Ostara

Ostara

As the days slowly lengthen, her coat blends with the long shadows of dusk, and she is nearly invisible. It is said she can fly, and this might be why she takes pity on wounded birds and restores them to life. Oddly, once resurrected, overfilled with life, the rescued birds sprout downy ears and tails and resemble her in miniature. Fertile little things, happily reproducing like bunnies. In their excessive gratitude, they lay a holy plethora of eggs. They're still birds after all, deep down.

What will we do with this abundance of eggs? Ostara, the recipient of all that joy and gratitude, has no idea. It is the first full moon of spring, a bright and magical night, and she instructs the flock, fly to all the homes where children sleep and hide your eggs for them to find come morning.

Before long, the spring sensation becomes gluttony, kids devouring her chocolatey likeness with jellybeans on the side, forgetting their painted eggs. Best not to mention that her resurrection story is now attributed to a skinny preacher who fathered no children, or so we're told. Wasn't this story about fertility, once upon a time?

(@200 words)

The Easter bunny is not only a much-beloved character that brings joy and easter eggs to children; the symbol of the rabbit, or hare, is connected to Eostre, whose animal symbol was the rabbit, and to spring renewal, as well as fertility, good luck, and abundance. The Easter bunny is also associated with "Osterhase," a German mythological figure who hatched and hid eggs for children and adults to find on Easter Sunday. It is believed that Ostara once healed a wounded bird by changing it into a hare, who repaid Ostara with laying eggs a way of expressing gratitude. https://www.gaia.com/article/beyond-the-easter-bunny-the-true-origins-and-histor...