It’s Easter Fox, Not Easter Bunny!

It’s now past the season for this, but I came across this and wanted to post before I forgot. And perhaps our friends in the Southern Hemisphere can use the idea come September…

Move Over Easter Bunny, here comes the Easter Fox! interview with a fellow who’s been trying to bust misinformation about Eostre/Ostara (If you’re familiar, the problem isn’t so much Bede, it’s Jakob Grimm- and the supposed festival was supposed to be in April, not March!)

Eostre, Ostara and the Easter Fox

An Easter fox- it just seems more appropriately German in character. And I’ve been following Trellia’s blog, and she’s a British Pagan who also practices Shinto, and is devoted to the kami Inari, who is associated with foxes. So I thought she’d appreciate it too!

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Easter and UUism

One holiday that I’ve often wondered “How does that work in a UU context?” is Easter. I mean, at Christmas time we can talk about the birth of Jesus, and winter solstice traditions and such, and yes there are pagany springy trappings that go with Easter. But it seems much more unavoidably, traditionally theologically Christian, focused on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus,

I was told that one traditional Unitarian view of Easter was a focus on the “resurrection of community”.I guess in a seasonal context that could make sense, since in winter people tend to be more isolated and keep to themselves, while we come out and see our neighbors as spring rolls around. However, this was a theological idea from presumably a much warmer place, so my own interpretation wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense!

On this post here, it’s discussed that in some places, particular the southwestern U.S. Easter is combined with Flower Communion at U.U. churches. “Flower Communion was a ritual developed by Norbert Čapek as a ritual specifically for Unitarians.  He chose to celebrate the diversity of humanity through flowers as no two flowers are exactly alike.  The first Flower communion was held in June of 1923 in Prague just before the summer holidays. According to his wife, Maja Čapek, the ritual was to be more secular in its associations so as to be the most inclusive of all people, regardless of creed.   An important aspect that would grow over time as their neighboring country of Germany grew in power and intolerance of Jews and those of political differences grew deeper.  She stated in a letter[1] that conflating it with Easter would probably not have met Norbert’s approval and an alternative date to June could be to commemorate the last Sunday that he preached which was March 23 before being arrested and subsequently killed by the Nazis in Dachau concentration camp.  These meanings of diversity and acceptance found in the Flower Communion have nothing to do with Easter. I believe the two should be kept separate so that the fullness of each message can be contemplated.”

I completely agree that the two should be separate! Spring Equinox of course, may be celebrated in addition to Easter by U.U. Pagans and earthy humanists- Nowruz, the Persian New Year is also celebrated on the same day. Personally I find the themes of Passover- liberation from slavery and oppression- to be more relevant than Easter. And indeed I do celebrate Passover if one of my Jewish friends invites me to do so. But otherwise, it is not really my holiday. A couple years ago I went to Minicon, a science fiction convention that is held in the Twin Cities during Easter weekend. One of the coolest people I met there was an older Jewish lady from New York. She shared with me, an anecdote- a conversation she had with African-American friends. She told them- you folks need your own Passover! Once again, such a holiday wouldn’t be mine to create or celebrate. A while ago while celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, and watching all the inaccurate memes posted by my fellow Pagans, I thought about how disconnected St Pat’s is from actual Irish history. It seems like we celebrate Irishness in this rather shallow way without really contemplating what our ancestors (spiritual or physical) went through to get to this country. So maybe we also need an Irish-American equivalent of Passover. There are also various historical events we could be commemorating, such as the Easter Rising. Once again, I feel pretty darn ignorant about Irish history!

Spring Equinox- Gaelic Options

We don’t have evidence that Ye Olde Celts celebrated the spring equinox. But there are always options, if you do want to celebrate it, or a holiday near that time.

In Scottish folk tradition, Latha na Caillich (Day of the Old Woman) is observed on March 25th.  To be clear, there are multiple spirits referred to as an Cailleach in Scottish lore, and Cailleach Bheur shows up in Irish lore. So they should be referred to as nan Cailleachan, plural, or if you are familiar with one of them from a particular locality, be clear about which Lady you are calling on!

Scottish-

La na Caillich– essay on Tairis

Latha na Cailiche– Brian Walsh

Irish-

An Cailleach Bhearra– on Tairis blog, about her possible Irish connections to the spring equinox

Naomi J has also done a lot of research and devotional work with Baoi/an Cailleach Bhearra, the goddess of the Beara peninsula in Ireland. 30 Days of Deity Devotion posts.

Some polytheist alternatives to St. Patrick’s Day have been proposed-

Hero feast for Cu Chulainn– PSVL (pronounced cuh hull-linn) Look thru the Cu Chulainn tag for further ideas.

My personal idea is to honor the sovereignty goddesses Eriu, Banba and Fodla, specifically Eriu, for whom Eire is named.

Ruadhan, a Boetian polytheist of British & Irish descent, honors Britannia & Hibernia, the Roman national personifications of Britain and Ireland. Though they have been adopted by the natives and Hibernia is also various called Eriu, Kathleen ni Houlihan etc. He even wrote a myth explaining their origins.

In another post he notes: “One thing that I regret not posting about this year is my ritual and prayer for my re-envisioning of Shrove Tuesday as Pancake Feast of Britannia and St. Patrick’s Day as Bacon & Cabbage Feast of Hibernia.” I’m always interested in seeing creative polytheist alternatives to St. Patrick’s Day- or for that matter interesting spiritual takes on any secular holiday. (just yoinked that from my post on Tutelary Goddesses)

and here’s PSVL’s thoughts on Hibernia

Other people honor deities and spirits they associate with this time of year, if it’s more springy in your area, that might be Angus Mac Og and his swan-maiden lover, Caer Ibormeith.

Spring Equinox: Failure to Launch

The Spring Equinox was yesterday, and I still haven’t figure out what to do for it. I’ve been sick for the past week, missed Paganicon and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations this past weekend. I was disappointed but felt lousy enough that I didn’t care that much! On top of that it is definitely not spring here yet, it snowed last Monday and the temperature is hovering from the 10s to the 20s.

Frankly, of the 8 standard Pagan holidays, the 2 equinoxes, so-called Ostara & Mabon, are the ones I have the most trouble with.There is not much folklore associated with it in Northern Europe beyond bunny rabbits & eggs. The Anglo-Saxon goddess “Eostre” is only mentioned by the Venerable Bede, which doesn’t give us much to go on.  But perhaps us Northerners should quit grumbling and look out our windows. Even if there’s not much green yet, the sun is shining and the days are longer. Many of the birds have returned, I’m not sure what they are finding to eat, but that’s a good reason to go out and feed them.  Go buy your annuals, and plan your garden (or even just a flowerpot)  And be thankful- we survived another winter!