Imbolc 2018

My mom and I had a wonderful Imbolc celebration! We did some crafting, made lots of delicious food, and planted some seeds to get a head start on our garden this year! We started out by planning what we would do and eat. (Click on the link to see my post on preparing for Imbolc.)

We found a plant that looked enough like reeds to use to make Bridget crosses. We cut a bunch and soaked them before making our crosses. My mom also made a cross with strips of construction paper and another with pipe cleaners:

We got lots of snow before Imbolc, so we gathered some to make snow water. We then put the bottles outside under the full moon to charge, and later used it when starting our seeds.

On Imbolc Eve (February first), I made lemon curd with Meyer lemons that we found on sale. It is really good, and I will be posting the recipe soon! (I will be sharing all of the recipes in the following photos and will add the links once the posts are up.)

I also made five bean salad with a sweet and tangy marinade:

While I was cooking, my mom was busy making a Bridget doll. I think she did a great job and I love how our Bridget turned out!

We placed Bridget in her bed by our electric fireplace before going to sleep, and placed our seeds and planter on the fireplace to be blessed.

We also made clouties and went outside in the cold to tie them to a tree. Traditionally, clouties were used to banish unwanted things, but we use them as prayers for things we want to attract. (It was too dark to get outside photos at night, but I did get some the next day.)

I made strawberry lemon scones for breakfast on Imbolc morning and they were delicious with a cup of tea!

I drizzled the scones with my favorite lemon glaze:

Next, I made a braided loaf of bread with three kinds of seeds (sunflower in the bread and sesame and poppy on top). Both the three strands of the braid and the three seeds represent the triple aspect of the Goddess (maiden, mother, and crone.)

We used the bread to make open-face sandwiches for lunch. The bread was perfect with a crunchy crust and soft inside!

Here are our clouties in the daylight:

Seed cake is very traditional for Imbolc, so I added poppy seeds to my favorite coffee cake recipe. This cake has cardamom in the batter, and ribbons of a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts!

I topped the cake with a vanilla glaze, and we had slices of it with hot mugs of tea:

We made pasties and colcannon for dinner, and served them with the five-bean salad. We had some leftover mushroom Bourguignon in the freezer, so I defrosted it and then put it in a strainer to drain off the gravy. I cut up the pieces of carrots, onions, and mushrooms, added back a little of the gravy, then used my single pie crust recipe to make two large pasties:

I love the green onions and cabbage in colcannon, and the vegan butter on top is essential!

Here is our Imbolc dinner:

We ate lemon curd on toast the following morning, and it was delightful!

Finally, we planted our seeds and used our charged snow water to hydrate the planter:

It is eight days later as I am writing this, and we are seeing some of the thyme seeds beginning to sprout:

We had a lovely time celebrating Imbolc and hope you did too!