending diamond-backed snake. Their festival was called the Return of the Sun Serpent.

Ancient Britain had its own interesting myth regarding the spring equinox, which was first recoded by the Venerable Bede, a famous English monk at the monastery of St. Peter in Northumbria. The monastery possessed a famous library and Bede won acclaim as an author and scholar—his Ecclesiastical History of the English People  earned him the moniker of the father of English history.

His writings speak of Eostre, a Saxon goddess who, like Ostara, was celebrated in springtime fertility rites. Some say the term “Easter” derives from her name because of one of the legends surrounding her.  Tradition has it that she found a wounded bird in winter, and to save it she transformed it into a hare. However, it retained the ability to lay eggs and each spring would leave her decorated eggs as a gift of thanks for its life. (What—no chocolate truffle eggs!) Eggs, seeds—it’s no wonder that fertility was a elemental part of the spring equinox, for the lengthening days were a signal to start planting the new crops. 

These days, modern life has left most of us much less attuned to the earth’s seasonal cycles. As we rush around our brightly lit, bustling town and cities,  how many of us would notice that today is equally balanced between dark and light? I confess, I wouldn’t—yes, I’m aware the days are slowly getting longer, but I’m not sure I’d be able to see the subtle nuances of nature that the ancients did, for my existence isn’t so elementally tied to the earth.

But I am very appreciative when the calendar tells me Spring is officially here!

How about you? Do you harken in spring with any special little rites? And as this is also the month that celebrates rebirth and renewal in a variety of religions, do you have any special traditions in your family for the upcoming holidays?  At my house, my mother loved creating elaborate Easter egg hunts in the woods behind our house. Along with chocolate goodies, there were "name" eggs hidden in stone walls or trees, and a grand Golden Egg—whoever found that got a special prize. Over the years it became famous with our school friends—even after college, we them caging for invitations (it got to be quite funny to see a pack of twenty-something with easter baskets frothing at the mouth for the starting signal to go pelting into the woods.

Comments

[HJ]

Thank you for this very interesting post. Whenever I feel that I'm losing touch with the Earth's rhythms I go out and look at the sky on a clear night. As soon as you imagine what it must have been like with no lighting other than firelight, you can understand the awe people must have felt and why they worshipped the moon and/or the sun and took careful note of their rhythms.

We know that the cycles are certain to continue. They must have been uneasy that they might not, and been very relieved as they saw evidence of each reappearing!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

HJ, I think you're so right about all the artificial light dulling our awareness of the night sky's awesome majesty. All the concrete and urban sprawl , the noise, etc. also makes it hard for many people to actually see the seasons evolve—plants blooming into the life, the leaves turning and falling. The temperature is a big thing too—heating and air conditioning (not that I'm complaining!) sharpen the senses as well. So yes, the changes were a big deal and worthy of celebration. or, as you say, ahonoring of the cosmic forces to ask them to keep bringing spring and summer.

[Sherrie Holmes]

Sherrie, here.
I am soooo ready for spring! We've had a few days of sunshine here in the Pacific NW and the locals have been nearly frantic doing outdoor stuff like gardening, sprucing up the yard, bicycling, etc.

One of my funnier Easter memories was when my sibs and I were quite young. Easter morning we searched all over the house for our Easter baskets, and couldn't find them. We searched absolutely everywhere before breakfast, with no luck, and ended up crying because we thought the Easter Bunny had forgotten us. All the while, Mom kept urging us to have breakfast, but we kept searching and searching. Finally, Mom insisted we suspend our search until we had eaten our breakfast. We sad kiddies trudged forlornly to the table and pulled out our chairs . . . and lo and behold, there were our Easter baskets on the seats of the chairs! Tears were instantly vanished and we laughed and laughed to think the EB had pulled such an amusing trick on us!

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Oh, LOL on the Easter story, Sherrie! How very clever of your Mom, figuring you kids would be hungry first. But she underestimated the allure of chocolate before cereal!

One of the other funnier Easter comments in our family was made m by my niece . .. after gathering all the hard-boiled eggs, we would always do the tap-tap on each end and see who could accumulate the most eggs by being the victor. So she observed wryly that our family is so competitive that someone can "win" Easter. That still makes me laugh.

[Ella Quinn]

One of the things I love about living in Germany was the public celebration of Spring. Lovley post.

[Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose]

Oh, how lovely, Ella! I've heard that Germany has some very nice traditions for that.

[Artemisia]

I'm a little late with this, but one of the Spring/New Year things around here was a little de-cluttering and re-storing of things. It used to be garden catalogs, but condo living put an end to that.