In the northern countries the Anglo-Saxons would give offerings of cakes to their gods during the month of February which they called “Sol-monath” or “Cake Month.” I have also seen this festival referred to as “Disting.” This custom can be seen in the “Land Ceremonies Charm” of the eleventh century. It bears mention that this could be the origin of the customary leaving a cake or loaf of bread for Brigid. The festival of lights, however, had much appeal upon it's arrival in these northern countries where the winters were quite dark and cold, more so than in Mediterranean Rome.
The whole of the Candlemas celebration was meant to honor the first stirrings of spring, though spring does not always stir at this time of year in the temperate regions of the world. Because of this association, much weather lore has become associated with these days. The most popular bit of lore in my native North America, is that of Groundhog Day. On February second, the legend says, the small groundhog shall emerge from his home in the earth from a long winter of hibernation. If he sees his shadow and flees back into his home, six more weeks of winter are said to follow. If, on the other hand our rodent protagonist does not flee but stays out and about, an early spring will befall us. There is another adage that states:
If Candlemas be fair and clear,
Two winters will you have this year.
Winter on continental Europe may well be on it's way to ending by this time, but in America, it is not always so. Those born in my native Michigan, or on the New England coast can testify that there have been many winters in which fair whether has broken in February only to lead to more harsh blizzards following into the early so called “spring.” There is a rhyme which warns the farmer of this “second winter” and have him take the proper precautions:
Half the wood and half the hay
You should have on Candlemas Day.
This is a very true statement in the northern continental states. These fortifications would be very necessary for the early American farmer to survive the foul “second winter” so common to our shores. This weather lore may quite possibly bear a connection to the emergence of the spring goddess or Bride of antiquity!
It is worth mentioning that the festival of lights falls at a time when, although frigid in northern climes, the days begin to become noticeably longer, thus we get the celebration of the waxing light or festival of lights. In many Craft communities this waxing of light heralds the coming of spring and so Candlemas/Imbolc, though still in the heart of winter's bitter cold, marks the beginning of the spring quarter and is marked by the sigil of the five branched stave which represents the hand held up with five fingers raised. In some covens the festival of Candlemas also marks the beginning of the ritual year. In certain variations of the myth of the coming of spring from winter the hag goddess imprisons the maiden goddess of the spring in the late autumn only to find her rescued by a gallant knight when the tide of Candlemas arrives. While in other tales they are the same goddess who grows old in the autumn twilight and is made youthful again at Candlemas by drinking from a well of youth or some other mystical means.
The Land Ceremonies Charm of the Anglo-Saxons
The Land Ceremonies Charm is often quoted or misquoted in modern pagan ritual and magic, though I wonder how many of these would be magicians know the origins of the words that they speak. For any educated pagan, some of the words found within this charm should seem familiar. The charm itself dates back, at least, to the early eleventh century. It may well be that this was a series of separate charms strung together to make one great and impressive ritual. The purpose of the rite would seem to be an assurance that a crop would thrive. Many pagan elements would seem to be present in the rite, though the written variation which survives today is very much a Christian one, going as far as to require a “mass priest” to fulfill certain functions. I will here summarize the rite.
The Land Ceremonies Charm begins by stating that it is a remedy to improve crops and land that will not properly produce, or to remove any ill tidings and bewitchments placed upon the land. It then goes on to state that one should go by night and dig up four tufts of earth, one from each corner of the land to be cured. It then states that honey, oil, milk, and yeast from each beast living upon the land (livestock) and one sprig of each “nameable” plant growing upon the land excepting the buck-bean. Holy water is then to be applied and allowed to drip three times upon the underside of the tufts. Then the practitioner must say: Grow and multiply and fill the earth, followed by three Our Father's.
