LINDA CHIDO ART MidWinter

MIDWINTER - Turning Toward the Light

In the cycle of the year, this moment sits quietly between extremes.

The darkest days of winter have passed, yet spring is still out of reach. The light has begun its return but in increments that are easy to miss unless you are paying attention.

This is midwinter.

Across cultures and traditions, early February marks this threshold. Candlemas, St. Brigid’s Day, Imbolc, Groundhog Day — different names for the same human impulse: to notice the light returning, to tend the hearth, to look for signs of life stirring beneath the surface. It is a time associated with fire and warmth, lambs and snowdrops, weather watching and waiting.

In our home, we marked this moment not as a single holiday, but as a season within the season. Over the years, this took many forms. We made beeswax candles and spoke about why light matters when days are still short. We wove St. Brigid’s crosses and sang songs that carried older stories forward. We shaped snowdrop fairies from wooden pegs, felted small lambs, read winter stories, and talked about how traditions are layered, borrowed, and reshaped across time.

Some of these activities were repeated year after year. Others were experienced once, simply to know them. What mattered was not repetition for its own sake, but attention — to the quality of the light, to the quiet persistence of life, and to the human need to mark change even when it comes slowly.

This season taught us to look closely. To recognize that transformation often begins long before it is visible. That tending a flame, literal or otherwise, is an act of trust.

What follows here is not a curriculum, but a record of how this moment in the year was lived — through story, making, song, and shared attention — during the long middle of winter.

OUR FAVORITES

As I worked on this page, I asked the kids what they remembered most from this time of year. These are the moments that have stayed with them.

The Brigit verse:

"Holy water, sacred flame

Brigit we invoke your name

bless my hands, my head, my heart

source of healing, song and art."

This verse came back immediately. It was sung and spoken year after year, simple enough for young children to hold, and rich enough to grow alongside them.

“The Well and the Flame” by Starhawk

From: Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition (Starhawk, Diane Baker, Anne Hill)

They remembered this story about two children who help an old man and discover a sacred well — a quiet tale about kindness, humility, and hidden holiness.

St. Brigid’s crosses

We made these many times. The weaving them became a familiar marker of the season.

The cross is created through a simple, rhythmic weave, traditionally using rushes and easily adapted with paper or pipe cleaners, making it accessible to all ages.

According to legend, St. Brigid of Kildare, a 5th-century Irish saint and contemporary of St. Patrick, wove the first Brigid’s cross while sitting at the bedside of a dying chieftain. As she worked, she spoke gently about faith, care, and the cycle of life, shaping the cross from rushes gathered from the floor. The unfamiliar form caught the man’s attention, opening space for conversation and comfort in his final hours. Over time, this simple woven cross became associated with protection, blessing, and the turning of the year, traditionally made and hung in homes at Imbolc or St. Brigid’s Day as a sign of renewal and care for the household.

Candlemas and the church calendar

In the Christian tradition, Candlemas marked a time when candle remnants were gathered, melted down, and remade to carry households through the rest of winter — a ritual that echoed much older seasonal practices of renewal and care for the light. For many years, we made different types of candles. When they were little, they rolled bees wax sheets. As they got older, we made dipped candles and votive candles, and a variety of candle holders. And even though my three oldest are graduated from high school, they are still helping me and Louis make bees wax candles for Candlemas.

Looking for the first lambs

This was perhaps the most visceral memory. When the kids were young, spotting the first baby lambs each year caused genuine squeals of delight. At the time, sheep still lived in our neighborhood (strange but true!), and the baby lamb's arrival made the turning of the season impossible to miss.