Cold winter still holds tight on the land, but the sun begins to show her face – bringing with her the blushing promise of spring.  The first shoots of green are working their way through the heavy blanket of snow, bringing with it hope for the new season and relieving the depressions of the winter.  While darkness covered the land and traveling was treacherous, the rituals within each hearth and village were more varied.

This festival is occasionally referred to as Oímelc – which may be a reference to the beginning of the lambing season (“ewe’s milk”).  On this Fire Festival, as with most of the Fire Festivals, seers would look ahead to see how long winter’s hold on the land would last.  That custom is reflected in the current celebration of Ground Hog Day, where a ‘creature of the wild’ foretells when the end of winter will come.

Many Neo-Pagans see this day as sacred to the Celtic Goddess Brigid in her triple form: Goddess of the hearth and the smithy; Goddess of inspiration and craft; and Goddess of crops, livestock, and nature.  In 2006 and 2007, I was fortunate to be a warder for the Brigid’s Forge / Brigid’s Well ritual at PantheaCon in San Jose California in February.  The description of the ritual is “Nineteen of Brigid’s clergy will guide us with music and poetry to find the Irish Goddess who is healer, smith and poet. Together we will walk through her forge to clear the obstacles that riddle our path, be renewed in her well and find the clarity of vision we need to heal ourselves, our communities and the world we share.”  (275 words)