The Mystical Cauldron
Ostara Edition - March 2002
Legend of the Osatra Egg |
Meanings of Egg Symbols |
Ostara Around The World |
Ostara Symbols |
Ostara Poem |
Recipes for the Ostara Feast |
During the transformation, the rabbit retained the ability to lay eggs. The rabbit was so grateful to Eostre for saving its life that it laid a sacred egg in Her honor, joyously decorated it and then humbly presented it to the Goddess. She was so pleased and so touched by the rabbit's thoughtful gift that She wished all humankind to share in her joy. In honoring her wishes, the rabbit went all over the world distributing these beautifully decorated little gifts of life and continues to do so even today.
There are many fine books that describe the symbolism on Ukrainian pysanky, not to mention the rich symbolism within Wiccan and other Pagan traditions. Below are some traditional symbols used on Ukrainian eggs, and you may notice that many of these symbols have universal meanings throughout the world.
- Circles: Protection, everlasting life, continuity, and completeness. The Sun, and cycles of life.
- Triangles: The elements of air, fire and water. Or just fire. The Trinity. Sun, Moon, and Stars.
- Suns: The life giving, all embracing nature of God, especially as the Sun is seen as the God. Fire and warmth, enchantment, prosperity, good fortune. It is the most ancient and significant symbol, appearing on almost every Ukrainian egg, from a small circle or dot to an elaborate many-rayed affair.
- Tripods: Man, Woman, and Child. Birth, Life and Death.
- Stars and Roses: Popular symbols for purity, life, giver of light, the eye of God, the God's love for humanity. Also success, knowledge, beauty, elegance, and perfection.
- Dots: Usually represents stars or the Tears of Mary. Also can be the Sun.
- Curls: Protection.
- Spirals: Mystery of life and death, divinity and immortality.
- Crosses: These are usually equal-armed crosses, though not always. Represents the four directions, the four ages of man, the four elements, and rebirth and eternal life.
Agricultural: Popular on traditional pysanky, these were important to a society that depended on the fruit of the fields. Also, krashanky had these symbols and were buried in the fields to ensure fertility.
- Sieves: Separating good from evil.
- Nets and baskets: Containing knowledge, motherhood, giving life and gifts.
- Ladders: Searching, rising above the petty, ascending to heaven.
- Combs: Putting things in order.
- Rakes: Successful harvest.
- Plants: Rebirth and nature. Very popular symbols.
- Trees: Strength, renewal, creation, organic unity, growth, and eternal life.
- Leaves: Immortality, eternal or pure love, strength, and persistence.
- Flowers: Beauty, children, female principles of wisdom and elegance.
- Fruit: Continuity, good fellowship, strong and loyal love, love of the Divine.
- Sunflowers: Motherhood, life, love of the Divine.
- Wheat: Bountiful harvest.
- Eternity Bands: Dividing elements on the eggs such as meanders for harmony, motion, infinity, and immortality.
- Waves for wealth, rain.
- Lines and ribbons for the thread of life or eternity.
- Animal:
- Stags: Leadership, victory, joy, masculinity.
- Horses: Wealth, prosperity, endurance, speed and the motion of the Sun.
- Rams: Leadership, strength, dignity, and perseverance. Ram's horns symbolize strong leadership, dignity, and perseverance.
- Horns: Mobility, wisdom, triumphs over problems, and implies manhood and leadership.
- Bear paws: A guardian spirit, bravery, wisdom, strength, and endurance, the coming of spring.
- Birds: All kinds, are messengers of the Sun and heavens, pushing away evil, fertility, fulfillment of wishes, good harvest.
- Bird Parts: (eyes, feet, beaks, combs, feathers) carry the same meaning as entire birds.
- Roosters: Good fortune, masculinity, coming of the dawn.
- Hens: Fertility. Hen feet offer protection for the young, and guidance.
- Goose feet: Symbols of soul or spirit.
- Butterflies: Ascent of the soul, pleasure and frivolity of childhood.
- Spiders: Patience, artistry, industry, healing and good fortune.
- Fish: Abundance, sacrifice, and regeneration.
- White: Purity, birth, virginity, and ignorance. Historically, a young child would receive eggs with lots of white.
- Yellow: Youth, light, purity, happiness, and wisdom.
- Red: The most widely used color, for passion, love, enthusiasm.
- Orange: Endurance, strength, power.
- Green: Renewal, freshness, hope, victory of life over death.
- Brown: Earth.
- Blue: Sky, good health derived from air.
- Purple: Patience, trust, power.
- Black: Remembrance, eternity, constancy, and death. A black and white combination indicates protection from evil and respect for the dead.
- Black with red connotes ignorance arising from passion.
Of course, you can also use symbols from other traditions, or symbols that have meaning for you. You can use symbols that have meaning in the Wiccan tradition.
- Pentacles for the elements or earth, the divine, humanity.
- Cauldrons for rebirth and wisdom.
- Cups to represent Water: emotion, healing, and adaptability.
- Swords for Air: clear thought, intellect, and learning.
The possibilities are endless.
- The Norse honored their Virgin Goddess and celebrated her mating with the young God. Sexual relations were almost obligatory on Ostara Eve, as was a communal meal featuring foods associated with fertility (cake, honey, eggs)
- The Lily was a symbol of life in pagan Greece and Rome, where it adorned Ostara altars and temples. Young men, playing the role of the lusty young God, would present them to the young women they were courting. Accepting the lily meant much the same thing as accepting a diamond ring does now.
- In Cornwall and Wales, Ostara was renamed 'Lady Day' and was the time of the official return of the young Goddess after her winter hibernation. On this day of balance, they believed she was able to meet her youthful God on equal terms, mate with him, and become impregnated with not only the God who will be reborn at Yule, but with the autumn harvest as well.
- In Slavic pagan traditions this was believed to be a day when death had no power over the living, In their tradition, a personification of Death is symbolically killed by throwing him into moving water to drown. Flowers (symbols of life renewed) are tossed in after him and he is sung to as he floats down river. After Death's drowning, brightly painted red eggs were passed around during a procession to the ritual site where the new life of spring was celebrated with food, dance, and strong drink.
- In Mexico and the American Southwest, there is a pagan custom revolving around cascarones. These are eggshells that have been carefully hollowed out, painted, filled with traditional pagan symbols for spring (perfume, confetti, lavender, sage) and then resealed with tape. The object is to take your cascarones out on the morning of Ostara, catch your loved ones by surprise and hit them over the head with an egg. As the insides rain around you, you are blessed with the love, luck, and new life of the season.
- There is an ancient legend in the Ukraine that tells of a demon monster that would devour the world. This monster is chained and as it strains and pulls, the links of its chains are weakened. But every Spring the chain is strengthened in proportion to the number of pysanky (intricately decorated eggs) that were made and exchanged that season. (The word pysanky comes from the root word pysaty (to write) because the signs are written on the surface of the egg in a rich language of symbols almost endless in number and variation.)
Eggs are a traditional symbol of Ostara, beginning with the egg itself. The shell is seen as the Universe, which surrounds us all, the white is the Goddess, the golden orb of its yolk represents the Sun God, and the whole is a symbol of rebirth.
You can place uncooked eggs (colored or not) in the braid just before baking and they will
cook while the bread does.
2 packages active dry yeast (1/4 ounce each)
2/3 Cup warm water (110 degrees F)
6 egg yolks (room temperature)
3 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
4 1/2 Cups All-purpose flour
1 egg + a pinch of salt
Directions (Note - if you use quick-rise yeast, the rising times will be about half of the time stated here)
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Stir in the yolks, 3 eggs, oil, sugar, and salt. Add about 3-1/2 cups of flour to make a sticky dough.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead with remaining flour until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn to oil the entire surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Place in a warm place until double in size, about 1-1/2 hours.
3. Punch down the dough, and divide into 3 pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long. Braid the three strands together, and seal the ends. Place the bread on a greased cookie sheet. Beat the remaining 1 egg with a pinch of salt; brush onto bread. Let the bread rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Brush the bread with eggwash again.
5. Bake for 40 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
Great for the little ones to help make (and help eat!)
3 drops green food coloring
1/2 teaspoon milk
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
6 ounces white confectioners' coating
Tiny colored jelly beans colored candy-coated chocolate pieces to decorate nests.
Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix food coloring with milk; add coconut and mix until evenly tinted; set aside.
2. Melt confectioners' coating over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring every 15 to 30 seconds until smooth. Mix with coconut mixture and place by spoonfuls on waxed paper. Shape mixture like a bird's nest, making a slight indentation in the center of each one.
3. Cool completely and decorate by placing candies in the center of each nest.
Crustless Spinach Quiche
Combining the fertility of the egg with the new growth of the baby spinach leaves.
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped baby spinach, thawed and drained
5 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded Muenster cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.
3. In a large bowl, combine eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan.
4. Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Custard Pie
1/2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
6 eggs
1 cup white sugar
2 cups milk
1 pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
1. Beat eggs with a whisk. Beat in sugar, milk, and salt. Pour filling into pie crust. Sprinkle nutmeg and cinnamon on top.
2. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and continue baking for an additional 45 minutes.
12 eggs
1/3 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 dill pickle, finely chopped
Directions
1. Place eggs in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool and peel.
2. Slice eggs in half lengthwise and remove yolks. Place yolks in a medium bowl. Mash together with ranch-style salad dressing. Mix in the cream cheese, then the onion and dill pickle.
3. Fill the hollowed egg whites generously with the egg yolk mixture. Chill in the refrigerator until serving.
Legend of the Osatra Egg |
Meanings of Egg Symbols |
Ostara Around The World |
Ostara Symbols |
Ostara Poem |
Recipes for the Ostara Feast |
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