Imbolc
February: Winter’s reprieve
🎼 Kith by Hilary Woods
Imbolc is one of the four Gaelic traditional festivals widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man on 1st February, which marks the beginning of spring. It is associated with the lambing season and the goddess Brigid, who was later incorporated as a Christian Saint.
The festival of Imbolc is mentioned in several early Irish manuscripts, but they say very little about its original rites and customs. The tale Tochmarc Emire says it is “when the ewes are milked at spring’s beginning”. This linking of Imbolc with the arrival of lambs and sheep’s milk probably reflected farming customs that ensured lambs were born before calves. In late winter/early spring, sheep could survive better than cows on the sparse vegetation, and farmers sought to resume milking as soon as possible due to their dwindling stores.
The etymology of the word Imbolc is unclear, although a common explanation is that it comes from the Old Irish ‘i mbolc’ (Modern Irish: ‘i mbolg’), meaning ‘in the belly’, a possible reference to the pregnancy of ewes. Another suggests that it refers to a ritual cleansing, similar to the ancient Roman festival Februa or Lupercalia, which took place at the same time of year.
Imbolc was believed to be the time when the Cailleach — a divine hag associated with the creation of the landscape and with the weather, especially storms and winter — gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she wishes to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny so that she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, people would be relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over.
Brigid
Brigid or Bríg or Bríd is a goddess of pre-Christian Ireland; a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the daughter of the the Dagda and wife of Bres. She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, smithing, domesticated animals and is credited with the custom of keening (wailing / singing to lament the dead).
Cormac’s Glossary, written in the 9th century by Christian monks, says that Brigid had two sisters: Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith, suggesting she may have been a triple deity. She is also thought to have some relation to the British Celtic goddess Brigantia (Proto-Celtic: Briganti ‘The High One’, Sanskrit: Bṛhatī (बृहती) ‘high’, an epithet of the Hindu dawn goddess Ushas, and Iranian Avestan bǝrǝzaitī) herself associated with the Greek and Roman goddesses Minerva, Tyche/Fortuna, and Victoria.
In the late 12th century, Gerald of Wales wrote that nine nuns took turns in keeping a perpetual fire burning at Kildare in honour of Saint Brigid, and that this fire was kept burning since Brigid’s time, ringed by a hedge that no man was allowed to cross, lest he be cursed. It has been suggested this fire originally belonged to a temple of Brigid the goddess. The Roman goddess Vesta and the Greek goddess Hestia also had perpetual fires tended by priestesses.
The early modern traditions and customs of St Brigid’s Day have included weaving Brigid’s crosses, hung over doors and windows to protect against fire, illness, and evil spirits. People also made a doll of Brigid (a Brídeóg), which was paraded around the community by girls, sometimes accompanied by ‘strawboys’.
Families would have a special meal or supper on St Brigid’s Eve to mark the last night of winter. To receive Brigid’s blessings, people would make a bed for her, leave her food and drink, and set items of clothing outside for her to bless. In Ireland, a spring cleaning was customary, while people traditionally visited holy wells and prayed for health while walking ‘sunwise’ around the well.
An old weather lore tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens may be a forerunner of the North American Groundhog Day. As a Scottish Gaelic proverb describes:
Thig an nathair as an toll
Là donn Brìde,
Ged robh trì troighean dhen t-sneachd
Air leac an làir.The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bríde,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground.
Part of Heathens seasons: a celebration of indigenous European traditions
All content adapted or transcribed directly from Wikipedia. Sources: Imbolc, Brigid
