Coven of Cythrawl
ibolc
Although the days are getting longer, this is still the heart of winter and Brighid, the Celtic Goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft is honored. Her gift of Smithcraft comes with an added bonus, fire. This may be the reason some celebrate this day as the day of the Celtic Fire Goddess. This is a time of new beginnings and growth. At this time, think of your goals and dreams for this year that you will plant. At this time, greet the pregnant Maiden Goddess and give Her thanks for soon She will give birth to the spring. Light many candles and perhaps make a Bridgit's Cross to hang outside your door for the year to come.
It seems quite impossible that the
holiday of Candlemas should be considered the beginning of Spring. Here in the
Heartland, February 2nd may see a blanket of snow mantling the Mother. Or, if
the snows have gone, you may be sure the days are filled with drizzle, slush,
and steel-grey skies -- the dreariest weather of the year. In short, the perfect
time for a Pagan Festival of Lights. And as for Spring, although this may seem a
tenuous beginning, all the little buds, flowers and leaves will have arrived on
schedule before Spring runs its course to Beltane.
"Candlemas" is the
Christianized name for the holiday, of course. The older Pagan names were Imbolc
and Oimelc. "Imbolc" means, literally, "in the belly" (of
the Mother). For in the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but
sensed by a keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted in her
womb at the solstice is quickening and the new year grows. "Oimelc"
means "milk of ewes", for it is also lambing season.
The holiday is also called
"Brigit's Day", in honor of the great Irish Goddess Brigit. At her
shrine, the ancient Irish capitol of Kildare, a group of 19 priestesses (no men
allowed) kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She was considered a
goddess of fire, patroness of smithcraft, poetry and healing (especially the
healing touch of midwifery). This tripartite symbolism was occasionally
expressed by saying that Brigit had two sisters, also named Brigit.
(Incidentally, another form of the name Brigit is Bride, and it is thus She
bestows her special patronage on any woman about to be married or handfasted,
the woman being called "bride" in her honor.)
The Roman Catholic Church could
not very easily call the Great Goddess of Ireland a demon, so they canonized her
instead. Henceforth, she would be "Saint" Brigit, patron SAINT of
smithcraft, poetry, and healing. They "explained" this by telling the
Irish peasants that Brigit was "really" an early Christian missionary
sent to the Emerald Isle, and that the miracles she performed there
"misled" the common people into believing that she was a goddess. For
some reason, the Irish swallowed this. (There is no limit to what the Irish
imagination can convince itself of. For example, they also came to believe that
Brigit was the "foster-mother" of Jesus, giving no thought to the
implausibility of Jesus having spent his boyhood in Ireland!)
Brigit's holiday was chiefly
marked by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth
and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration. Bonfires
were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their special holiday.
The Roman Church was quick to confiscate this symbolism as well, using "Candlemas"
as the day to bless all the church candles that would be used for the coming
liturgical year. (Catholics will be reminded that the following day, St.
Blaise's Day, is remembered for using the newly-blessed candles to bless the
throats of parishioners, keeping them from colds, flu, sore throats, etc.)
The Catholic Church, never one to
refrain from piling holiday upon holiday, also called it the Feast of the
Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (It is surprising how many of the old
Pagan holidays were converted to Maryan Feasts.) The symbol of the Purification
may seem a little obscure to modern readers, but it has to do with the old
custom of "churching women". It was believed that women were impure
for six weeks after giving birth. And since Mary gave birth at the winter
solstice, she wouldn't be purified until February 2nd. In Pagan symbolism, this
might be re-translated as when the Great Mother once again becomes the Young
Maiden Goddess.
Today, this holiday is chiefly
connected to weather lore. Even our American folk-calendar keeps the tradition
of "Groundhog's Day", a day to predict the coming weather, telling us
that if the Groundhog sees his shadow, there will be "six more weeks"
of bad weather (i.e., until the next old holiday, Lady Day). This custom is
ancient. An old British rhyme tells us that "If Candlemas Day be bright and
clear, there'll be two winters in the year." Actually, all of the
cross-quarter days can be used as "inverse" weather predictors,
whereas the quarter-days are used as "direct" weather predictors.
Like the other High Holidays or
Great Sabbats of the Witches' year, Candlemas is sometimes celebrated on it's
alternate date, astrologically determined by the sun's reaching 15-degrees
Aquarius, or Candlemas Old Style (in 1988, February 3rd, at 9:03 am CST).
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 same displacement 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. It
is amazing to think that the same confusion and lateral displacement of one of
the old folk holidays can be seen from the Russian steppes to the Ozark hills,
but such seems to be the case!
Incidentally, there is speculation
among linguistic scholars that the vary name of "Valentine" has Pagan
origins. It seems that it was customary for French peasants of the Middle Ages
to pronounce a "g" as a "v". Consequently, the original term
may have been the French "galantine", which yields the English word
"gallant". The word originally refers to a dashing young man known for
his "affaires d'amour", a true galaunt. The usual associations of
V(G)alantine's Day make much more sense in this light than their vague
connection to a legendary "St. Valentine" can produce. Indeed, the
Church has always found it rather difficult to explain this nebulous saint's
connection to the secular pleasures of flirtation and courtly love.
For modern Witches, Candlemas O.S.
may then be seen as the Pagan version of Valentine's Day, with a de-emphasis of
"hearts and flowers" and an appropriate re-emphasis of Pagan carnal
frivolity. This also re-aligns the holiday with the ancient Roman Lupercalia, a
fertility festival held at this time, in which the priests of Pan ran through
the streets of Rome whacking young women with goatskin thongs to make them
fertile. The women seemed to enjoy the attention and often stripped in order to
afford better targets.
One of the nicest folk-customs
still practiced in many countries, and especially by Witches in the British
Isles and parts of the U.S., is to place a lighted candle in each and every
window of the house, beginning at sundown on Candlemas Eve (February 1st),
allowing them to continue burning until sunrise. Make sure that such candles are
well seated against tipping and guarded from nearby curtains, etc. What a cheery
sight it is on this cold, bleak and dreary night to see house after house with
candle-lit windows! And, of course, if you are your Coven's chandler, or if you
just happen to like making candles, Candlem as Day is THE day for doing it. Some
Covens hold candle-making parties and try to make and bless all the candles
they'll be using for the whole year on this day.
Other customs of the holiday
include weaving "Brigit's crosses" from straw or wheat to hang around
the house for protection, performing rites of spiritual cleansing and
purification, making "Brigit's beds" to ensure fertility of mind and
spirit (and body, if desired), and making Crowns of Light (i.e. of candles) for
the High Priestess to wear for the Candlemas Circle, similar to those worn on
St. Lucy's Day in Scandinavian countries. All in all, this Pagan Festival of
Lights, sacred to the young Maiden Goddess, is one of the most beautiful and
poetic of the year.
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