February Notebook: The Light issue

Zingy recipes, rising energy levels and King Frost Day

Hello,

I hope you all had a lovely sleepy January, and welcome to a shiny new month.

I’ve got a lovely newsletter for you today, filled with frosty folklore, early spring rituals and unexpected leap-day fun.

Can anyone else feel a shift in energy? It’s very subtle, but it’s definitely there. Although it’s still cold, the light is returning and I’m starting to look up from my books, think about some plans for the year ahead, rifle through some seed packets.

February begins with the Celtic spring festival of Imbolc, so we’ll be following the lead of our Pagan ancestors this month by celebrating all the tiny markers of very early spring and focusing on light, energy and renewal.

We also get an extra day to play with, thanks to 2024 being a leap year. Traditionally a day for expecting the unexpected, there’s something exciting about having a day that’s outside of the usual flow of things, where conventions are reversed and anything can happen.

In this newsletter, we’ll be embracing all that February has to offer, diving into refreshing Spring rituals, eating zingy lemon bread and turning our face towards the light.

Who’s with me?

Photo by Fuu J on Unsplash

---

Things to love about February

1. The colour yellow

There aren’t many flowers around at this time of year, but the ones that are, are predominantly yellow - bright points of light that look like sunshine in a dark month. Whoever designed this knew exactly what they were doing, didn’t they?

Winter jasmine, Winter aconites, early-flowering daffodils and yellow Hazel catkins are all out this month, providing sunshine when it’s most needed. If you don’t have any in your own garden, plant some now - you’ll appreciate it next February.

2. Rising energy levels

With the returning light, I can feel my energy levels slowly starting to rise. Anyone else? At the end of this month we will have on average two hours more sunlight every day than we did at the start.

Although it’s still chilly outside this month, the cold weather somehow feels different now. It’s a bright, fresh kind of cold, if you know what I mean by that. In November I wanted to stay indoors all day drinking hot chocolate and looking wistfully out of the window. In February I feel a bit more Wim Hof about it all and am more likely to want to get outside and find some water to jump into. Which I will immediately regret of course, because it is still very cold out there. But… the wheel is turning and lighter days are definitely on the way.

3. Snowdrops and Galanthophiles

Snowdrops are out in abundance this month. They are a symbol of renewal to many, but they also carry a hint of something mysterious with them; they are highly poisonous and crop up often in folklore as a symbol of danger.

They also inspire a passion bordering on obsession in a dedicated group of fans known as galanthophiles. I love anyone who has a passion and single-minded focus and, for some reason, this tiny white flower has legions of people who collect and obsess over them every February.

I don’t put myself in the category of obsessive fan, but I love the mystery and fascination these tiny flowers evoke so I always look out for them this month, then give them a very respectful nod when I see them. Can’t be too careful. You can read more about their mythology here.

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

---

Things to do in February

Feeling suitably February-ish yet? I hope so. Right, here’s your list of things to do, see and eat this month:

1. Celebrate Imbolc

The month starts with the early spring festival of light and reawakening; Imbolc. In case you missed it, you can read my guide to the festival here. It has suggestions for reawakening and purification rituals as well as a bit of background on the festival.

2. Mark ‘King Frost Day’

An ancient English festival, King Frost Day was held in London on 4th February during a period of history when the Thames was often completely frozen over and Frost Fairs were popular. According to this article, ‘King Frost Day’ was a day for Londoners to petition the King of the Frost to end Winter and bring on Spring.

While it’s unlikely the Thames will be frozen over this year, I like the idea of a ceremonial closing of the Winter season and an official call for Spring to begin, so I’ll be giving King Frost a nod and wave on the 4th.

3. Get ready for planting season

The ground is still much too cold to think about planting anything this month, (gardening tradition says it will only be ready to plant when you can sit on the ground with a bare bottom - please don’t try that this month). But that doesn’t mean you can’t plan ahead. Seed packets can be bought, sketches made and sheds ventured into. Fully clothed.

4. Bake something refreshing

After several delicious months of gingerbread spice, rich cakes and festive flavours, I’m starting to tentatively look about for something a bit fresher. I’m not advocating salads just yet (or ever really, lets be honest) but I’m starting to think more about lemony, zesty flavours.

Rosemary bread, lemon and poppy seed cakes all start to call my name at this time of year. If you feel the same way, here’s a delicious-sounding Lemon and herb focaccia recipe to try.

I also included a list of the best zesty lemon and orange cake recipes in my Imbolc newsletter.

Photo by Quin Engle on Unsplash

---

February Folklore

This month is a fresh and invigorating one and the folklore attached to it is filled with purification rituals and water blessings.

Here are a few pieces of February Folklore for you to squirrel away, ready to impress, surprise or completely baffle someone at the appropriate moment.

1. Bless the fish

In a tradition that continues to this day in the UK, the blessing of the salmon takes place every February in the river Tweed.

Although it was originally intended to ensure a good salmon harvest, the focus these days is not on catching but protecting the fish “nowadays, we want to bless the salmon because we want them to survive and thrive” says Rev. Rob Kelsey who is the current blesser of fish (real job title).

Sounds like an excellent tradition to me. I’ll be offering up a friendly blessing to the local fish next time I walk past the river.

2. Don’t bring snowdrops indoors

Apart from the fact that they belong in the dark quiet of a woodland and not in an overheated house, according to folklore it’s considered extremely bad luck to bring snowdrops indoors. So give them a nod and a wave when you see them outdoors this month, then leave them exactly where they are.

3. Seize the extra day

This year is a leap year which means we get an entire extra day to play with on the 29th. There are so many rituals, superstitions and traditions wrapped up in this day; some are wary of it, others see it as a rare chance to flip conventions and do something out of the ordinary.

The overarching theme of this day is to expect the unexpected, so I see it as an opportunity to give yourself a day where you do exactly what you feel like, without worrying about how it looks to others. It’s a bonus day. It’s all yours. Please flip all the conventions on the 29th, and have fun.

Photo by Erik Dungan on Unsplash

---

Ok, that’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed your February newsletter and I hope you have a wonderful month filled with sunshine-coloured flowers, zingy flavours and unexpected leap-day fun.

Now it’s over to you to share your February rituals and traditions in the Comments. I’m really interested to know if anyone else loves February and if so what your rituals and traditions look like? Any leap-day plans?

I’ll see you next month for a March edition of the Monthly Notebook. We’ll be celebrating the Spring Equinox and I’ll add a sprinkling of weird and wonderful folklore for you too. Look forward to seeing you there.

If you haven’t already Subscribed then just click below to make sure that post arrives safely in your inbox.

Vicky xx

---