I know, I am a day late, both for Spring Equinox and my regular blogpost, but my excuse is that I have been travelling…quite the exotic activity in this day and age. I have been visiting family in Germany and that was a great opportunity to remind myself of local customs for the season.
The Ukranian practice of Pysanky (here is a good link with instructions) is a lot in the media right now and you can find similar approaches in many places on the continent. Decorating blown out eggs is very common in Germany, too, and we usually hang them up on spring branches, for instance willow (with catkins) or forsythia. An alternative is to create a little nest, using moss, and placing your eggs in there.
Last but not least there is the much loved easter egg hunt: hide your eggs around the house or in the garden if you are lucky enough to have one, invite family and friends to search for treasure. Each found egg will add to their blessings for the year. Our parents usually took us for an “expedition” on Easter Sunday and my dad used to walk a little bit ahead of us which gave him time to hide eggs and chocolate treats along the way.
In terms of ritual practice, we really enjoy preparing the eggs together. Blowing them out is usually a great source of laughter as there is just no way to do that in a dignified manner. Paint symbols on your eggs or sigils or write on them, use colours and maybe even oils, fill them with ground herbs etc, using anything that corresponds with your magical intent. We then bless and charge our eggs in circle to dedicate them to their purpose and depending on what that is you might then either want to display them in your home, set them afloat on a stream or bury them in the earth.
Happy Spring Equinox!