Editing Wheel of the Year (section)

===Spring Equinox (Ostara)===
{{main|March equinox}}
{{see also|Liberalia|Hilaria|Nowruz}}
''Ostara'' is a name for the [[March equinox|spring equinox]] in some modern pagan traditions. The term is derived from a reconstruction produced by linguist [[Jacob Grimm]] of an Old High German form of the Old English ''[[Ēostre]]'', an [[List of Anglo-Saxon gods|Anglo-Saxon goddess]] for whom, according to [[Bede]], feasts were held in her [[Ēosturmōnaþ|eponymous month]], which he equated to April in the [[Julian calendar]].<ref name=Sermon>{{cite journal |last1=Sermon |first1=Richard |title=Eostre and the Matronae Austriahenae |journal=Folklore |date=3 April 2022 |volume=133 |issue=2 |pages=139–157 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.2021.1959143 |s2cid=249536135 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0015587X.2021.1959143 |issn=0015-587X}}</ref>

Known as ''Alban Eilir'' in strands of neo-druidry, this holiday is the second of three spring celebrations (the midpoint between Imbolc and Beltane), during which light and darkness are again in balance, with light on the rise. It is a time of new beginnings and of life emerging further from the grips of winter.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.druidry.org/druid-way/teaching-and-practice/druid-festivals/spring-equinox-alban-eilir/deeper-alban-eilir|title=Deeper into Alban Eilir|date=2012-01-18|website=Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids|access-date=2019-02-20}}</ref>