this early spring greeting card features a groundhog, snowdrops, a Brigid’s cross, a candlestick,and  reads in irish, "‘a happy imbolc to you”.

imbolc, translating roughly to ‘in the belly’, is a Celtic cross quarter day that marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox time. groundhog Day in the United States is celebrated right after, and is a leftover from Irish immigration to the United States as this was a time for animal divination to predict weather patterns. St Brigid’s day and Candlemas, are both celebrated on imbolc, marking the earliest stirring of spring and the unfurling of seeds underground.

this is a great time of year for reconnecting with friends and family after the din of the holidays is through and we are in the belly of winter. I suggest including a beautiful poem if you aren’t  sure what to write, like this one:

Snowdrops by Louise Glück

Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know what despair is; then

winter should have meaning for you.

I did not expect to survive, earth suppressing me. I didn't expect to waken again, to feel in damp earth my body able to respond again, remembering after so long how to open again in the cold light of earliest spring--

afraid, yes, but among you again crying yes risk joy

in the raw wind of the new world.

***

each Letterpress card includes an envelope. The designs were hand drawn by me and printed in my garage on my turn-of-the-century Letterpress.