Happy Imbolc, everybody!

Hah, you all thought it was just Groundhog Day. Well, with all due respect for Bill Murray, it goes a long way further back than Punxsutawny Phil, or Wiarton Willie up on the Bruce Peninsula.

I pinched this from Wikipedia and I think it's really interesting:

"Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Irish calendar, celebrated either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of Spring. Originally dedicated to the goddess Brigid, in the Christian period it was adopted as St Brigid's Day. In Scotland the festival is also known as Latha Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as Gwyl Ffraed. Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to Groundhog Day.

Thig an nathair as an toll
La donn Bride,
Ged robh tri traighean dh’ an t-sneachd
Air leachd an lair.

"The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bride,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground."

Fire and purification is considered by many to be an important aspect of this festival. Brigid (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit, Brìd) is the Goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. To some, the lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.

Among agrarian peoples, the festival was traditionally associated with the onset of lactation of ewes, soon to give birth to the spring lambs. This could vary by as much as two weeks before or after the start of February.

In Irish, Imbolc (pronounced im'olk) from the Old Irish, meaning "in the belly" (i mbolg), referring to the pregnancy of ewes, and is also a Celtic term for spring. Another name is Oimelc, meaning "ewe's milk". Some Celts and Neopagans shorten the name to Brigid, referring to the Celtic goddess of healing, poetry and smithcraft, to whom the day is sacred."

Now, I'm not a Wiccan, or a Druid, although being half Scottish and half Welsh, I could probably trace my ancestors back to the Celts that celebrated Imbolc in the past. I found a poem, or a prayer really, that is supposed to be recited at Imbolc, which is still celebrated by Wiccans today, and it goes like this:

Blessed be the earth, and all who dwell upon it.

We give thanks for the season now departing from us,

For the blessings it has bestowed upon us,

And upon those with whom we share this world.

Blessed be the new season.

We pray that it will be a time filled with peace,

With abundance, with prosperity,

With wisdom,

With love.

Blessed be all who share this feast.

Let us now prepare for the time ahead

By opening our hearts, and our minds, and our spirits.
Blessed be.

Kind of nice, don't you think? Regardless of who you want to pray to. Happy Imbolc, everyone.