
The Discoveries hosted Imbolc/Candlemas celebrations this week at the Old Library with the Pippins, Edens and Orange Grove.
Candlemas is a time of year when the lengthening of daylight hours becomes noticeable. The day is celebrated because it means that winter will soon be over, and spring will come. The time of darkness and fallow earth will soon end, and new light and life-sustaining growth will come.
In Celtic lands, the winter cross-quarter day was celebrated as Imbolc, a feast honoring Brigid who, in Celtic tradition, is a goddess of the Dawn, of healing, of fertility. The feast day in her honor marks the beginning of the lambing season, a sign of the earth coming back to life after the fallow time of winter. As Celtic Christianity developed, Imbolc became Candlemas, and Brigid became a saint, and the celebrations merged. It is known as a celebration of hearth and home, of the coming warmth, of fertility and purification and new life.
People lit candles or bonfires as a sign of the warmth of the sun to come. They made “Brigid’s crosses” from rushes, and dolls of Brigid were carried from house to house to bring her blessings. People also made pilgrimages to holy wells and brought back water to bless the home.

The children spent the afternoon at The Old Library weaving traditional St Brigids crosses from rushes. Candle dipping with beeswax and storytelling around the fire in the garden.





The Discoveries and Pippins currently have the chance to learn and enjoy capoeira on a Wednesday afternoon at the Old Library so although not traditional for Imbolc, it was a great opportunity for the Edens and Orange Grove to experience it too!





