Candlemas, held on the 2^nd February commemorates the purification
of the Virgin Mary and the presentation of Christ to the Temple. It
was a holiday invented by the Vatican. For years, a succession of
popes had tried to stop the procession of candle bearing populous
parading through the streets at this time. It was suggested that as
there was no sign of it being given up, the priests should invite the
people into their churches to bless the candles.

The people were celebrating Imbolic or Oimelg, a festival dedicated
to the goddess Brigid or Bridget. Brigit was an archetype of the
great mother goddess. She was the goddess of healers and poets
and the protector of women in childbirth and labour. Rome bestowed
appropriate honours on the goddess and canonized her. It became
traditional to offer special prayers to St Bridget as well as to the
Virgin Mary and to honour motherhood during Candlemas. Some
Protestants were unhappy with Rome's new holiday, and it
emanated a fair amount of controversy within the Christian church.

The Celtic festival, the first of three spring festivals, took place at
the beginning of lambing, a vital turning point in the availability of
fresh food following the previous years harvest. As soon as the ewes
were in milk, there was a supply of cheese and milk available for
human consumption, of great importance with stored meat and
grain running low. The lamb as a symbol of all things newborn and
innocent goes back well into antiquity. At this time too, the snows
were melting and the first new shoots of spring were beginning to
show through the ground. Life was returning to the dormant
Mother Earth and she was honoured with the lighting of candles,
traditionally eight, rising out of the water of the ceremonial circle.

Corn also had a significant role in this ceremony too. Brigid crosses
were woven of wheat and given as protective charms for the home.
Corn dollies, still made in parts of Essex, England, were made
from wheat or oat straw and carried from house to house. In some
warmer areas, Imbolic marked the beginning of ploughing and a
decorated plough was dragged from door to door.

Another tradition that remains and is connected with Brigid, is
the Eisteddfod, predominantly in Wales. It is a coming together
of people to celebrate in poetry and songs and of the Celtic way.
There was also the belief that Brigid's snake emerged from her
womb to test the weather, was this the origins of Groundhog Day?