The festival of the Spring Equinox, Alban Eilir, the sowing of seeds and the balance of day and night
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Rituals
Spring Equinox Rite: The Oak and Feather Grove
The Welsh/Brythonic name for this festival is Alban Eilir, meaning ‘the light of spring’, and it is the turning point within the season of Imbolc, marking the time of equal night and day when the sun rises in the east. By the calendar it is at a specific point around 21-22 March and a great many of its traditions have been taken on by the Christian Church and blended into Easter, a word that itself stems from the Saxon goddess Eostra, having the same root as oestrus and oestrogen. It is a festival of fertility waking. From here on the days become longer than the nights. The young sun god is taking up his weapons of manhood; the maiden of earth is shedding blood for the first time, moving forward through puberty, coy in her beauty, dressed in the golden flowers of springtime and sparkling rain. (Excerpt from Ritual by Emma Restall Orr)