Calen Fair Llawen to all!

Today is February 2^nd, Midwinter Day or Imbolc.  In this country, we know it as Groundhog Day.  (He saw his shadow, by the way.) 

If this day be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.
If this day be cloudy and grey, Winter soon will pass away.

In Wales, land of my heritage, this day is celebrated as Calen Fair.  Calen Fair has ancient roots. In is traditionally the time when lambs are born and ewe’s come into their milk.  “Imbolc” comes from two words that refer to the lactation of the she-sheep.  This flow of milk foreshadows the turn of the seasons to spring when life-giving forces return.

Here in New England the harshness and bitterness of winter is at its height this time of year, a subject of concern for our ancestors.  The fodder for the farm stock ran low and the larder began to look a bit bare.  But although this season was cold and drear, small indications of new life began to appear.  Lambs and calves were born; the days slowly warmed as the snow receded under the light of the ever higher sun; crows and squirrels begin to build their nests; the territorial “phee-bee” of the chickadees sounded in the forests.   

Calen Fair has a Pagan pedigree as do many celebrations and holidays since co-opted by Christianity.  In practical terms seed was made ready as were the ploughs.  Sacred springs and wells were cleaned.  Shrines to the departed, the fae, and the goddesses and gods were rejuvenated and lit with candles.  This is in part why the church replaced this festival with Candlemas dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  “Calen Fair”, the Welsh name for the day, in fact means the commencement of the season of Mary ending on May 1^st.   

In Ireland this day commemorates St. Brigit.  By tradition she is the daughter of a druid and later became abbess of Kildare.  Having been born while her mother crossed a threshold, she was said to be “neither within nor without”, between the worlds. 

Whether is is true or not, there is considerable truth to St. Brigit being derived from the Irish goddess Brigid.  “When she raised her white wand on this day, it is said to have breathed life into the mouth of the dead Winter and to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring.”  The harshness of winter trembles on Brigid’s day, and flees on Ostara, the equinox of spring.

There are ways to celebrate this day, if you like.  This is traditionally a time to ritually clean your house, especially if the Moon is waxing as today it is. If you have any Christmas greenery lingering, burn it now.   Leave a silk ribbon on your doorstep for Brigid to bless, and later use it for healing.  Plant a seed such as starting tomatoes.  Finally, meditate upon what you would like to see grow in health and strength this year.

This is a winter unlike those of recent years past with little snow and less than the usual dose of cold.  There are bare spots in the yard, and it is easy to walk about since what little snow is left is packed hard.

Yesterday, we had a dusting of soft powdery snow, just enough to reveal the routes taken by our woodland neighbors.  Walking about last night under the Moon I saw the track of a rabbit.  An endangered New England Cottontail perhaps?  Shamans’ Rest lies within a critical habitat for these rare beasts. 

Paralleling and overlapping the rabbit track in places was that of a canid, probably a coyote.  Hot on the trail of the bunny no doubt.  No.  When I followed the track, I noticed that the coyote had veered off at the fae circle while the rabbit continued into the labyrinth meadow.