Ostara: Seasonal (Storm-proof) Celebrations, Big and Small
Once we hit the end of February, there’s a collective impatience for Spring. Learning about the Celtic Wheel of the Year and our ancestors’ seasonal celebrations has made me more mindful of slowing down and embracing the season we’re in, so I’m trying not to rush headlong into Spring just yet. And given the lovely response to my last newsletter about the sap stirring, it sounds like this in-between time resonates with you too. The Winter-Spring transition might just be one of my favourites. I know, I know - I say that about every season! But there’s something about this time of year in the lead-up to Ostara here in Scotland where we can still embrace the cosiness of Winter (and very much need to at the moment) while looking forward to all the new-season goodness to come. As I did with my seasonal celebrations for Imbolc I thought I’d put together a wee list for Ostara - to remind myself as much as anything else - to embrace those seasonal markers, big and small.
Springwatch
Incorporating a little nature into your everyday is good for the soul. When I’m feeling in a funk and mornings still seem dark and difficult, I find changing up my route to work is a way to subtly shift my mindset by grounding me in the surroundings. A different walk, even in the city, gets you noticing the smaller seasonal shifts. I’ve even found changing the side of the road I walk on does something in my brain that makes me slow down and notice more. Observe the crocuses in your local park, or the daffodils by the roadside. Spot the first buds and blossoms - I noticed my first this week. Blackthorn arrives at this time of year, often when it’s still bitterly cold, and it’s for this reason that this period became known as ‘blackthorn winter’, the flowers appearing like snow-covered hedges from a distance. Even on dark, dreich days I always find wrapping up and getting outside all the more rewarding than staying in and stewing. If nothing else, it certainly makes you feel alive!
Bring Spring Inside
Leading on from my last point, I love to bring nature inside at any time of year, but it’s an interior essential in early Spring. Go big – a branch or two of pussy willow (responsibly pruned with permission of the tree-owner of course, my parents have a lovely pink one I got them from a local garden centre in East Lothian) and pop into in a big old preserving jar or carboy – or miniature, with teeny posies of grape hyacinth, snake’s head fritillary and narcissi in bud vases. They look lovely as solo stems in a variety of wee receptacles, making a small bunch go a long way. Keep an eye out for old ink bottles and stoneware pots at vintage fairs and car boot sales. Make sure you change the water regularly to refresh the tiniest, thirsty blooms. I always try to source locally grown flowers so they are truly seasonal, and to give me ideas for bulbs to nag my Dad to plant in the garden for next year’s pickings.
Spring Decluttering
Spring cleaning might be a cliché, but all the best clichés have an element of truth from which they originate and that’s certainly true for this seasonal decluttering. Just as suddenly the instinct to nest arrives in Autumn, the urge to Spring clean gets me at this time of year as I mentioned in my last newsletter. I find cleaning quite therapeutic myself, and a good clear-out at the start of the season can be incredibly cathartic. From experience, the best approach is to tackle one wee area each day – a small surface in the kitchen, the junk drawer, the stack of forgotten admin by the door. I often focus on clothes at this time of year as I start to look to my lighter layers. Donate any items you no longer love, and make a wee pile of mending (I always need to do this after Winter) to sew while you listen to an audiobook. I did a couple of Toast’s mending workshops last season with Molly Martin and am inspired to breathe new life into well-worn pieces in my wardrobe.
Spring Gatherings
There’s lots to celebrate at this time of year, what with International Women’s Day and Mothering Sunday in the UK next month (I can’t believe it’s March next month!) as well as Ostara on the 20th March. Any or all of these are the perfect reason to have a Spring tea party or Sunday lunch with seasonal produce. I like to set the table and go all-out with a theme, such as Italian cuisine or a fondue party. The main highlight for me is decorating our kitchen-diner with Spring props and flowers – eggs and bunnies are mandatory in my house as soon as the Spring Equinox arrives. Keep an eye out in charity shops and at vintage fairs for retro decorations, plus fellow Scot Amy of Pops and Piaf always makes the most gorgeous Spring garlands and hand-painted Easter eggs in beautiful pastel shades.
Spring Equinox Countdown
The countdown to the Spring Equinox is on here in the Northern Hemisphere. This year it takes place on 20th March - in just over three weeks it will be light at 7 p.m.! The Vernal Equinox marks the clocks going forward in the UK and the beginning of British Summer Time as well as the official start of astronomical Spring and the celebration of Ostara in the Celtic Wheel of the year. I like to do something small to mark the occasion, whether that’s making a cake full of Spring flavour or going to the Botanical Gardens for the first al fresco picnic of the year (thermals perhaps still necessary). Soon we will be well past the darkest of days, and if that’s not worth celebrating I don’t know what is!
