What does Easter actually mean? Goddesses, witches and chocolate? Its history stems way beyond the religious elements – as intertwined as they may be. I wanted to tell you about the beautiful goddess Eostre in whose memory we actually celebrate the world’s rebirth – and to my delight, when I researched her, it turns out she was a witch! A good one, of course, but my skim through the Internet found tales of maidens at dawn and sword dances with twelve men.
People frequently ask me what ‘Weekend Witch’ does during the week… I reply that I write blogs for people, run Twitter and LinkedIn training courses and handle social media management strategies for a bunch of clients. In future, I think I’ll tell them I’m a goddess. What would that involve, exactly? Is it something I’d need to study for, or practice?
Incidentally, the goddess Eostre, being Anglo Saxon, would have spoken in plain English – so we do actually have something in common!! I must remember to mention that at my next Plain English training session in London, although I don’t want to detract from the importance of effective language use as a marketing necessity.
Spending an afternoon in Greenwich is always one of my favourite pastimes and we wandered happily through the craft market before visiting the wonderful painted gallery and chapel. Obviously quite appropriate on Easter Sunday to be sitting in a chapel, maybe a bit less so being Jewish, but it is our national heritage after all! And I did make a huge Passover dinner for twelve people (no sword dancing) with traditional lokshen soup, meat, chicken and salmon, so my love of churches can go unmentioned.
In contrast to the 16th century architecture, Greenwich visitor’s centre is bright and modern – so you could be forgiven for thinking they’d have 21st century facilities. In fact, having queued for the ladies’ room (see how polite I am?), I was a bit annoyed to discover a lack of loo paper and even more put out that the lock didn’t work properly; and – to my horror (and hers!) – a woman charged in before I had a chance to pull my knickers up!! Fortunately no photos of that made it onto Twitter!!!
Anyway, how cool is it that you can stand in one spot and look at a view unchanged for centuries, then spin around to face Canary Wharf, one of the architectural jewels of our time. My photos don’t do it justice. If you haven’t visited Greenwich you really should – it’s well worth a few hours out of your busy day.
I noticed last night that Bat out of Hell is being re-released in a limited edition format, whatever that means. Strangely, perhaps, I find these lyrics a bit goddessy: Oh Baby, you’re the only thing in this whole world that’s pure and good and right. And wherever you are and wherever you go, there’s always gonna be some light.
May Easter’s rebirth bring you light… and chocolate! Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend. I’ll be back at work tomorrow, right here @WeekendWitch.
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