Imbolg is observed around February 2nd. This is a fire festival, but the emphasis is on light rather than heat. It is during this Sabbat that we banish Winter. One of the ways to do this includes gathering all the greenery left from Yule and burning them in the Imbolg fire. Most of the customs surrounding this Sabbat are designed as acts of sympathetic magick to lure back the sun and speed up the coming of Spring.
Imbolg is also known as Candlemas (the name under which it was Christianized). This name possibly derived from the practice of ritually lighting fires to lure back the slowly waxing sun. One of the most popular of these was a candle lighting custom where a young woman (representing the Virgin Goddess) enters the ritual area carrying a circle of lit candles. This was, in essence, a light Sun Wheel - a symbol of the Wheel of the Year being lighted and warmed again by the returning sun. (Later, the custom of wearing the candles as a chaplet on the head was adopted from one of the Norse invader’s Yule customs)
The name ‘Imbolg’ means ‘in the belly’. It is the quickening of the year - the first fetal stirrings of Spring in the Womb of the Mother. It also means 'ewe’s milk' and it is around this time of year when pregnant ewes begin lactating. In Europe, the event was celebrated by making a ritual drink from cider, mashed apples, honey, and the milk of pregnant ewes.
Probably the most well known symbol of this Sabbat is the Grain Dolly (often called the Bride). The Dollies are made of sheaves of grain (either straw, corn, wheat or barley) which, in ancient times, would have been the last sheaf of wheat or the last row of corn (etc.) harvested. It was believed that the spirit of the grain (or the Goddess Herself) resided in the last grain harvested, where it had retreated for the coming winter. This last grain of the old harvest is the seed of the next harvest (another link in the continuous chain of birth, death, and rebirth).
To create the Dollies, the sheaves were woven into either human or symbolic form. The form is dressed as a bride at Imbolg and laid in a Bride’s bed (a small corn crib or wooden doll bed). Here, she awaits her husband (son). Male fertility symbols (nuts, priapic wands, etc.) are placed into the bed with her. If the impression of them was found in the ashes in the hearth in the morning, the year would be fruitful and prosperous.
The Moon is the light symbol of the Goddess and stands for her threefold aspect of Maiden, Mother, Crone (Enchantment, Ripeness and Wisdom). So it is fitting that Imbolg is the feast of Brigid, the radiant triple Muse-Goddess, who is also a fertility bringer. The making of 'Brigid’s Crosses' (generally equal-armed crosses woven from rushes, straw or wheat) is traditional. The crosses are hung over the entrance to the home to bring prosperity, luck, healing, peace etc. (depending upon what you focused on while weaving the cross)
