IMBOLC

Deep within the frozen Earth,
Feel the stirrings of Rebirth.

Light the candles and the flames,
Life has returned, the world proclaims!

IMBOLC is celebrated between February Eve and February 3rd depending upon tradition, most commonly February 2nd in North America.  Also known as:  Imbolg, Candlemas, Brigantia, Lupercus, or Disting.  Certain Western European traditions celebrated festivals from sundown to sundown.  If you choose to observe Imbolc according to that model, your festival would begin at sundown on February 1st.  This is one of the cross-quarter holy days, halfway between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.

IMBOLC has always been a fire festival so far as we know.  The Old Ones did not have the advantages of astronomical understanding and were beset by a sincere concern that the longer, warmer days might not return.  The bonfires were intended to encourage the return of summer.  Like all good pagan festivals, Imbolc was adopted and adapted to Christian missionary monks.  It was brought indoors, reduced to candles and renamed Candlemas (Candle Mass).  The Roman version of this goddess festival, Juno Februata, was adapted as the Virgin Purification feast.

From Seasons of the Witch 2009 - 7th-House