FUN FACT ~ February 28th is all about CAKES!

FUN FACT, FEBRUARY 28^TH IS ALL ABOUT CAKES! 

Under Pagan and Wiccan holidays you will find this to be a grand time of offering cakes to the God and Goddess, as well as to the ancestors of your lineage. 

What is referred to as Saxon Cake Day is stemmed from the Anglo Saxons who didn’t just have a Cake Day, but a whole Cake Month, called Solmonath (February) which can be called or nicknamed ‘month of cakes’. 

These cakes were then offered to their gods for blessings, good harvest, and to purify the home and community. The reference to these cakes is reminiscent of an Old English charm for making a field fertile, which was called the Aecerbot or Field Remedy. 

The charm has survived through written manuscript dating from the tenth or eleventh century, though sources have shown that it may have derived from an even much older tradition. The translation states:

Take then each kind of flour and have

Someone bake a loaf [the size of] a hand’s

Palm and knead it with milk and with holy

Water and lay it under the first

Furrow. Say then:

Field full of food for mankind,

Bright-blooming, you are blessed

In the holy name of the one who shaped

Heaven

And the earth on which we live;

The God, the one who made the ground,

Grant us the gift of growing,

That for us each grain might come to use.

-          Aecerbot, translated by Karen Louise Jolly

While the surviving translation is Christianized, it does not take much to imagine that the prayers are being asked towards a field fertile God, and other historians have even argued that it is in reference to an earth Goddess.

Let us be inspired by this old Remedy and consider incorporating this charm into our own Cake Day on the 28^th.  Instead of a fertile field, let us conjure a prosperous and fertile spring into our lives. As well as take the time to honor our deities and/or our ancestors. One can achieve this by creating a beautiful and purified space, filled with flowers, candles, cakes, and tea.

Prepare the Space

Items:

v  Bouquets of primrose to symbolize patience, kindness, and gentleness. And to draw in protection and love. Iris, to symbolize faith, wisdom and hope. And to draw in purification and wisdom. Lastly, violets, to symbolize modesty, faithfulness, everlasting love, innocence, and remembrance. And to draw in luck, peace, healing, and wishes – enough to fill the space

v  Light blue and violet candles – just enough to set the mood

v  Decorate with sun symbols, cedar wreaths, purified magickal tools, symbols of your chosen deity and/or photos of your ancestors – to honor the gods and/or your ancestors, and create a magickal altar

v  Amethyst, jasper, and agate – to bless and empower the feast

v  Incense – wisteria, heliotrope, myrrh, and sage

v  A decorated cloth of white, blue, violet, and/or pink – blanket, table cover, or table runner

Prepare the Food

Three-tier tray(s): Cakes, Cakes, and more Cakes! Pick and choose or have them all!

First tier –

v  Lemon and Strawberry Cake

v  Pumpkin and Banana Cake

Second tier –

v  The Swedish Sandwich Cake

         Chicken Tikka Sandwich Cake

v  The BLT Sandwich Cake

v  Cheesy Spinach and Artichoke Pinwheels Cake

Third tier –

v  Carrot and Spice Cake

v  Coconut Chocolate Cake

v  Coffee Cake

Prepare the Tea

Ritual:

In a purified glass bowl, blend

v  1 part mint

v  2 part dried elderflower

v  1 part white tea

Blend each herb and imbue the mix with your energy and intentions. You may surround your vessel with lit golden and/or white candles to empower the blend. Add a teaspoon of the blend to an infuser or one to two tablespoons for a pot of tea. Surround the vessel/pot with clear quartz and/or amethyst. Heat your water to 175 degrees. Cover the tea with water and hold your hands over the brew. Focus your intent on what you wish for the season, filled with fertility and blessings. Brew for 2 - 3 minutes. Add milk and sweeten with honey if you wish.

Just before serving, recite this blessing:

 

Banquet table full of nourish and

Bright light, bless us as we surround

Thee in cheer and delight

In the name of the God whose strength

Fills our bodies

And of the Goddess;

The exalted one, whose love

Fills our hearts

Grant us the gift of growth,

And of each wish we shall come to see.

Serve the pots of tea and cakes, sipping and absorbing your blessing. Partake the feast together with gratitude and laughter. Shortly after, a grand purification ritual should be hosted. 

Cast spells for new beginnings, abundance, prosperity, and protection. Create dedicated altars for the home, hearth, pets, and family. This would also make it the most ideal time to bless your garden and seeds for new growth. 

This is a fertile month, so fertility spells are favored. Petition to your deities and ancestors and welcome them into your home, asking directly for blessings and protection.

Correspondences:

Mint – money, lust, healing, travel, exorcism, protection, sacred to the god

Elderflowers – healing, protection, prosperity, exorcism, sleep, blessings, fidelity, sacred to the goddess

White Tea – cleansing, clarifying, aura healing, purification, psychic abilities, connection with spirits and deities, fertility, youth, new beginnings