In Western Europe, Imbolc was time to start preparing the fields for the first plantings, and to bless the crop seeds saved and stored from the last harvest.
It was also a time to consecrate and bless all their agricultural tools.
The success of the new farming season was of great importance to our ancestors, and as most their winter stores of food were beginning to run out, rituals were performed to ensure a steady supply of food until the first new harvest at Lammas (the Autumn Equinox).
One old tradition was to drag decorated ploughs around the fields followed by villagers dropping pieces of cheese and bread mixed with seeds into the newly turned furrows as offerings to the spirits of nature.
Corn dollies made and saved from the last harvest would also be planted to encourage new growth
