131719-HEART OF GLASTONBURY-MARCH 24 - Flipbook - Page 14
CELTIC CELEBRATIONS IN MARCH
By Kubi May
In March, England finally sheds winter's shroud with a gentle sigh. Across rolling hills and
verdant dales, the land stirs with whispered promises, as crocus blooms unfurl like
delicate dreams beneath the softening sky. Spring tiptoes through fields and woodlands,
trailing whispers of warmth in its wake. Hares, fleet-footed heralds of the season, dart and
dance beside hedgerows adorned with golden daffodils, their playful leaps a joyful ode to
the awakening earth. As the sun climbs higher in the sky, its golden rays filtering through
the canopy to dapple the forest floor, we can imagine how our ancient ancestors might
have celebrated such a season of renewal.
The Spring Equinox happens between the 19th and 21st of March each year, when day and
night are in equal balance, ushering in a period of longer days and shorter hours of
darkness. The neolithic burial chamber, Cairn T of Loughcrew in County Meath, was built
to align with the rising sun on this day, illuminating carvings of what looks like eight
spoked sun-wheels and ancient swirling artworks inside. So it would seem that the Spring
Equinox was an important time for our ancestors as far back as 3,200 BC when it was built,
long before the arrival of the Celts.
Although sadly, evidence of the Celtic traditions around Spring Equinox celebrations have
been lost over time, it would have certainly been a time to celebrate the blossoming of
Spring. While Ostara marks the Spring Equinox for most Pagans, it was a festival adopted
from Germanic tribes into the Celtic Wheel of the Year. Some think it’s very likely that the
Celts might have shared similar traditions to the northern European pagans, who
celebrated their Germanic goddess Eostre / Ostara, the goddess of the dawn, love, fertility
and spring. It has been suggested that the egg and the Moon-gazing March Hare were her
sacred symbols, which were later synchronised from ‘Eostre’ into the Christian ‘Easter’.