Imbolc

 

"the days are longer, the first snowdrops are out, and Imbolc is nearly upon us"

I find February the hardest month of the year, starting with short days frequently wet and cold, it may be the shortest month but it feels lengthy and uncompromising in its harshness. However according to the Celtic Calendar spring is already here! About midway between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox is Imbloc. The term is from the Irish language and translates as 'in the belly' interpreted as a time when signs of life begin to appear and the dead February landscape starts to sprout green shoots bulbs being the first, in the churchyard among the dead leaves of Autumn and spent stems of last years plants the empty husks of seed heads still intact clumps of Snowdrops add a bright splash, elsewhere under the bare tree canopy amongst the ivy Dwarf Daffodils have colonised from a few pots planted a couple of years after they had finished flowering.

All encouraging signs and with the evenings getting lighter as well.

Low Light

In a previous post I touched on the winter light levels in the churchyard and a couple of weeks ago we had the Winter Solstice the point in the year where daylight is shortest, from here on the days get longer, more hours of daylight although to me the first few weeks actually seem shorter. In these dark winter days it can seem never to get fully light, days of low light sometimes though the day starts crisp and bright and there is another kind of low light, that bright sunshine often in the early morning tinged with dawns amber glow. It was one such morning when I was a passenger being driven around Church Street South bordering the churchyard and I was amazed by the spectacle of low intense sun beams illuminating the vertical faces of several gravestones, all gravestones face east in a churchyard so the full impact of the low light illuminated one particular gravestone, every detail in remarkable clarity, the angular clear cut script, the mossy surface all illuminated in a warm light, quite spectacular, quite special.

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and a peaceful 2026