Candlemas and Goddess Brigid

Quiet, quiet, do not make a sound,

Holding now the string so tight

We all make some winter light

Quiet, quiet, do not make a sound.

Dipping, dipping, candles smooth and round

Holding now the string so tight

We all make some winter light

Quiet, quiet, do not make a sound.

~shared to parents from my daughter's Waldorf Kindergarten Teacher at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School

Today is Candlemas. A beautiful festival celebrated in many cultures as well as Waldorf families and schools across the world. It is the midway point of winter when we can look ahead with anticipation of the coming of Spring. It is a festival of candles and the warmth of the hearth. Many schools and parents choose to make homemade beeswax candles on this day or decorate candles. See an old Candlemas post of ours here with many ideas.

Candlemas (and Groundhog's day which is also today) both stem from very the ancient festival of Imbolc which is one of the four Celtic fire festivals and the very word means 'in the belly', as in a celebration of the life hidden within that will soon appear to us in Spring. For that reason, the lamb or newborn animals are very symbolic on this day. Imbolc honors the Celtic Goddess Brigid who's legend Christianity later took and evolved into St. Brigid.

To celebrate this day, you can make homemade candles with your family. It is also customary to eat pancakes (maybe for dinner?) . You can also make a Brigid's Cross (we did a paper version this year as show in the photo above)... put images of lambs, baby animals on your nature space and honor candles and creating a fire as Brigid was the Goddess of Fire and the Hearth.

Dear Saint Bridget of the Kine

Bless these little fields of mine,

The pastures and the shady trees,

Bless the butter and the cheese,

Bless the cows with coats of silk

And the brimming pails of milk.

Bless the hedgerows, and I pray

Bless the seed beneath the clay.

Bless the hay and bless the grass,

Bless the seasons as they pass,

And heaven's blessings will prevail,

Brigid, Mary of the Gael"