Bright Minstrel

 

Here's a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne:

"Ere frost-flower and snow-blossom faded and fell,

       and the splendor of winter had passed out of sight,

The ways of the woodlands were fairer and stranger

       than dreams that fulfill us in sleep with delight;

The breath of the mouths of the winds had hardened on tree-tops

       and branches that glittered and swayed

Such wonders and glories of blossom like snow

       or of frost that outlightens all flowers till it fade

That the sea was not lovelier than here was the land,

       nor the night than the day, nor the day than the night,

Nor the winter sublimer with storm than the spring:

       such mirth had the madness and might in thee made,

March, master of winds, bright minstrel and marshal of storms

        that enkindle the season they smite."

-  Algernon C. Swinburne, March: An Ode

 

 Facts about March from the Pagans:

Gwyl Canol GwenWynol or Eostre: (pronounced E-ostra, also known as Ostara, Spring Equinox etc.), March 21-23. Time of equal day and equal night. This is often celebrated with eggs (beginnings) and rabbits (fertiity) ... see the theme? It is now time to lay the seeds of new projects and new directions that you have meditated on throughout the cold months. Now is the time to start taking action. (A lot of traditions use this particular sabbat for initiations. New roads, a new breath.) Colours for this sabbat: Purple and Yellow. The Spring Equinox defines the season where Spring reaches it's apex, halfway through its journey from Candlemas to Beltane.   Night and day are in perfect balance, with the powers of light on the ascendancy.   The god of light now wins a victory over his twin, the god of darkness.  In the Welsh Mabinogion, this is the day on which the restored Llew takes his vengeance on Goronwy by piercing him with the sunlight spear.  For Llew was restored/reborn at the Winter Solstice and is now well/old enough to vanquish his rival/twin and mate with his lover/mother.  And the great Mother Goddess, who has returned to her Virgin aspect at Candlemas, welcomes the young sun god's embraces and conceives a child. The child will be born nine months from now, at the next Winter Solstice. And so the cycle closes at last to begin anew.  The customs surrounding the celebration of the spring equinox were imported from Mediterranean lands, although there can be no doubt that the first inhabitants of the British Isles observed it, as evidence from megalithic sites shows. But it was certainly more popular to the south, where people celebrated the holiday as New Year's Day, and claimed it as the first day of the first sign of the Zodiac, Aries. However you look at it, it is certainly a time of new beginnings, as a simple glance at Nature will prove."
-  Spring Equinox