ng season. The plough itself is also blessed for the coming season. The four stages of the day long ceremony in the Acerbot charm is 1) Hallow, bless and anoint the plough, 2) plough the land for the first time, 3) pray to the earth and 4) offer special cakes by putting them into the freshly ploughed earth. Some Heathens also honour Weyland the Smith God and the dwarves. The dwarves in particular are seen as dwelling under the earth (which seems apt at this time), but also as the crafters of many important objects for the gods with the metal they find there. As with the Celtic Pagans who honour Brighid, a goddess of crafts and the forge at this time, and see it as a time to bless the tools of their trades, so Anglo Saxon heathens will honour the first breaking of the Earth with a metal plough by honouring Weyland and the dwarves. Consequently, this is a great time of the year for prayers and offerings about our jobs and careers, as well as blessing our altar and work tools. For Norse Pagans, this is also Disting – when the female ancestors known as the disir are honoured and a Thing is held to decide important matters.
This time can be seen as a feast of the hearth, a time to celebrate the rekindling of the world’s hearth fire and the return of light, a time to purify the home, a time to prepare for spring planting by blessing tools and fields, and a time to give offerings to the Earth Mother. Alaric Albertsson in Travels through Middle Earth suggests that this is a good time to honour Earthe/ Nerthus, the Anglo-Saxon earth goddess.. Meanwhile, Neo-pagans celebrate by doing a spring clean, eating spicy or dairy foods or making bannocks (oat cakes) and colcannon (kale and leek), honouring Brigit and placing candles in all the windows of the home to represent the growing strength of the sun. I like to go for a walk on this day to search for the first signs of spring – especially snowdrops. Imbolc is also a time to create poetry and songs or to make candles for the coming year. It is traditionally the time to begin buying seed potatoes and chitting them ready for planting, as well as to bake cakes to put in the soil as offerings to the gods. And it is the time to bless the tools of your trade, and honour those who help us with them – Brighid, or Weyland and Nerthus.
Hutton, Ronald. Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Ellis, Peter Berresford. A Brief History of the Druids. London: Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2002.
Albertsson, Alaric. Travels through Middle Earth: The Path of a Saxon Pagan. USA: Llewellyn Publications, 2009.
Tairis – http://www.tairis.co.uk
Gaol Naofa – http://www.gaolnaofa.com/festivals/
Gaelic Folkway – http://gaelicfolkway.webs.com/feiseannaomh.htm