Goddesses and Gods.wps - Welcome to Our Temple

Day," the day of the lover. On this day, a couple could agree to a trial marriage, living
together until the next Lammas, August 1. "Will you be my Valentine?" was the way a
woman would propose such an engagement to a man. (The Valentine "heart," of
course, was not the physical heart we are acquainted with, but another part of the
anatomy entirely.)
Fires have always been important on Imbolc. The fires symbolized the new-born sun,
born at Yule and the sparks of new life in springtime. One ancient custom was the
lighting of candles in every window of the house, to let the world know of coming
spring. The sight of every home blazing with candles must have been comforting to
people still feeling the bitter cold of February up north!
The Church made this time the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin ("virgin" was
just another word for "maid," of course) and they called in Candlemas, the feast of
candles. Since people were already lighting candles at home anyway, the Church
declared this a time to go to church and get your candles blessed.
During the Burning Times, the great Inquisition of Europe, it was said that witches
considered Candlemas their most sacred festival. This was probably the Church's way
of warning people not to take Brigid too seriously.
One of the most important customs at Candlemas in ancient times was the forecasting
of weather. In the old English poem: "If Candlemas Day be bright and clear, there'll
be two winters in the year." It was once thought that the quarters (the equinoxes and
solstices) foretold the weather directly (i.e. a warm Christmas meant a warm winter)
while the cross-quarters (Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain) foretold the
weather negatively.
We keep this custom by calling February 2 "Groundhog's Day" and predicting the rest
of the winter by whether or not the groundhog sees its shadow or not. If it sees its
shadow then Candlemas Day will be "bright and clear."
There were a number of customs associated with this day. One was the baking of
"Bridget's bread" on this day. This goes back thousands of years to the baking of cakes
for the Queen of Heaven spoken of in the Bible. The last of the precious grain stored
over the winter would be prepared into cakes on this day, in the prospect of much
more grain in the year ahead.
Another custom called for the making of "Bridget's crosses" out of straw. The cross
was the ancient symbol for the sun (the rays of the sun seem to come out in cruciform
shape) and the straw crosses were in honor of the reborn sun. The crosses would be