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C A N D L E M A S: The Light Returns
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by Mike Nichols
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, litterally,
'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
follwing day, St. Blaise's Day, is
remembered for using the newly-blessed
candles to bless the throats of
parishoners, 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.
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les to bless the throats of
parishoners, keeping them from col