Eowemeolc or Charming of the Plough

Eowemeolc a time of celebrating the first signs of spring. Our female ancestral spirits are communally honored around this time, to lend their efforts to the coming planting season as we celebrate the halfway point to Spring. The Eowemeolc rite falls on the first full mood of February for us, but traditionally would have varied by the location. For instance, today it is snowing here, and we are expected to get 16-inches! Doesn’t seem like the coming of spring. 

The Kindred Hall of Hammerhof celebrates Eowemeolc (Imbolc) known in many Asatru groups as The Charming of the Plough. Eowemeolc is a Celtic calibration, mentioned in early Irish literature. Indeed it is more commonly associated with Wiccan calibrations than that of Heathen, but the pagan Anglo-Saxon seemed to have adopted this calibration and the practiced continued on after they converted to Christianity. 

According to Bede’s De temporum ratione, the Anglo-Saxon month of February was known as Solmonad, and meant month of mud. This may be a reference to the ploughing of fields. According to Bede, this was a time celebrated by people offering cakes to their Gods. Within our Hall we offer cakes or loaves 9n return for a good ploughing season. Of course, we do not do a lot of ploughing these days, but we have backyard gardens. Symbolically, our offerings are for a fruitful year, be that a raise at work, continued good fortune, or what not. The idea is for a fruitful and prosper time to come.

Our ritual begins at sunset and ends when the fire goes out. We have our husel, blot, and symbel. We make offerings of small breads, seed cakes, nuts, and sheaves of grain. We hold a large outdoor bonfire and sing and dance.

The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bríde,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground.
Scottish Gaelic proverb

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