February, Fires of Imbolc, the Fae and Brigid’s Day

February is the second calendar month in both the Gregorian calendar and in the older Julian calendar, and was added to the older Roman calendar some time in the 700’s BCE when two new months were added to the new Gregorian calendar, to match it up better with the length of the Earth’s journey round the sun. February comes from the Latin Februarius, which referred to Februa, a Roman festival of ritual purification.

Below, the Roman spa at Bath, UK.

The Anglo Saxons called February Sōlmōnath, from an Old English word for wet sand or mud, sōl; while according to the northern English scholar monk and later saint Bede, it meant “the month of cakes,” when ritual offerings of savory cakes and loaves of bread would be made to ensure a good year’s harvest.

But this time of year in the British Isles…