It’s SO easy to celebrate Ostara (otherwise known as the spring, or vernal equinox) because this ancient pagan festival still has a super-strong foothold in modern Western culture.

You probably know many traditional Ostara symbols that are now part of our Easter celebrations – eggs, rabbits, hares, and other representations of new life.

Coinciding with warmer weather in the Northern hemisphere, Ostara usually marks a welcome change in the seasons. We can say goodbye to a long winter, and finally, feel a change in the pace of life.

When is Ostara 2025?

The precise date of Ostara can change from year to year, as the exact astrological equinox can vary. It can arrive from March 19 – 23.

This year, Ostara happens on Thursday, March 20th, 2025

What is Ostara?

Ostara is a pagan festival celebrating the Spring Equinox, typically observed around March 20th. It’s a time to welcome the arrival of spring, new life, and fertility.

It’s thought the holiday is named after the Germanic goddess Eostre, who symbolizes the rebirth of nature and the increasing daylight.

Traditionally, people celebrate Ostara with rituals, feasting, and activities such as decorating eggs and planting seeds to honour the Earth’s renewal.

Spring Equinox has long been a significant time for many cultures and religions around the world, as it’s one of the four cross-quarter days, and one of only 2 days in the whole year when day and night are of equal length. Ostara is a time of perfect balance, with 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of night, and only occurs when the Sun crosses the celestial equator. The other day this occurs is the Autumn Equinox.

For these reasons, this ancient feast day symbolizes the balance of light and dark, and the new beginnings that come when light triumphs over the darkness.

For modern Pagans, Wiccans, and people who follow other earth-based spiritual practices, Ostara is a time to celebrate inner balance too – a moment to pause, and acknowledge the light and dark we all carry within.

Ostara is also marked by the transit of the Sun into the star constellation of Aries, the very first sign of the Zodiac.

What is the origin of the word Ostara?

It’s thought that the word “Ostara” originates from the name of the Western Germanic goddess of spring and the dawn, also Ostara. In Anglo-Saxon, this was Ēostre. The first written records of Ēostre were made by the English monk Bede in the seventh century. He wrote that April was known as Eostremonath, so named because it was the month when the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre was celebrated.

Scholars still debate these origin stories. Yet the similarity between the words: Eostre, Ostara, and Easter, the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus cannot be denied!

10 Rituals for an Ostara celebration

You don’t have to do all of these. In fact, don’t even try! Just pick out one, maybe two that call to you and put them into practice.

1. Welcome the sun

Wake up at dawn, just before the sun rises. Go somewhere beautiful, and welcome the Sun!

After a long winter, this is one of the most simple Ostara rituals but probably the most beautiful of all.

2. Decorate eggs

The humble egg has become a Christian easter symbol, but at its core, it’s a literal symbol of new life, fertility, and hope. And eggs represent luck, as well as the Sun – the bright yellow/orange yolk wrapped in the white fabric of the Goddess.

Eggs are so easy and inexpensive to get hold of, they make a perfect ritual addition to any Spring celebrations.

Boil your eggs with natural dyes such as onion skins or simply use food dye. For extra decoration, wrap your egg with string or rubber bands, or create patterns with pieces of tape or stickers before dyeing them. You could also use a pencil crayon to write your intentions and wishes for the season, or any symbols, runes, or sigils that mean something to you.

3. Create an Ostara altar

If you already have an altar in your home, then re-curate, and re-design it to honor this season, adding symbols of abundance and fertility. Here are some ideas –

• Fresh flowers – daffodils, tulips, crocuses, and other seasonal bulbs
• White, yellow, green, and gold candles (traditional Ostara colors)
• Eggs (pre-decorated!)
• Seeds and/or seedlings
• Frankincense resin or oil
• Images, carvings, or statues of rabbits, hares, bees, butterflies, and ladybirds (all symbols of Ostara)
• Bells – ceremonial tools for driving out negativity and clearing space
• Representations of balance
• Depictions of the horned god, and the the maiden goddess.

4. Set an intention

Yes, I say this on every high and holy day – solstices, equinoxes, and fire festivals!

It’s because these power days offer a strong surge of energy that can be harnessed for setting intentions. Plus, for many folks, the new year doesn’t really feel like it’s beginning until about now!

So create a bit of time to sit down with a pen and your journal, to think carefully about these questions –

• What do you want to call into your life over the next few months?
• What has been going well for you over the past six weeks?
• What didn’t go so well?
• What would you love to do differently?
• What project/idea/task/area of life could do with some momentum to GROW through the coming year?
• What can you do to make that happen?!

5. Spring clean (and make it a ritual)

Like the other Spring festivals, Ostara invites us to sweep away the density of winter to make way for the new season in ALL the many layers of your life. This is one of those wonderful rituals where the sacred and mundane align.

Spring cleaning needn’t be all hard work. Ritualizing your cleaning, by calling in the Goddess, and honoring the Spirits of home and hearth can turn the most boring of tasks into something special.

• Clear away clutter and tidy up
• Sweep, dust, and vacuum (put on your favorite music and dance it out at the same time)
• Use sound to energetically clear your spaces – band a drum, rattle, ring bells or simply clap your hands to move and disperse stagnant and stuck energy.
• Burn incense, essential oils or dried herbs to clear the air. I use bundles prepared the previous summer from yarrow, rosemary, and mugwort growing close to my home. Be sure to open a window, so the negativity has somewhere to go…

6. Plant seeds and summer bulbs

It’s no coincidence that gardeners still plant their potatoes on Good Friday!

**In the Gregorian calendar, Easter is a “movable feast”. It’s always the first Sunday following the full Moon that occurs on or after the Spring Equinox.

Harness the fertile energy of the natural world, bu aligning your seed planting with the wheel of the year/ This will not only give your garden a boost, but allow for the simple ritual act of setting intentions, meditatively, into the soil.

What do you want to grow in your vegetable, flower, or herb garden this year?

7. Bake bread, a cake, or a batch of equinox biscuits

Christians bake hot cross buns at Easter, symbolizing the crucifixion. But baking has always been a deeply feminine craft, guided by the Goddess. Early ovens signified her round, pregnant belly and the mysterious alchemy that occurred within.

So baked goods are the perfect alchemical symbols of transformation, rebirth and renewal – a combination of the four elements (water, air, fire, and earth).

As you add each ingredient, send a wish or intention into the bowl with it.  Use the ancient art of kitchen witchery to summon the influence of the Goddess. As you mix and stir, knead, and bake, know that you are creating a powerful potion of intent! You are participating in a  symbolic act of alchemy and creation – the beginnings of manifestation.

8. Decorate your home and host a tea party!

Using Spring flowers, decorate your home to welcome Mother Earth and her energy of fertility inside your home.

Short on time, make a simple centerpiece for your table instead.

Invite friends over for simple, delicious food. Cook egg-based dishes such as a frittata or egg salad. Or whip an egg into a souffle or custard tart. Or if eggs really aren’t your thing, bake a cake decorated with fresh cream and edible flowers.

9. Try egg divination (oomancy)

A super-fun and off-the-wall ritual you can try that’s especially good with kids, is to practice egg divination, also known as oomancy.

It’s a little like reading tea leaves, and relies on the interpretation skills (and imagination!) of the practitioner.

You can try for oomancy yourself by cracking an egg, separating the yolk and the white and then dropping then white into hot water. The shapes formed in the water can then be “read” to foretell the future and receive guidance to a question.

Read more HERE

10. Sit in peace

The Vernal equinox is a moment of balance.

In our western world, we have the collective habit of often rushing too quickly onto the next thing. We’re eager for the next exciting beginning and eager to find opportunities for new birth and growth. But equinoxes are rare opportunities to be in a state of stasis.

With or without meditation, it’s possible to tune into this frequency of balance and stillness, just by BE-ing in it.

If sitting still is too difficult for you, then try going for a beautiful, grounding spring walk or a hike. Do this intentionally, as a moving meditation.

Ostara symbols and Correspondances

Whether you’re building an Ostara altar, practicing a little spellwork, or simply weaving some seasonal magic, you can supercharge your efforts using the corresponding ingredients.

Here are the symbols, herbs, plants, colors, and a whole lot more correspondences for Ostara…

Goddess / Gods

• Eostre, Ostara
• Cernunnos

Elements

• Fire
• Air

Symbols

• Spring / maiden Goddess
• Flowers
• Rabbits, hares, bunnies
• Eggs
• Seeds
• Seedlings and buds

 Plants

• All bulbs (daffodil, tulip, crocus, primrose, violet, hyacinth)
• Appletree
• Cherry Blossom
• Birch
• Ash
• Alder
• Dandelion
• Garlic
• Jasmine
• Any budding or sprouting plants
• Honeysuckle
• Iris
• Dogwood

Incense

• Rose
• Jasmine
• Sage
• Cedar

Herbs

• Lemongrass
• Lemon balm
• Thyme
• Tarragon

Animals

• Rabbits, hares, bunnies
• Honeybees
• Butterflies
• Ladybirds

Food

• Eggs and food containing eggs, such as custard tart and pie, quiche, souffle, boiled egg salad
• Honey
• Mead
• Leafy greens
• Seeds
• Edible flowers
• Bread, cake, hot cross buns

Crystals

• Moss agate,
• Aquamarine
• Amazonite
• Clear Quartz, rose quartz
• Moss agate

Colours

• White
• Yellow
• Green
• Pastel colors