![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jack_babalonSo, according to some traditions today is Candlemas, which celebrates (amongst other things) the 'Purification of Mary' (casual research also tells me that February comes from 'Februa' - latin for 'purification'.) It's also Imbolc, a day sacred to the Irish goddess Brigid and notes the halfway point between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox. Some have noted similar celebrations amongst neolithic tribes on this date, while others have theorized that it was meant to act as an ancient festival of Persephone being bailed out of Hades for half a year.
What I find interesting however, is that an ancient celebration of 'light' (the flames seemingly a symbolic beacon through Winter's dark to remind us that we are halfway home to Spring), through a mythological game of 'Chinese Whispers' has mutated over the centuries into an enduring bit of American Folklore involving Shadows, Subterranean Mammals and Meteorological Prognostication.
Well either way, to my Catholic and Neopagan friends - Happy 'Imbolcmas' - however and whichever 'goddess' you revere.
What I find interesting however, is that an ancient celebration of 'light' (the flames seemingly a symbolic beacon through Winter's dark to remind us that we are halfway home to Spring), through a mythological game of 'Chinese Whispers' has mutated over the centuries into an enduring bit of American Folklore involving Shadows, Subterranean Mammals and Meteorological Prognostication.
Well either way, to my Catholic and Neopagan friends - Happy 'Imbolcmas' - however and whichever 'goddess' you revere.