February second, most commonly recognized as Groundhog Day, once was the celebration of the Celtic goddess Brigid. It was one of the four seasonal festivals of the Celts and was known as Imbolc. Imbolc celebrated the ewes coming into milk, which was a symbol of rebirth for the Celts out of the deathly weeks following Samhain (ancient Halloween).
Today February second honors Candlemas as the fortieth day after the Nativity of Jesus, the fourth Joyful Mystery of Rosary in the Roman Catholic Church, one of the twelve Great Feasts of the Eastern Orthodox, and the Principal Feast in the English Church. This was the typical Pagan-Christian conversion story. After a while, you start to notice they all have the same pattern.
How the Romans Converted the Pagans
- Non-Christians have BIG party!
- Roman-Christians come and wave big, nasty weapons in non-Christians' faces.
- Roman-Christians say, "You keep big party, but now you call it ________, only with no sex, drugs, or nudity. Welcome to Christianity. Be good, or we'll do hurtful things to you."
The Romans must've been feeling nice that day, because to make up for un-partifying the party, they gave them two instead of one! All the sudden, the goddess Brigid quite conveniently became Saint Brigid! February second was now Candlemas and St. Brigid's day.
Using their excess of brain cells, the Celts accepted that two Christian parties were better than one Pagan one, which is especially easy to do when you have some sharp and shinies poking you. If the Celts decided to realize anything else, there would be no party at all, and as we know, the ancients were party people. There was no way they were going to give those up unless you upped the ante.
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