Imbolc

Imbolc is pronounced IM-bulk, with the stress on the first syllable. IM-bolg, closer to the Irish spelling, and IM-molg also circulate, and all three pass without comment.

Imbolc is pagan, and Wiccan only in the sense that Wicca is among the traditions that keep it. The festival belongs to the Gaelic year and is centuries older than Wicca; it took its place between Yule and Ostara when the eightfold Wheel was assembled in the twentieth century. Druids keep it, solitary witches keep it, and no affiliation is required to light the candles.

Witches on Imbolc light candles at dusk, clean and air the house, and set out the first plans of the growing year. Common practices include a candle in every window, a Brigid's cross woven for the door, seeds started or sorted, a meal with milk and butter and bread in it, and divination for the season ahead. The shape is domestic on purpose: the festival belongs to the hearth.

White is the usual candle color for Imbolc, with red beside it for the returning fire and green for the first growth. The festival's symbols run the same way: the Brigid's cross, the Brídeóg, the candle, the snowdrop, and the ewe with her lambs, all standing for light and the first stirring under the snow.

Imbolc and Groundhog Day are not the same festival, though they sit a day apart and grew from the same February weather lore. In the Irish lore a bright morning at the start of February promises more winter, not less. Candlemas is the Christian feast kept on February 2, and the weather-watching attached to it crossed to Pennsylvania with German settlers, where the hedgehog of the custom became a groundhog. A pagan household can enjoy the groundhog and keep Imbolc without any conflict between them.