Festival of Light

I had intended to celebrate Imbolc tonight but for one reason and another, all we managed was to set a nice table and have a brief talk about the reasons for this Festival.

We have not ever celebrated this before and I only realised recently, after doing some research, that Candlemas in the northern Hemisphere is derived from this pagan Festival of Light. Imbolc literally means "in milk" and was traditionally celebrated at the onset of the lactation of ewes, therefore it wasn't actually at any set date, but could vary between communities. 

It is the celebration of the banishing of Winter and the imminent arrival of Spring and of new beginnings. 

 Living in a relatively cool climate now (compared to the mid north coast of NSW) we are more aware of  the changes of the seasons - and it is indeed a joy to see the first of the snowdrops and daffodils popping up in sunny corners. It is a sign of lighter and more joyful times to come, after the cold, grey days of King Winter and his minion Jack Frost.

While we have plenty of food for ourselves and our livestock,  I can only imagine how our ancestors would have felt after a cold and possibly hungry winter, when most of the stored food had been used up and the living was getting a bit smelly and cramped in the longhouse! What a joy to have fresh, nourishing ewes milk and maybe fresh eggs, as well as a little more light day by day.  

Although we didn't actually have a celebration, it was still lovely to acknowledge the coming of the light as a family, and for me personally, to have some quiet moments of reflection on renewal, growth,  personal gaols and dreams.