Imbolc - Spring is Coming

Hello again blog friends - hope you hadn't forgotten me :-) Leigh has not been well so no-one has been around to put up my posts but things should be back to normal again now. As you can see from this photo the snow has gone and the sun is shining and today is the Celtic festival of Imbolc - the beginning of Spring.

The bulbs are pushing their way up to the sun and the garden is all coming to life again. Imbolc is a Gaelic word and it means 'in the belly' - not as in scrummy snacks but more like 'pregnant'  as this is the time of year when animals are having their young....and maybe I will be one of them (but that's supposed to be a secret :-))

Quickly moving on....some more interesting titbits about Imbolc - it was the ancient festival of Brigid who was a pagan goddess of the Sun, fire and the hearth and among her symbols are the snowdrop - bringing the hope of Spring coming even while winter is still here.

Another of her symbols is the swan which mates for life and represents loyalty and faithfulness (I think it could have been a dog myself as we are pretty loyal too :-) And her colours are white, silver and green.

It is so warm today that Lace thought she would come out to enjoy some sun too.

And here I am gathering up some seeds that the birds have dropped as another tradition of this festival is seed cake :-) I just knew there couldn't be a festival without some food there somewhere!