Spring Cleaning Season

Purple Monday opens a semi-penitential purification period that will last until the Feast of Lights - Luciad (Brighe 10/Feb 1).

February has been associated with purification since at least Roman times. Both physical and spiritual rites were carried out, likely hot steam baths and cleansing of physical spaces -- hence "spring cleaning" -- as well as observances such as Lupercalia concerning the fertilization of the earth and the earliest beginnings of spring. The period between Purple Monday (the first Candredi/Monday in Brighe) and Luciad honours this ancient tradition. Ways to mark the season would include physical cleaning of the house/your spaces or shrine; showering or bathing with herbs, salts, or with prayers to cleanse yourself physically and spiritually; blessing of spaces, house, and land, and so on.

As this is semi-penitential, and not fully penitential like Moura, this is not a time of strict fasting or abstention; more -- making room for spring and welcoming the earliest signs of it. It culminates with the Feast of Lights, where we bless our candles in symbol of the Daughter who comes with the divine light to save. Luciad is a day to remember the Daughter's promise to take that light into the darkest parts of Creation, which is what begins the entire Eastre cycle.

Purple Monday refers to the colour of the altar cloth -- which was green for Advent then white or gold for the Nativity season -- changing to purple, the colour of penitence (purple and darker violet will alternate from now until the end of Moura).