{"id":36176,"date":"2008-03-23T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2008-03-23T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=36176"},"modified":"2018-03-30T04:13:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T09:13:00","slug":"easter-ostara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/easter-ostara\/","title":{"rendered":"Eastre \/ Ostara and the history of the Easter bunny"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"easter<\/a>Folk stories of the Easter Rabbit began in pre-Christian fertility lore.\u00a0 Some early pagans celebrated the return of Spring with a festival in tribute to their Goddess of\u00a0 fertility and springtime, Eastre or Ostara.\u00a0 The Goddess Eastre, was sometimes represented with a woman\u2019s body and a rabbit\u2019s head. One popular legend says Eastre found a bird, wounded, on the ground late in winter. To save its life, she transformed it into a hare. But \u201cthe transformation was not a complete one. The bird took the appearance of a hare but retained the ability to lay eggs… the hare would decorate these eggs and leave them as gifts to Eastre.\u201d\u00a0 Enter the Easter Bunny. \u00a0 The egg is a symbol of fertility and rebirth, of new life. It stands for the renewing power of nature. The egg can also symbolize regeneration in a spiritual or psychological sense. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"bunny-cross-egg\"<\/a>The ritual of colouring Easter eggs stems from the tradition of painting eggs in bright colours to represent emerging from the darkness of winter to the sunlight of spring.\u00a0 Eostre is \u201cassociated with the coming of spring and the dawn, and her festival is celebrated at the same time as Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ, and in the Jewish faith, Passover.\u00a0 The holiday is a celebration of spring and growth, the renewal of life that appears after the winter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Goddess of fertility and new beginnings, we take this opportunity to embrace Eostre\u2019s passion for new life and let our own lives take the new direction we have wanted for so long.\u00a0 May your Spirit be renewed by the promise\u00a0 that every day is a new beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0 Ostara, a solitary ritual<\/a>
\nEaster 2009 spent communing in nature, meditation, cardinals<\/a>
\nEaster 2014 with Yinnie the Mini-Cow and Benny the Cat<\/a>
\nEaster 2013 ~ We Rise Anew Only When We Forgive The Past<\/a>
\nHappy Easter 2015<\/a><\/p>\n

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