Day 177 - Celtics Love Pad Thai

February 1st, 2010

Happy Imbolc Y’all! This celebration (on the Celtic calendar) is otherwise known as…oh you’re gonna like this one… the festival of the lactating sheep.

February 1st falls halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and according to folklore(and Wikipedia)… we’re to recognize that today is about celebrating purity, growth, renewal, the reunion of the Goddess and the God, fertility and dispensing of the old and making way for the new.

In layman’s terms: Imbolc is a celebration for what is about to happen.

So we have a few options to choose from as to how we want to celebrate today. Conducting a purification ritual in which a goat is sacrificed comes highly recommended. If you used up your last goat at last week’s Wiccan ritual, you can alternately set up your altar with the symbols of the coming spring - potted daffodils, white and red yarn or ribbon, young fresh twigs, a lot of candles, a cup of milk and a plate of oats. If option two seems like a hassle, feel free to join me in releasing the old and bringing in the new by going out for Thai food. Celtics love Pad Thai.

I would benefit from having a Celtic day book so I can be aware of such crucially significant holidays. My “American” calendar plays it too safe. Sure it’s nice that they alert me that Penguin Awareness Day is January 19th, but a Mayan calendar could have some useful information too. The indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America like to give people a heads up. For what? Ya know basic stuff. Like this. On December 21st or December 23rd, 2012 a range of cataclysmic or transformative events will occur that will result with inhabitants undergoing a positive physical or spiritual transformation. Some say, that won’t be the case because it will just be the end of the world.

Rest assured Americans, our calendar will make sure that we know when “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” is.

After the Y2K farce, I don’t know how seriously to take this. If you’re going to claim that the world as we know will be making an ungraceful exit, commit to it. Seriously. Don’t be an “end of the world tease.” It’s not flattering. In the face area.

If the world doesn’t end…again, we’ll make it to New Years Eve 2013 where we’ll be forced to watch an uncomfortably ailing Dick Clark. Or even worse. A healthy Ryan Seacrest.