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,
Candlemas 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.
