Ostara Public Ritual

Ostara is a time of balance and the celebration of Spring. It’s the time of year when the light is returning, the Earth starts warming, the waters start flowing, and the seeds begin to sprout. All of us are eagerly waiting for warmer weather and dreaming of flowers and vegetable gardens. This year, as part of our Ostara ritual, we are going to host a seed swap and a seed blessing. Seeds are the basis of life and as such we want to honor them and send them off with as much love as we can! You are not required to participate in the seed swap or the seed blessing to join us for the Ostara ritual. Everyone will go home with a small packet of seeds regardless.

SEED SWAP: If you are interested in participating in the seed swap, please bring your clearly labeled seeds with you to the Ostara ritual. How many seeds you want to swap and what you package them in is up to you. We ask that you bring as much information as you can about what you are sharing. Examples of information to include might be:

• Name of plant (this is required information)

• Variety

• Year

• Location

• Description

• Sowing directions (seed depth, spacing, etc.)

• Time to harvest

• Any other notes

We will have index cards and small envelopes available for you to keep track of this information as you swap seeds if you need them.

SEED BLESSING: As part of our ritual, we will be placing seeds on the altar to do a seed blessing for our upcoming growing season. You are not required to participate in the seed swap to participate in the seed blessing. If you have seeds you’d like to have blessed, please feel free to bring them and add them to the altar. We ask that you clearly label them so they don’t get mixed up with others’ seeds.

Further details regarding the Ostara ritual will be posted in the upcoming week to our website and the Facebook event page.

This event is open to the public and a suggested donation of $10 for the ritual goes a long way in helping us provide these public events. We will also be collecting nonperishable food and pet food for the local shelters. We will be hosting this event at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Bangor at 120 Park St.

We are committed to maintaining a safe and sacred space for all to enjoy and ask that you keep this in mind while visiting. We welcome all genders, sexual orientations, and faiths. If you have any questions please feel free to message us.

We hope to see you there!