Imbolc: the Birth of Spring

Tomorrow is Imbolc, the Celtic holiday that celebrates the beginning of spring. Every year it surprises me, because it feels like we just had Christmas, but it is also always so welcome. It’s like the holiday of hope, offering assurances that while it may not actually feel like spring outside, life is returning, and new growth is just beneath the surface.

It is also considered a holiday of transition and new beginnings, which is why I’ve started to think of it as my personal New Year’s Day. January is like a practice month, a time for making plans (Planuary), setting goals, and trying to build new habits (like trying to nudge my bedtime from midnight to 10pm)… and largely failing to actually get it all on track. February, though – February is the month of transformation, change and new beginnings. So welcome!

Although now we consider the vernal equinox, March 20th (or 21st) to be the first day of spring, historical agrarian societies looked to their animals, and especially the sheep birthing new lambs, to tell them that life and warmth were returning. Imbolc was the time that the sheep began to provide fresh milk after the winter. Other cultures celebrated this time as the start of the new year – the Christians essentially replaced Imbolc with Candlemas, cultures who celebrate the Lunar New Year also mark the start of the new year at this time to celebrate spring and rebirth, and the Romans celebrated Februalia, a time to purify in preparation for the new year.

Although in my life, the idea of celebrating sheep giving birth seems remote, yesterday, two of our older chickens (who haven’t laid eggs since, like, July) added two pretty eggs to those that our pullets have been laying all winter. They must know spring is in the air!