A Celtic Spring

Kathleen Dupree

These words are from and old British rhyme. Candlemas, occurring on February 2nd, is in the calendar of the Church, the celebration of the purification of the Virgin Mary. The name comes from the custom of bringing in supplies of new candles from each household for the church. The candles are lit as a celebration for Mary and to mark the end of the Christmas season which began 40 days before.

Americans may be more familiar with February 2nd as Groundhog Day. But, before Groundhog Day and before Candlemas there was an older celebration that took place around the beginning of February among the Celtic peoples of Europe. This day was known among the Irish as Imbolc or Brigid's Day, Lá Fléile Bríd. In its original form, before later religious observations were laid over it, it was a celebration of the first stirrings of spring. It is for this reason that we still keep the memory of observing the weather on February 2nd to predict the end of winter.

The Irish word Imbolc literally means "in the belly" from the words i (in) + bolg (belly). The first week of February in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere is the time of year when the lengthening days first begins to be noticeable. According to some theories, the reproductive cycles of animals and plants are governed by the amount of sunlight they are exposed to. The increased number of pregnant livestock and woodland animals, whose fertility cycles were triggered by the increase in light in early February, inspired the old name for this season. I was told once by a veterinarian that birthing in early spring is Mother Nature's way of assuring that young animals will survive. By being born when the danger of extreme cold is past and having several months to mature, the young ones will be able to survive well on their own when cold weather returns.

Far into the reaches of human history, life was guided by the seasons. It was important to know when planting could be undertaken without risk of weather too cold for the crops to survive. Human beings learned to watch for the signs that nature gave them in order to determine the right times for planting and harvesting. The knowledge of these signs was passed down from generation to generation in unwritten lore based upon the activities of animals, the budding of trees and the movement of the sun across the sky. In northern Europe where the Celtic tribes prevailed, the first signs of spring heralded the long awaited assurance that winter was indeed almost over. It was a time to be celebrated.

The old celebrations of Imbolc were centered around the hearth. All greenery that had been brought inside the house was taken away so that no trace of winter would remain. The entire house was carefully cleaned, getting rid of the old to make way for the new. The Great Goddess, in her form as Brigid or Brigantia, patroness of the hearthfire, was welcomed in with great ceremony by the woman of the house. Community bonfires were lit in Brigid's honor to burn away the darkness and decay of winter and to seek her blessing on the coming season of planting.

The reverence for Brigid, the ancient Celtic Goddess of fire and home, was so strong and ingrained in the hearts and minds of the Celts that the influence of Christianity could not quench it. Rather than fight what could not be fought, the Church canonized Brigid as a Christian saint and she became known as the foster mother of Christ. Her reverence under that guise continued along with fire as her symbol. St. Brigid, whose historic life became overlapped with that of the ancient Goddess, founded a monastery at Kildare. A sacred fire was kept there, tended by nineteen nuns beginning in the fifth century and remaining perpetual until it was extinguished during the time of the reformation. Brigid's holy day retains the association with fire as the Christian holy day of Candlemas and she is still welcomed into homes on this day, particularly in Ireland where she has become the "other" patron saint of the Irish people and is often referred to as "Mary of the Gael".

Although early Protestant immigrants from Ireland and the British Isles to America left behind the Christianized rituals of Candlemas and much of the memory of Brigid, the earlier associations of February 2nd with nature, specifically with weather forecasting were retained and are with us today. Farmers watch for burrowing animals to appear above ground and remain, signaling the arrival of weather warm enough to begin preparing the seed for planting. It is the burrowing animals and their instinct that it is warm enough to remain above ground that has given us the tradition of Groundhog Day. Mother Nature, after all, knows best.

(Sources: The Celtic Book of Days by Caitlin Matthews, Mythic Ireland by Michael Dames, The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden)