I went to a few parties this weekend, certainly more than in a normal weekend, and therefore had cause to muse about the fact that this weekend was Imbolc, a Pagan holiday marking one of the eight sections of the year (more known ones include the Solstices, May Day, and Hallowe’en). It’s one of the holidays that doesn’t get much recognition (you know, for example, about Hallowe’en). It’s also the Christian feast of Candlemas, the celebration of the presentation of Jesus at the temple. It’s also the feast of Brigid, whether goddess or saint. It’s also Super Bowl Sunday.
I’m going to take as a given that Jesus was not born on December 25. For our purposes, let’s take for granted that pre-Christian Jews were not impervious to cold and that there were actually lambs hanging out. Whatever time of year that may have been, it was not winter. Christianity is well-known for appropriating (or synthesizing, however you want to look at it) pagan holidays as their own. Imbolc is one that’s not so popular any more. But as I sat at the Super Bowl party I went to, enjoying commercials, finger food, and a veritable lake of beer, it occurred to me that it may be more a part of the human condition to synthesize such rituals.
Punxsutawney Phil is America’s non-theist celebration of Imbolc, the beginning of the end of Winter. He is our ritual divination: will winter end early or stay with us past March 20th? Even his roots are pagan, possibly just because it was a ritual already ingrained into the cultural consciousness.
As to what ritual need the Super Bowl fills, I’m not sure: a circus-like aggressive spectacle? a sex-based homo-erotic ritual? a reason to drink & beat up your wife? I do believe, however, that it satisfies some primal urge to congregate with friends, share food, stories, emotions, and beer. The Super Bowl is an excuse. To some, a very good excuse. To most of the participants of the party I attended, a thinly veiled excuse (no one watched much of the game, though it was playing, and most agreed that they did not really enjoy American football). The day before, I went to a completely different party: a much more intellectual party that yet still involved friends, food, stories, emotions, and beer.
So here’s to Imbolc, however you celebrated! And all the other annual celebrations besides.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Cobwebs // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:37 am
I think the “friends and food” thing is fairly accurate; most of the traditional celebrations around this time of year are involved with humanity shoring up its morale in the face of winter.
I’m originally from Southern California, and it wasn’t until I moved to Virginia that I really grokked why so many cultures had the winter=death/spring=birth thing. When all the trees are bare and everything is under a foot of snow, you *really* want some reassurance that things aren’t going to stay cold and dead. Celebrations help, and drinking beer with friends strikes me as an excellent way to poke winter in the eye.
2 John // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:56 am
Thanks for your comment, Cobwebs! It makes me wonder what these celebrations were like when things were truly bleak and survival through the winter was not guaranteed.
My birthday, which was on SuperBowl Sunday, is also the same day as a holiday in Japan called Setsubun no Hi. The word setsubun means “dividing the seasons” and is celebrated by throwing beans at people in demon masks, chasing out the bad luck and welcoming the new. Sounds like Imbolc in a kimono.
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