Celebrating Ostara

So ... how does your family celebrate Ostara?

Our celebrations are pretty low key.

I hide eggs that morning, and then we go about the day as usual, punctuated by a shout of "Look what I found!" from somewhere in the house.

This year I put several kinds of candy in the eggs. That was a flop. Other years I have put nuts and dried fruits in the eggs and that went over better. I also discovered that some of the little "Toob" toys fit, so maybe next year, we'll return to fruit and nuts in the eggs and add little toys.

There are two "special" eggs -- the clear, "cut" one and the big paper one with the cartoon scene. Those contain "special" surprises, though they have to fit inside. This year it was a lollypop (the one candy Jack ate) and a tiny "plant your own tree" kit. Those were a hit!

We have other games, too.

Jack has a stone egg for each year of his life, plus one. (in the basket) Each year, he gets a new one, and the previous years eggs are hidden along with the hollow ones. He has to find the number of eggs to match his age to get a "prize". (This year it was a small set of Schleich knights.) If he finds the extra one, he gets another, smaller, prize. (This year a couple of Pope Osborn books)

And finally, after he's found all the eggs, we go out and cut forsythia branches to hang eggs from. It looks ok now, but when the forsythia blooms it will be VERY pretty - -and then we will know that Ostara is over and it's time to plan for Beltane.