Candlemas,
Imbolc, and Groundhog Day
How many days were there in January? Forty? Fifty?
It’ll get warm again someday. Right? RIGHT?!
Yesterday was the neopagan festival of Imbolc, a Celtic-inspired celebration of lengthening days and their promise of that spring will return. Eventually.
The holiday of Candlemas (and St. Brigid’s Day in Ireland) served a similar role in medieval Europe.
While theologically linked to the celebration of Mary’s presentation of her child at the illuminated temple, in practice the holiday involved many eccentric customs related to celebrating light, and to searching the natural world for general signs of hope and for practical agricultural prognostications.
While the deep lore of Candlemas is all but forgotten, its legacy persists.
Why do we wonder at a groundhog’s shadow on February Second? Because a thousand years ago suspiciously witchy German peasants did something very similar on Candlemas, and their traditions migrated to Punxsutawny (and Covington) in the 19th century.
Enjoy this snowpocalyptic video of Mutter Gottes Church while we wait for the word from the groundhog.
It’ll get warm again someday. Right? RIGHT?!
Yesterday was the neopagan festival of Imbolc, a Celtic-inspired celebration of lengthening days and their promise of that spring will return. Eventually.
The holiday of Candlemas (and St. Brigid’s Day in Ireland) served a similar role in medieval Europe.
While theologically linked to the celebration of Mary’s presentation of her child at the illuminated temple, in practice the holiday involved many eccentric customs related to celebrating light, and to searching the natural world for general signs of hope and for practical agricultural prognostications.
While the deep lore of Candlemas is all but forgotten, its legacy persists.
Why do we wonder at a groundhog’s shadow on February Second? Because a thousand years ago suspiciously witchy German peasants did something very similar on Candlemas, and their traditions migrated to Punxsutawny (and Covington) in the 19th century.
Enjoy this snowpocalyptic video of Mutter Gottes Church while we wait for the word from the groundhog.
