#13 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I really love scavenger hunts, egg hunts and treasure hunts.

I have a memory of an Easter hunt when I was 5, but no-one else seems to remember so it might have been a dream... anyway, the memory is about searching the home for my "easter egg", which was a page of tiny paperdolls.

One thing I liked about Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code was the coded treasure hunt...
"Richard G. brown, Dan's father, put together many types of treasure hunts for the kids when they were young that were challenging, yet fun. His dad would map out this treasure hunt carefully, and the kids had to unlock codes to find their Christmas gifts for example."

#12 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Pick one of the silly, odd, unusual holidays celebrated during the time of the countdown and make it a tradition.

For example, March 1st is National Pig Day.

15th of March is "Everything-You-Think-Is-Wrong Day", "Ides of March", "Incredible Kid Day" and "Dumbstruck Day", followed by "Everything You Do Is Right" and "Freedom of Information" day.

You could also look at the Catholic Saint Calendar, and remember that most of those said to have lived around 300 c.e. are actually Pagan Deities and not people.

Then there's the Pagan calendar. March 11th, for example, is Creation Day, celebrated in honor of the Creation of the world by Odin, Vili and Ve.

#11 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Record the 30 days + 12 days of Sabbath with "Ostara daily" scrapbook.

It doesn't need to be elaborate, just take a photo every day and write about something that's in your mind that specific day.

You can make this a family thing by letting every member of the family write or draw something.

You could also write a family newspaper or magazine of the Ostaratide :-)

#10 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

You could pot an orange tree or lemon tree and use that as your spring- and summertime holiday tree.

Hang up the decoration in the tree already a month before the holiday with fairylights, and have a family gathering under the tree each night before the Holiday.

You can have a sleep-over under the tree.

You can have movie nights under the tree.

You can wrap season appropriate books under the tree and open one every night and read it out loud. (If you can't find a book to fit your purposes, write and illustrate one, with the whole family.)

You can have a "camp fire" and sing-a-long under the tree.

You could also tell stories about your own childhood and the family traditions there. (And if you are unfortunate enough not to have any good memories to share, share someone else's memories and stories you have read, stories that inspired you to create new memories for your own family. Do this even when you have good memories :-D)

#9 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

Play holiday themed games. 

If you can't find any, make them yourself. Most board games have a really simple construction. My favorite game was "Star of Africa" - a Finnish classic board game, where the players traveled through Africa trying to find a diamond, the Star of Africa... There are dozens of versions of Monopoly and Ludo (Parcheesi/Pachisi) is pretty straight forward game to copy, then there's the Candyland, and snakes and ladders and the ever so lovely Mystery Date :-D

So - make a game of Demeter's search for Persephone, for example. Simple Snakes and Ladders format would fit this nicely. Those helping her would be "ladders", those mocking her "snakes".

#8 Fun and Frugal Family Tradition for Spring Equinox

I love singing together... how the family gathers around the piano and sings familiar songs...

There are so few spring songs around, and that's a pity. You could take your favorite carols and write new lyrics to them. After all, that's what has happened during the last 1000 years in Europe, people took the familiar tunes and wrote a new, meaningful text to them and then sang them so often people got used to them, and started singing them too.

You could go caroling with your family. In Sweden there is a tradition around May Day, that the university students gather around to sing spring songs as a choir. Nothing stops you from doing that already at Ostara. It is spring and it is a lovely thing.

Countdown to Beltane, Day 1

Today is April Fools' Day.

It's 30 days to Beltane, the feast of feasts and song and dance and merrymaking and lovemaking...

Last year I posted "countdown to Ostara" with heavy posts every day, starting 30 days before Ostara. I did it to give the Pagan community something to think about, to see Spring Equinox as any other Holiday, give us ideas and information, links to tutorials and recipes etc.

I was very disappointed by the lack of interest - as it seemed to me, because I really cannot know if anyone reads or appreciated my work, unless you leave a comment... It was very dishearthening, and as I then tried to continue with Countdown to Beltane, I didn't have the spirit to do that. I hope I'll do better this year. This is a really important thing to me, you see, and I would like to add more to the Pagan resource box called Internet...

So, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE, comment.
It would be enough to just say ":-)" or "thanks for posting this", if you find it hard to express your thoughts, or just that you read what I have written. "XXX was here" is enough.
Of course, it would be nice, if you added that you like it, hate it, disagree, agree, found something worth reading it in it or anything. Just let me know I'm not alone. It feels like that so very often, and I do get sad, even though I try to tell myself that people do read.

If you give me a link to your blog, I will post it.

If you leave links to an interesting page, I'll link to that, and credit you.

If you have a shop selling things that might work for Beltane, I'll link to that too, and happily, as I think it's great that people can support themselves with the work of their hands and creativity, and I'm overjoyed by the idea of being able to promote my fellow Pagan artisans' endeavors and enterprises. :-)

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In France April Fools is called Poisson d'avril, the April Fish. The March-April issue of Marie Claire Idées is usually full of fishes made in different art and craft methods, and in France they give chocolate fishes to each other on this day.

Sounds like a much better tradition than the practical jokes version.

But if you love the prankster tradition, try to do it with kindness and consideration. I just read about some idiot parents, who thought it was a great prank to play on their children (7 and 12) to trick them into cleaning the household by promising $100 to the one who did better job. The $100 was fake... Then the mother said that they gave both kids $30 as reward anyway, but it doesn't change the fact that the one who won the challenge got a piece of paper and the whole family laughed at him... Yeah... be a good boy and you end up being the laughing stock of everyone. Nice.

No - things like painting the soap with clear nail polish, or... harmless fun. Nothing that causes people anguish, pain or shame because they are nice, kind and gentle people, trying to help.

Taping the toilet seat ring to the cover so that one has to sit on the cold china is an ok prank.

Putting some good flavor in the toothbrush is a good prank, but not putting in something that tastes bad or makes your mouth burn or itch or numb. That's not a good prank.

But - I have Asperger's. I depend on things being what they look like.
To me the prank of covering onions with toffee and making fake candy apples would be cruel, because I would never eat another candied apple in my life.
To me making fake chocolate eclairs, filling them with chili, salt, cinnamon paste, garlic, mint toothpaste or plastic flies would be cruel.
To me having someone impersonate a police man and telling me I have done something illegal and will be punished, would be horrible.
Promising me something if I do something and then it turns out that something was not what was promised, would not be funny. It would be a promise broken, and I would not trust you again. (Like promising someone iPod, but giving him an eyepad in iPod box... No.)

Colombina by Mark Satchwill


I have to say that I would rather have people play jokes on their own cost.

Have a Fool day.

Do everything the exact opposite.

And not only do the exact opposite of what you were asked to do, or eating the desserts first, or making the dinner where savory dishes look like desserts and vice versa. Not only wearing your clothes insideout, or pants as a jacket and a shirt like pants.

When you are afraid of doing something, you should do just that.
When your inner voice tells you you are worthless, tell it it's wrong, you are very valuable and worthy, as there is not one other being on the whole universe like you.
When you notice you are looking down, look up.
If you "always" go right, go left this time.

You are The Fool. You have the right to look the people in their eyes and see them, really SEE them.
You have the right to do foolish and silly things, dare and try, experience and live the life like a child, as if you were seeing everything the first time.
If the stars were visible only once in every 100 years, everyone would gather out to watch the amazing show. Act as if they were visible for only tonight. If it's cloudy, you can repeat the experiment tomorrow, or day after that. It doesn't matter, because they ARE up there, every night.
But YOU might not be around, so don't push until tomorrow what you can do today.

Except if it's boring. If you are not around tomorrow, no-one will care whether your dishes are done and your shoes in perfect order.

(It might be a good idea to wear something that informs people of that you are celebrating the April Fools, and you are The Fool today, so they won't get confused.)

Some influence for this post:
Origins of April's Fools' Day
Female Tricksters 
Trickster Women
The Trickster: A God's Evolution