Imbolc - the Feast of a Saint and a Goddess

This is a tad late in coming, but I've been pretty busy lately. Better late than never, I guess.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've always found the secular holiday of Groundhog Day to be a rather strange holiday. What the hell's a groundhog have to do with anything? Well, believe it or not, there's some significance to it.

Most Americans know February 2nd to be Groundhog Day, though the Pagans and Pagan-knowledgable that read this probably know it as Imbolc, while Catholics may be familiar with it as The Feast of Saint Brigid, Candlemas, or the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin.

One of the primary rituals was predicting the weather in the coming months. Instead of groundhogs, the Gaelic people would look to see if snakes or badgers came out of the hibernation. If the snakes or badgers were coming out of the ground, that meant that spring was on it's way, finally.

Another predictor of the coming spring was the lactating of ewes just prior to the birth of the spring lambs. Around this time of the year, the food stores were probably nearly gone and the people worried about whether they would make it through until spring. The lactating ewes gave the early people hope, because it meant that spring was just around the corner.

St. Brigid is actually the result (at least in part) of Christian assimilation of Britain. Brigid was a Celtic goddess who represents poetry, fire, healing, divination, and prophecy, among other things. She also represents the Maiden form of the Great Goddess figure (Maiden/Mother/Crone) in the Wheel of the Year.

Some sources cite the origin of St. Brigid to an Irish Catholic nun who lived during the late 5th century. Whether she actually existed or was purely the result of Christian assimilation remains in question whose answer is probably lost to the pages of history. The feast day in her honor, however, no doubt had to do with Imbolc.

Even in Catholicism, Brigid was a prominent figure, also representing the virgin, dairy workers and maids, and birth.

Imbolc is also known as Candlemas because of the large amount of candles used by both the Pagans and Catholics. For the Catholics, a candlelight ceremony was held in honor of the purification of the Virgin Mary. For Pagans, the candles represented the strengthening of the Sun.

Imbolc, for both Christians and Pagans, was a time of hope. Hope for their recently born gods (Jesus for the Christians, and the Horned God for the Celts), and hope for the nearing spring and fairer weather.