Imbolc is an ancient Celtic festival which celebrates the return of spring and the lengthening of the days. It’s traditionally celebrated on the 1st of February. The festival is no longer widely recognised in England, but the community organised Imbolc fire festival in Marsden is a notable exception. This festival always ends with a fight between the newly awoken Green Man and Jack Frost. Thankfully, the Green Man has always won the fight so far.
The Green Man and Jack Frost
I’ve been observing the yearly fight between the Green Man and Jack Frost these last few weeks. The Green Man is definitely stirring. Here, in our garden, the daffodils are shooting up, and the snowdrops and hellebores are already in flower. I even found a very early primrose bravely showing its petals. As Monster and I walk to school, we can see the catkins out on the hazel trees, and early spring flowers appearing in every garden.
This does not mean that Jack Frost is retiring from the lists gracefully though. He’s most active overnight, leaving beautiful presents such as patterns on the windscreen of our car, and covering the plants and grass with a dusting of white. During the day, he’s brought clear blue skies, and a low but warm February sun. So while the Green Man maybe winning, Jack Frost is not giving up easily.
Snowdrops
Of all the flowers appearing at this time of year, my favourite by far is the snowdrop. So small and unassuming by itself, it’s easily overlooked. Yet, in a colony with others, it forms the most amazing white carpet under the trees.
This photo was taken last year, in the snowdrop woods at Chirk Castle National Trust. Monster and Menace may have been annoyed that they had to walk through the woods which took up valuable time that might have been well spent in the natural play area, but it made my heart sing. To celebrate Imbolc, I’ve decided to try and capture a snowdrop in lace knitting, and have been running up some swatches.
Swatch 2: too complicated! This is not recognisably a snowdrop, mainly I think because the flowers are too droopy on the stems.
Swatch 1: I concentrated only on the shape of the flowers and tried to get a feel for how I wanted to design the rest of the plant.
Swatch 3: A complete redesign. I am happier with this, but there are a few areas that I want to change. Mainly the shape of the flower petals and how the flower stem moves from the main stem.
A few more small tweaks to iron out, then this snowdrop will be gracing the edging of a feather-light shawl to celebrate the return of longer and warmer days.
