I am trying to understand the tradition, myth and origins of Ostara (Eostre or Eastre). Was this associated with the Norse/Viking culture or their closely related Germanic/Saxon "cousins"? How far back does this tradition go? What did they do celebrate the equinox?
While the extant evidence is not so conclusive, scholars suppose relatively with ease that the [majority of] Viking Age Scandinavians probably celebrated the midwinter by holding the communal banquet and making animal as well as possibly human sacrifices, and also, though less with certainty, the midsummer as well (Sanmark 2004: 213-15).
Recent scholars have not reached an agreement, however, on whether the autumn harvest feast, mainly extant as a communal banquet of 'neighborhood ale' before All Saints' Day in the Norwegian law books after the establishment of Christian society, could date further back into pre-Christian tradition.
Furthermore, later traditions (late 12th to first half of the 13th centuries) are even more uncertain about the existence of the pre-Christian spring festival tradition, as following:
- 'He [King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway (d. 995)] first raised churches on his own estates and he abolished pagan feasts and sacrifices, in place of which, as a favour to the people, he ordained the holiday feasts Yule and Easter, St John’s Mass ale and an autumn-ale at Michaelmas (Ágrip, Chap. 19, in: Driscoll (trans.) 2008: 30-33)'.
- 'And it is their custom to hold a sacrificial feast in the autumn to welcome the winter, another at midwinter, and a third in the summer, to welcome the summer' (The Saga of St. Olaf, Chap. 109, in Heimskringla, ii, trans. Finlay & Falkes 2014: 118).
Therefore, I'm rather say no to accept the wider spread belief/ practive of celebrating the spring equinox among pre-Christian Scandinavians, though it is difficult to refute the entire possibility since their beliefs were probably much more diverse than the extant corpus, represented in the 13th century Icelandic manuscripts, as /u/Platypuskeeper and /u/sagathain argue respectively in How much do we actually know about the ancient religious traditions, deities and narratives of the Norse? and Why is ancient Viking beliefs, regarded as 'Mythology' and not as a Religion?.
On the other hand, I cannot find any detailed reference to Ostara except for Bede, so I'm also a bit skeptical of the popularity of this tradition among pre-Christian Saxons (though I'm not so specialized in Anglo-Saxon paganism).
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