Celebrating
Candlemas
Candles and
Christmas Greens
The main element
of your decorating scheme for Candlemas is fairly obvious: candles. You can
gather all the candles in your home in one room and light them from one
central candle. Or place a candle in each window (but watch them
carefully).
Candlemas is one
of the traditional times for taking down Christmas decorations (Twelfth
Night, on January 6th, is the other). If you are very careful (because they
are tinder dry), you can burn them. Or, better yet, return them to the
earth mother by using them for compost or mulch.
Certain foods are
traditional for Candlemas, including crepes, pancakes and cakes, all
grain-based foods. Pancakes and crepes are considered symbols of the sun
because of their round shape and golden color.
If you have a
fireplace, clean out your hearth and then light a new fire. Sit around the
fire and reflect on your hopes for the coming year. What do you hope to
accomplish? What are you passionate about? What seeds do you wish to plant?
Discuss these ideas with others or write them down in a journal but make
them concrete in some way so that on Lammas (August 2nd, the festival of
the first harvest), you can look back to see what progress you’ve made.
Brigid is the
goddess of creative inspiration as well as reproductive fertility. This is
a good time for sharing creative work, or, if you don't think of yourself
as especially creative, an idea that worked or a plan that materialized.
Thank the Goddess for her inspiration, perhaps by dedicating a future work
to her.
Making Pledges
and Commitments
Since Candlemas
is a time of new beginnings, this is a good day to ritually celebrate all
things new. Plan a ceremony to name a new baby, officially welcome a new
person into a family or plight your troth to your beloved. Make a
commitment to a goal (like a New Years resolution): this would be an
especially powerful thing to do in a group.
In San Francisco,
the Reclaiming Collective sponsors a big public ritual called Brigid, which
focuses on political commitment. After acknowledging despair over the
events of the past year, the participants reflect on the source of their
own power and then make a pledge in front of the community about the work
they intend to do during the coming year. During this ritual, the flames in
a cauldron represent Brigid's Sacred Flame, the fire of inspiration and
passion, while a punch bowl filled with waters gathered from all over the
world represents Brigid's Holy Well, the source of healing and
purification.
If you plan your
own ceremony, use these two powerful symbols: fire and water. For instance,
wash your hands and bathe your face in salt water, which is especially good
for purification. Light a candle as you make your pledge. Incorporate the
third symbol of the holiday — seeds — by planting a seed or bulb in a pot
to symbolize your commitment, or by blessing a bowl or packet of seeds that
you will plant later.
Purification and
Renewal
Have you ever
given anything up for Lent? If not, you might consider it. You don’t have
to be Catholic to gain spiritual benefits from the voluntary surrender of
something you cherish. You can give up something frivolous or something
serious, but it should be something you will notice. Folk wisdom says it
takes six weeks (or approximately the 40 days of Lent) to establish a new
habit, so you may end up with a lifestyle change.
Since Candlemas
is often considered the beginning of spring, you can perform another ritual
act of purification: spring cleaning. This would be a good time to do a
thorough house cleaning, sweeping the floors with salt water, banishing the
gloom of winter and creating a sparkling, shiny new setting for spring.
In the Southern Hemisphere the 2 February is celebrated as Lammas, the harvest of the first fruits.
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