The first few days of February marks many different traditions depending on where you live and what you believe!
As a kid, we celebrated groundhogs day. I never really gave much thought to the magic entwined in this day as a kid, but knew I was really excited to see if the groundhog would or would not see his shadow. I honestly, can barely recall what it did or didn’t mean if the groundhog saw his shadow, it was just something to get excited about. If we put on our witchy hats and look at this annual tradition, it is really easy to see magic all around. First of all we have an animal predicting the future! The groundhog does not predict any old future either, his shadow foretells of how much longer winter will last…all while we know and celebrate this time to be midwinter in some faiths. So how exactly does this lore go?
It is said “ According to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow (a sunny morning), there will be six more weeks of winter. He then returns to his den and goes back to sleep. If however, he does not see his shadow (cloudy days), he plays around outside of his hole for a while. If he does not see his shadow, spring is just around the corner.”
This particular tradition is German in Origin and came to the USA and Canada from the Pennsylvania Dutch sometime in the early 1800’s. The german tradition uses hedgehogs to predict the weather while we use groundhogs because they were more readily available.
As I have grown into my own spirituality over the years, I celebrate Imbolc, in a celtic pagan sort of way. This is an exciting time because we are marking midwinter, the days are starting to get longer,some of us are thawing out, and we start to really feel that spring is just around the corner. This is a time of big ideas, new adventures, and life springing forth. I have a hard time at the start of the year transitioning into new idea,my body is still in hibernation mode. However,come February I am tackling new things and really feeling inspired to live my best self. We give thanks to brigid and a fun activity I used to do with my kids when they were younger is to make Brigids Crosses.
Speaking of Brigid, this is a great time to do a ritual or just make some space for Brigid in your life.Brigid can be full of all sorts of blessings and I really encourage you to get to know her if you don’t already. Imbolc is considered one of the four fire festivals, so we like to light a candle or have a fire in the fireplace if it is cold enough.
All of this Brigid talk may sound familiar to the celebration of Candlemas,which is Irish in origins, and still celebrated by many Irish Catholics.
I will be marking midwinter with some kitchen witching and looking through all of this years seeds catalogues! My wonderful husband will be making his hearty cheesy potato bacon soup we usually only have once a year and I will be making some bread from scratch.
What does the beginning of February look like for you?
