Easter/Ostara Greetings! | Reminiscing & Pondering Traditions and Seasonal Contrasts...

"We are homesick most for the places
we have never known."

~ Carson McCullers

I just love this quote which rings so true for me...

Perhaps it comes from having no siblings with a relatively lonely childhood and the awareness of living far, far away from the lands of my Ancestors... so often spoken about by my Nan who was very proud of her Scottish heritage and loved to tell stories...

I have always wondered what their worlds and customs were like in places where they experienced the full spectrum of the changing Seasons... (with holiday calendars to match!) and I suspect those nostalgic pangs of longing and curiosity actually came from a much deeper desire to simply "belong" to a larger family or community which I've never experienced...

Easter nostalgia ~ both foreign and familiar...

Matryoska Egg for Easter

Growing up in the flats next door to mine is where I made my very first best friend. A girl two years older than me whose parents were born in Czechoslovakia and had fled to Australia for refuge and start their new life.

My Czech dolls in traditional costume

There were many things that I loved learning about in my new friend's family, culture and traditions but Christmas Eve and Easter were my favourites.
Don't get me wrong... I adored every kind of chocolate as all children do! But in their home, I also enjoyed discovering that there was so much more to Easter than chocolate eggs and bunnies... 

Like helping them dye and decorate their eggs with food colourings and vegetable skins; also adorning them with special transfers and using wax to carefully draw the designs.

The Ukrainian word for these eggs is pysanky. In Czechoslovakia they are called kraslice

My other Easter favourite times were the visits with my Mum by bus and train over the Harbour Bridge to my Nanna & Pop's house out west ~ via the magical Darrell Lea shop on George Street to buy one of their to-die-for nougat eggs with the wee chick on top!

It was always a long journey, but with my favourite comics to keep me company, the ride on the classic "Red Rattler" trains (which my Pop used to build!) was always an adventure!

The usual Easter egg hunts in the garden - which also sometimes came in a cute new egg cup of some sort - were our family traditions, resulting in quite a collection over the years!

Myself with Mum and my Pop "Tom" in later years.

My favourite Easter Show treat ~ The magical Kewpie!

During these younger years, I could never quite understand the connection between Jesus and Chocolate nor bunnies and eggs (not that I complained!) so it wasn't until later in life that I started to explore the wider origins, meanings and customs of Easter - and other traditions - which didn't relate to us at all seasonally, being in direct opposite to our world down here in the Southern Hemisphere. 

How did it get so late so soon?

It’s night before it’s afternoon.

December is here before it’s June.

My goodness how the time has flewn.

How did it get so late so soon?

~ Dr. Seuss

A world of confusing contrasts...

In keeping with the Christian belief of resurrection at Easter and the promise of new life, there are the fertility symbols of bunnies and eggs with the new growth of Spring; and yet our days here are shortening as golden leaves fall from the trees which are turning in preparation for the Winter months ahead... 

Then after their precious warmer Summer months, the North are observing the ancient traditions of Halloween/Hallowmas/Samhain and the shortening days of Autumn which then creep into Winter and the next thing, everyone is rugging up for a White Christmas complete with Yule log fires burning...

Meanwhile in the Land Down Under, we are at the beach with our salads and seafood, desperately trying to cool off while watching our Summer Santa surfing!

I think you get my drift!

Over the years I have discovered that for me, living by the seasonal calendar (as our earliest Ancestors would have once done) simply made alot more sense! So while we would still participate in all the usual community holidays of the year, I found that being aware, observing and living by Nature's cycles rather than because a calendar said it was the "right time" felt a whole better and helped to be more connected to the land and traditional ways of my Ancestors...

With love and Easter/Ostara Blessings to all...
Happy Month!

An after note:
My thoughts above are simply me reflecting on life!
Please know that I respect and honour all of the spiritual and sacred beliefs and traditions of others. Ho!

Photo by Sarachmet

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