A Family Imbolc Ritual
by Twilight Bard
~from Llewellyn's 2005 Magical Almanac
Picture yourself a farmer in northern Europe hundreds of years ago. In the depth of winter, the fields are frozen and your food stores are running frighteningly low. Firewood stocks are quickly depleting. You watch helplessly as your children, pale from lack of sunlight and growing thinner by the week, wake up each morning crying from limbs numbed by the chill, and go to bed at night complaining of rumbling stomachs. Each day is a struggle for your family's survival against hunger and cold.
Then something begins to change. Slowly, the days grow noticeably longer. The Sun, like an old friend, comes back to melt the frost that envelopes the land. The season of lambing comes abruptly, bringing a new, much needed food source: milk. Suddenly optimistic that your family will make it through the winter, you begin preparations for the new growing season.
The story above describes the spirit behind Imbolc (literally "ewe's milk"). No longer as dependent upon the land for survival as our Pagan ancestors, we now celebrate this holiday on February 2 as a time of renewal and purification. Following is a simple ritual that even a family with young children can celebrate together.
Imbolc Ritual
Gather your family around a small, glowing lamp just after dusk, and turn off every other light in the house. If your family keeps to a more formal tradition, you can cast a circle, call quarters, and invoke gods and goddesses here, but it is not necessary. Have on hand a cup of milk (it can be animal, soy, or rice, depending upon your preference) and a broom (preferable a ritual broom decorated with red ribbons).
If your children are willing to sit and listen to a story, tell them a seasonal, age-appropriate tale. Or, you can simply tell the story of the season as described above. After the story, say:
We celebrate Imbolc tonight,
And welcome the feast of waxing light!
Hold up the cup of milk and say:
In the shortest days and darkest nights,
There always remains a spark of light.
Father Sky and Mother Earth,
Provide for all with life's rebirth.
Take a sip of the milk, and pass the cup around for everyone to have a taste. Say:
Now the light is lengthening days,
Let us brighten our home, and set each lamp ablaze.
To the dark and the winter we bid goodbye,
as the Sun comes back to brighten our lives!
Encourage the children to turn on every light in your house. Try to have at least one light in every room. Let them get excited and race about to perform the task. When they meet back in the ritual area, cheer for the light's return. Hold up the broomstick and say:
Farewell to the winter! Farewell to the cold!
In with the new, out with the old!
Greetings to the light, bright and warm,
Goodbye to the dark! Negative energy be gone!
If hereabout any lingers or creeps,
It shall be banished as the besom doth sweep!
Allow the children to take the broom into every room of the house and "sweep" every corner and nook. Sweep the walls, the ceiling, even inside the closets. The broom doesn't actually have to touch anything, just instruct them to sweep all the invisible bad energy hovering about your home. They'll know where to find it. Let them take turns, and help the smaller ones so that in their excitement they don't knock things over or break anything. Sweep your pile of negativity toward a door leading out, flinging it open and sweeping away all the unwanted energy. Give yourselves a cheer for your accomplishment.
Afterward, come back inside and play some lively music if you like, clapping and dancing together in a circle. Or, you can tell more stories or let the children put on a little skit enacting an Imbolc myth. Hold a ritual feast with dairy foods such as yogurt or ice cream. Close the ritual in your traditional way, or just let the celebration continue for as long as everyone is enjoying it. Don't forget to shut off all the lights afterward.
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