Monday, February 28, 2011

30 days of Ostara; Day 10

Living Crafts have a lots of wonderful ideas for Ostara decoration.
This should be a cross stitch freebie Easter decoration, but the link is dead. It's not rocket science to copy the pattern from the photo, though.


Mini Easter gift bag printables


"The Sun Wheel, a symbol of perfect balance at the Equinox, is the inspiration for the traditional spring roll known as the Hot Cross Bun."



Fabric Easter egg tutorial

One Ostara symbol is the Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Commonly used as a decorative architectural ornament, Green Men are frequently found on carvings in churches and other buildings. "The Green Man" is also a popular name for English public houses and various interpretations of the name appear on inn signs, which sometimes show a full figure rather than just the head.

The Green Man motif has many variations. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or "renaissance," representing the cycle of growth each spring.


Fresh and colorful Easter table settings

Table setting is naturally only one of the many things you need to consider when planning a party. A holiday is just another party, a lot bigger though, more a weekend than a party, but the things you need to consider are the same.

- how many meals and what meals? Dinner party, brunch, tea, all of them? Potluck? Something else?
- At whom and when?

- what are you going to eat?
- entertainment?
You need to think about two things here:
a) movies, stories, games; the things you do when you "do nothing", when you're alone, when you wait for the "next activity", like opening gifts
b) caroling, trick-or-treat'ing, egg hunting
- colors, symbols, flowers?
- music?
- appealing to nose - smells and scents?

- countdown calendars
I'm a big fan of these :-) Take a look of the hundreds of "Advent calendars" and "countdown calendars" and make yourself one decorated with the colors and symbols you associate with Ostara. It's no use copying these hundreds of correspondence lists online, if the symbols and colors mentioned there do nothing for you. Even though we have some common symbols, most of our symbols are unique and very personal. I for example do not associate purple and green with Samhain, but a lot of people do. To me Ostara is mainly green and yellow, for new growth and sun, but pastels are kind of nice too. Ostara is a little of a children's room, and most things meant for small children are made in pastels.

- what are you going to wear? I like the idea of dressing up for Sabbaths; being a witch or a monster on Samhain, an elf on Yule, an angel at Imbolc and wearing white peasant linen on Beltane. On Ostara I like the idea of a Victorian cotton dress with light print and laces. One also needs a bonnet... to keep the bunny ears on ;-)

Some of these things need to be prepared in good time beforehand. There's about 3 weeks left to Ostara. You should know by now how you want to celebrate it.

Also, do NOTHING you don't like. It's a holiday, a celebration AND a vacation in one.

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