Imbolc - midwinter
celebrating midwinter, a poem, a song, a recipe, & more.
The wheel of the year is slowly turning and here we are on our first stop of 2025, the weekend of Imbolc, or mid-winter.
If you know about the Imbolc Celtic Festival, you’ll know this is a time to celebrate the growing light, abundance, renewed life, and energy. Each day is one day closer to spring, flowers, and my favorite- warmth.
Until mid-April or so in SoCal the shade is cold but the sun is warm. Whenever I go outside and step into the sun pockets my inner lizard can’t help but exclaim “ahh, that feels good”. Now’s the time you will find me sitting or lying in various beams of light to bask in a truly reptilian way.
Before the northerners heckle me, it does get cold here. It’s been 35-37f (2c) in the mornings and my car has a snowflake icon next to the temperature so…
Rays of sunshine
A Song
Do me a favor- listen to this new song, Sequence by Ludovico Einaudi. Close your eyes for the entire six minutes and travel with it. Let it tell you a story and watch it in your minds eye. Tell me what you see in comment section. Where did it take you?
That ending… 😮💨🤌🏻
Imbolc haiku from Somewhere Dawn is Rising
seeds stir underground
to greet the warming sun
earth thaws for new life
Rising from Somewhere Dawn is Rising
Written from the perspective of a seed, this poem is very much inspired by Imbolc and new beginnings.
A Recipe - Sun Bread
This bread is a fun one to make- in the shape of the sun to celebrate the lengthening days and coming sun.
Ingredients
3 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 stick melted butter (I used salted as usual)
4 1/2 tsp yeast (or 2 packets if you use those)
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp salt
Directions
Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl, warm the milk and add the yeast to it and let sit a few minutes until foamy.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and butter.
In another bowl, mix the 2 1/4 cups of flour and the salt.
Add the first two bowls to the 3rd flour bowl and mix well.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes.
Roll it into a ball and place in a greased bowl to rise for up to 2 hours. It needs to double in size.
Knead the dough again on a floured surface.
Halve the dough and create the center round shape with one half.
With the second half of the dough, cut it into approx. 12 smaller balls.
Use one of the balls to make the face.
With the remaining 11 balls- roll them out into strips and then spiral them and place them against
the center sun shape.
Cover the bread and let it rise for 1 more hour.
Bake at 400 degrees f for approx. 14 minutes give or take a few minutes.
If you want to prevent the face from browning too much you can cover it with aluminum for the first half of baking and then remove but that’s just for aesthetics. It will taste the same browned or not.
Let me know if you try the bread! It tastes almost, ever so faintly, like a pretzel bread. I think it was the salt and eggs that made it so.
The rain update you didn’t ask for
It finally rained!!!! It wasn’t a lot but it was a decent amount. I went to the beach and watched some of it roll in. I think one of the coolest things in nature is watching rain or a storm from a distance.
We’re not always conscious of the natural world around us when we’re caught up in daily life things but seeing weather or nature doing it’s thing is always a comforting reminder that there’s more to this world than politics or whatever we have going on.
x,
Courtney
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Gorgeous post! Blessed Imbolc, my lovely 🤍✨️
I did not know it could get that cold in SoCal! That sun bread makes me so happy 🥹