Naturalist's Almanac

By February 1, the world begins to feel brighter. Daylight has expanded to almost ten hours, and the sun is almost halfway to the spring equinox. With electric lights, this solar progress doesn’t attract much attention anymore, but Groundhog Day does. And Groundhog Day harks back to an ancient solar celebration called Imbolc.

Imbolc meant the beginning of spring for the Celtic peoples of northern Europe and the British Isles. Lambs were born and with them came the promise of new life and the beginning of a new agricultural year that would proceed through Beltane (May 1), Lughnasa (August 1), and Samhain (November 1).

Our American Groundhog Day doesn’t derive directly from the Celtic Imbolc but rather from a Christian celebration that chanced to coincide with Imbolc. Early Christians evolved a church ritual to be celebrated forty days after Christmas — February 2 on their calendar. It was called Candlemas because it involved blessing candles to be used in the new year.

As the Christian church moved into northern Europe and the British Isles, it encountered the Celts who were already celebrating Imbolc in early February. As these Celts were converted, they associated the new Christian Candlemas with their old Imbolc — and therefore with the beginning of spring. Because to them spring meant planting, Candlemas became the day they looked for a sign of how soon they would be able to plant. They came to believe that if it was sunny enough on Candlemas for an animal to cast a shadow, there would be six more weeks of winter. Stormy or overcast weather on Candlemas meant an early spring.

This Celtic/Christian weather belief got superimposed on North American groundhogs by European farmers who came to this country. So we now have Groundhog Day every February 2 to remind us — like the ancient Celts — to think about spring. If you’d like to combine several of these historic beliefs and rituals into a modern Imbolc/Candlemas celebration, you can start by paying attention to the sunrise and sunset on February 1 and enjoying every minute of daylight.

After sunrise on February 2, you can go outdoors and look for your own shadow to see how much longer we’re going to have to wait for spring. And maybe after sunset you can light a candle and think about spring. Then you can spend the next six weeks much as the ancient Celts did, observing subtle changes in the natural world as the days lengthen and the weather warms. When your local soil is finally workable enough to plant a seed, you'll know it's really spring.

MORE INFORMATION

Cross Quarter Days
http://www.clarkfoundation.org/astro-utah/vondel/crossquartergrd.html

Not many scientists write about the Celtic cross-quarter days, but this one does. As the former director of the Hansen Planetarium in Utah, he knows his astronomy — and also his weather, his natural history, and other cultures’ practices with respect to the solar year. He writes a newspaper column called “Looking Around” from which this very readable essay is adapted.

Imbolc - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc

Th Wikipedia article covers the Celtic origins of Imbolc and modern practices related to February 1. It offers internal links to Wikipedia articles on other Celtic celebrations and external links to several Web sites.