At the beginning of February there is often hard weather still to come, and yet the evenings have begun to draw out and the snowdrops are up. Imbolc is the feast of that first, uncertain light.
Imbolc is an Irish word, pronounced IM-olk. Its meaning is disputed. The usual explanations connect it with the belly, that is, with pregnancy, or with the milk of the ewes, which begin to lamb at about this time. Either way it is a festival of things beginning out of sight.
History and folklore
In early Ireland the first of February opened the spring, and the day belonged to Brigid: first, it seems, to a goddess of that name, patroness of poets, smiths and healers, and afterwards to the saint of Kildare who bears the same name and many of the same attributes. On her eve, crosses were plaited from rushes and hung in the house, a bed was made for her by the fire, and a ribbon was left on the windowsill overnight for her to bless.
In England and Wales the festival of the season was Candlemas, on the second of February, when the year's supply of candles was blessed in church and carried in procession. In Welsh it is Gwyl Fair y Canhwyllau, Mary's Festival of the Candles. Snowdrops, which flower now, were called Candlemas bells. And everyone knew the weather rhyme, which holds that a fine Candlemas means more winter to come:
If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Traditional
Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas Day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.
Imbolc in the Craft
In the story of the year, the Goddess has recovered from the birth of the sun at Yule and is a maiden once more, and the child of light is growing. The festival is hers. It is kept with candles, in great numbers, as a sign that the light has turned the corner and as an encouragement to it.
It is a festival of purification and of new starts. The house is cleaned, the altar is stripped and laid afresh, the last of the Yule greenery is burned. It is a time for the first sowing of plans, as well as of seeds on a windowsill.
By long custom it is also a favoured season for initiation. A new witch, like the year, begins in the dark with one small light.
How our coven keeps it
We call it Candlemas, as Gardner did in his books and as the border country always has.
- Before the circle, every candle in the house is lit, in every room, and the electric lights are turned off.
- The coven's stock of candles for the coming year is laid on the altar and blessed.
- Each of us lights a candle from the altar flame and names one thing we mean to begin.
- A bowl of the first snowdrops from under the orchard hedge stands on the altar.
- When we have someone ready for the first degree, this is when we prefer to bring them in.
Keeping it yourself
- Go out and look for the first signs: snowdrops, catkins, the birds beginning to sing before dawn.
- Notice the time of sunset. It is already nearly an hour later than at midwinter.
- Clean the house thoroughly, and throw something away.
- At dusk, light every candle you own, and sit among them for a while.
- Decide on one thing to begin, and begin it.