Blessed Ostara

Ostara is one of the eight major Wiccan holidays or sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. Ostara is celebrated on the Vernal Equinox, in the Northern hemisphere around March 21 and in the Southern hemisphere around September 23, depending upon the specific timing of the equinox.

Among the Wiccan sabbats, it is preceded by Imbolc and followed by Beltane."The Festival of Ostara at the spring equinox marks the end of winter and the beginning of the season of rebirth, and is celebrated by a blot in honor of Frigg and Freya, and/or the disir, the collective of female fertility deities." The "blot" is a celebratory meal, also known as "cakes and ale", that is believed to be shared with the the God/ess.

In the book Eight Sabbats for Witches by Janet and Stewart Farrar, the festival Ostara is characterized by the rejoining of the Mother Goddess and her lover-consort-son, who spent the winter months in death.
Here's a picture taken exactly 20 years ago this spring of my 2 housemates, Dan and Carol, and the snowman we built for our house's spring party. We named him "Vern", as in Vernal Equinox. The banana was my and Carol's idea, as was the beer can in his right hand. I do remember this day, it was one of those absolutely gorgeous spring days following a pretty rough winter where we still had a lot of snow left. As you can see, it was warm enough for Carol to be in short sleeves. Unfortunately Vern's banana shriveled up, turned black and dropped off long before the party started.

Funny though, I have no memory of the party itself. Must've been good if I can't remember it.