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

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

Listen deep to the old stories...

and go seeking your lost songlines. They are already singing you.

Diana ~ from Sara K Byrne's Multi-Layered Portraits

Listen deep to the old stories and you will hear the rumble of your roots, the flap of your wings, the cries and shouts of joy of your ancestors.

Listen deep to the old stories and hear them whir within your DNA and resound in the world around you, from deepest ocean to most distant star, in every form imaginable.

Listen deep to the old stories and hear your wisest voice of guidance and your most innocent foolish chatter.

Listen deep to the old stories and they will map a path that is sure to lead you to a well, which quenches every thirst.

Listen deep to the old stories and be transformed from the duck you thought you were to the swan you know you are. Such recognition! You are a story being told yourself!

~ Niki na Meadhra

Photo by Edouard Boubat

When we heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors...

"I had a vision the ancestors told us to heal the world.

When we heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, 

our grandmothers, our grandfathers, and our children. 

When we heal ourselves, we also heal mother earth.” 

~ Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein

Photo of Grandmother with Calla Lilies, Antigua, Guatemala by Judy Sidonie Tillinger

Tree of Life: Mother Courage by Betty LaDuke, 1986.
From "Celebrating Life – Betty LaDuke: Multicultural Celebrations"

The artist Betty LaDuke, explores women's lives as a duality - women as young bearers of new life, sustaining and nurturing all life forms, and women as old, wise healers and cultural guardians, offering strength and stability.
From: Women Speak; The Eloquence of Women's Lives by Karen A. Foss, Sonja K. Foss, 1991.


Reconnecting to the Wisdom of our Ancestors ~ A talk and guided meditation with Dr. Illana Berger. Click on the link below:

http://energyhealing.thesacredscience.com/video-day-2b-ift_LIVE.html

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor

Enriching our lives through the stories and ways of our Ancestors...

Greetings and welcome back!

This will be a place where we can share and learn a variety of ways to remember and honour our family and ancestors... via memories, stories and creative expression.
By walking with our Ancestors we can help to keep their memory and wisdom alive in our hearts and lives... for ourselves and the generations to come.

Meanwhile... as I continue to sort and bring together my many years of gathered material for Ancestors Alive! (which might take a wee while!) I thought I would pop by each day and share some words and pictures with you for contemplation and inspiration... Enjoy!

Today I will leave you with the following message which feels so timely for me and resonates deeply with this new work in progress...

Message from the Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers:

"As you move through these changing times... be easy on yourself and be easy on one another. You are at the beginning of something new. You are learning a new way of being. You will find that you are working less in the yang modes that you are used to.

You will stop working so hard at getting from point A to point B the way you have in the past, but instead, will spend more time experiencing yourself in the whole, and your place in it.

Instead of traveling to a goal out there, you will voyage deeper into yourself. Your mother's grandmother knew how to do this. Your ancestors from long ago knew how to do this. They knew the power of the feminine principle... and because you carry their DNA in your body, this wisdom and this way of being is within you.

Call on it. Call it up. Invite your ancestors in. As the yang based habits and the decaying institutions on our planet begin to crumble, look up. A breeze is stirring. Feel the sun on your wings."

Wisdom of Grandma: Photo by Carmen Hunter

Enriching our lives through the stories and ways
of our Ancestors...

Artwork detail from a collaged Gourd I made some years ago.
(I will share more info and images about this creation process later!) Image © Raine @ Inner Voice Art™

Quw'utsun' Made © Be A Good Ancestor sticker