Happy Imbolc, Groundhog’s Day, Brigid’s Day, or whatever you celebrate. I call this holiday Candlemas, which is a call back to my Christian/Catholic roots, I suppose. However, I don’t feel comfortable with Irish/Celtic holiday designations, since I am Hellenic.
What is Candlemas?
Candlemas itself is an “adaptation” of a pagan goddess holiday by the church, where people light candles to banish dark spirits and the dark of winter. Today represents the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Animals are beginning to be born, and seeds planted a hope for the coming spring. In fact, a ritual involving starting seeds for the coming spring, along with the things you wish to manifest, is a good inclusion for your Candlemas ritual.
Candlemas/Imbolc is a cross quarter day (not one of the four main quarter days that mark the start of each astronomical season). This is also why it is famous (in the US) as an inverse weather indicator. You might wonder why if the day is clear it promises bad weather, while a harsh day promises good weather. Cross-quarter days, such as Imbolc are considered inverse indicators of weather. While the quarter days, the equinoxes and solstices are considered direct indicators of the coming weather.
We say that we will have “six more weeks of winter” if the groundhog sees his shadow, because that is how long it is until the next sabbat. If the groundhog sees his shadow (we have a bright, sunny day) there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t (the sky is gloomy or overcast), spring comes early. This year, ‘Punxsutawney Phil’ saw his shadow, so six more weeks of winter for us.
If Candlemas day be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.
If Candlemas day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away.
Selena Fox
Historical Observations
Candlemas or Imbolc also lays the foundation for several Christian celebrations. Because the celebration of Brigid was so ingrained in European cultures, the Catholic church named the holiday “St. Brigid’s Day” in Ireland or The Feast Day of St. Blaize in France. Some pagan faiths have a woman representing the Virgin Goddess re-light the fires and bring back the light. This celebration also helped the Catholics to ease the transition away from Pagan ways. Since they had aligned the birth of Christ (Christmas) with Yule, Imbolc became aligned with another religious observation. The Catholic church believed that a woman was not pure, and could not receive communion for 6 weeks after giving birth. Nor could she engage in sexual relations with her husband. In that faith this holiday represents Mary once again being welcomed into society after the birth of Christ.
Alternatively, the older pagan names for the holiday were Imbolc and Oimelc. ‘Imbolc’ means, literally, ‘in the belly’ (of the Mother). These names represent the quickening of the life in the womb of Mother Earth. Hidden from sight, but sensed as stirrings of life throughout nature, spring is being welcomed after the long winter. The seed that was planted in the womb of the Goddess at the winter solstice is beginning to make itself known. Alternatively, ‘Oimelc’ means ‘milk of ewes’, for it is also lambing season. More new life is promising growth after the seclusion of the winter season.
Like the other sabbats of the Witches’ year, Candlemas is sometimes celebrated on it’s alternate date, astrologically determined by the sun’s reaching 15-degrees Aquarius. Another holiday that gets mixed up in this is Valentine’s Day. Ozark folklorist Vance Randolf makes this quite clear by noting that the old-timers used to celebrate Groundhog’s Day on February 14th. This modern calendar vs astrological timing is evident in Eastern Orthodox Christianity as well. Their habit of celebrating the birth of Jesus on January 6th, with a similar post-dated shift in the six-week period that follows it, puts the Feast of the Purification of Mary on February 14th.
Current Observations
\Many cultures have debated this historical vs modern dating approach to holidays, and this has led to some confluence of traditions. For example, just for Imbolc we have: Groundhog’s Day, the Feast of the Purification of Mary, astrological Imbolc, and Valentine’s Day in a two week period of observation. Especially among eclectic practitioners, this can lead to a lot of options, and explain some of the differences between traditional observances based on the cultures of the region that is being discussed.
Whatever your customs and observations, I wish you a blessed holiday and a bright candle to break through the darkness and find your path. (As my traditions of Candlemas include Persephone being led out of the Underworld by Hecate.)
