Ostara is one of eight pagan holidays corresponding to the Wheel of the Year. It falls on the Spring Equinox, between March 20th-22nd every year, and helps celebrate the return of spring to the world. There are several ways to celebrate, but here's a few that I've gathered over time and often incorporate into my celebrations;
Cooking or baking. As Ostara marks the first day of spring it also marks the time when fresher foods would have been within sight of our ancestors. Fruits and vegetables right out of a garden, honey from bees that would soon have access to flowers, and meat from fresh hunts as animals began to emerge from their hibernation or migrate back to the area. Foods that star eggs such as deviled eggs or quiche are also common, as the egg is a symbol of rebirth for many and spring also represents rebirth in many cultures. Same goes for bread, I see many places recommending hot cross buns and the like as Ostara foods. Personally I love making honey cakes with a ham and spinach quiche just to cover all my bases.
Decorating your space or altar. Spring flowers like the crocus and tulip, green things in general, and pastel colors are just some ideas, along with things like representations of eggs or other symbols of rebirth. The nerd in me always puts out my little Phoenix Down potion out because of the things I associate with it, along with painted egg shells (you do the thing where you poke a hole in the top and bottom of the egg and blow the insides out to get just the shell) and I fold some pastel papers into a chain to hang around as well.
Spring cleaning. If it's warm enough open up the windows, and if not just clean whatever you can. Celebrate rebirth by getting rid of things you no longer want or use and embracing the new. I have a closet system where about this time of year I put all my coat hangers facing one way and as I wear something and hang it back up I face it the other way, so when I'm cleaning for Ostara I look at all the things still facing the original way from last year and evaluate if I really want to keep it or if there's a reason I haven't worn it in over a year and I should be rid of it. I also clean out my pantry, fridge and freezer because hey sometimes stuff gets forgotten in there and it's nice to clean it all out at least once a year.
There's a bunch of other ways to celebrate, but that's just how I do things with my personal practice. If you want to observe Ostara as a holiday too go ahead and do some Googling and see what others have to say and come up with your own practices if these don't appeal to you. A lot of people have rituals or meditations as well, different ideas for foods and decorations, and things like planting seeds or the like which I am unable to do in my current situation even though I'd really love to.
And that's Ostara. For anyone interested myself and two witchy friends are hosting a chat this Friday at 8pm Central Time discussing Ostara as well, so come join us and ask some questions!
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