We have passed the mid-winter mark last week as Groundhog Day, Imbolc, the Feast of St. Brigid, and/or Candlemas are all celebrated on February 1-2 in different cultures and faith traditions. Common to our area, the groundhog, celebrated on February second for his ability to predict the seasons, saw his shadow in some places and in other places did not, insuring that the debate about how many more weeks of winter we must endure will continue on. The fact is Spring will return with the equinox. Meanwhile these old bones feel a returning strength in the sunlight which pours forth from the blessing of pristine blue skies these past few days.
I for one am not a huge fan of groundhog traditions no matter how much a part of our Appalachian culture they may be. I prefer to mark the mid-winter celebration with the Irish tradition of setting out a cloth for St. Brigid to bless as folk tradition says she treads lightly on the earth come January’s end to promise the return of warmth and light. I also set new white candles in our holders on the kitchen and dining room tables, while I whisper a quiet blessing on hearth and home.
Each year at Candlemas I recall a story I read once about prisoners in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II who craved and treasured candles, not as a source of light, but as a source of food, to be nibbled one small bit at a time, thus numbing the ache of starvation. Finally, on Christmas Eve, one tiny remaining candle was brought forth by one starving prisoner and lit. Reminding everyone in that dark, cramped cell that Light had come into the world, and that hope can be rekindled.
I light two candles as evening falls, and the sky turns that lovely color of pale blue before fading into deeper indigo, in hope that light will return both in this season and in our darkened, fear-filled world. May I be light. May YOU be light. May WE ALL be light for each other and for the world.
(One can find the candle story in an online search as it appeared in an issue of Reader’s Digest, December 1990.)
Under A Hen's Wing 