Imbolic, Saint Bridgid, Candle Mass and ground hogs

If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas day be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.

Imbolc (also Imbolg), or St Brigid’s Day (Scots Gaelic Là Fhèill Brìghde, Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, the feast day of St Brigid, is a Celtic festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on 1 or 2 February

The festival was observed in Gaelic Ireland during the Middle Ages Reference to Imbolc is made in Irish mythology, in the Tochmarc emire of the Ulster Cycle. Imbolc was one of the four cross-quartwe daysreferred to in Irish mythology, the others being Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.

Traditionally what we modern Westerners know as Groundhog Day was and is, on Feb 1st or 2nd is celebrated in the Modern Irish Calendar as Saint Brigid’s Day,or Bride’s Day. Both a Catholic and an ancient Pagan Celebration,an ancient Goddess tradition, also called Imbolc, still celebrated by Wiccans/Pagan based Earth honouring religions. Christians overlaid the Ancient Goddess worshipers’ holiday renaming it Candlemas or the fest of the Purification of the Virgin. This celebration also relates to the midpoint between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

It is a “cross-quarter” day in the 8 rounds of the Wheel of Time in the Solar based year. Since the Celtic Year was based on both lunar and solar cycles, it is most likely the holiday would be celebrated on the Full Moon nearest those 2 midpoints, when early spring flowers would begin to rise up through the snow, and snakes would come out of the ground. This is the precursor of the Groundhog, which the Romans replaced with a Hedgehog,

how to make St Brigid's cross

a short office for  Cadlemas

Imbolic liturgy