2.01.2008
Happy Imbolc
Tonight and tomorrow is when most modern Pagans celebrate the fire festival of Imbolc sacred to the goddess Brigid, patroness of poets, healers, and smiths. Today is also the feast day of Saint Brigid of Ireland patron saint of poets, dairymaids, blacksmiths, healers, cattle, fugitives, Irish nuns, midwives, and new-born babies.
Brigid: Saint and Goddess
In Kildare, Ireland's town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 25th and will continue through Febrary 3rd.
Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.
"Bridget, the ancient Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Healing and Smithcraft was highly revered by our ancestors, and honoured at Imbolc (Feb. 1), a holiday marking the birth of the tribe's sheep, essential for their milk, meat and wool. It was said that the ocean became warm on that day as Bridget, also associated with fire, put her hand into the water. At Imbolc, she was welcomed into the family home, and many wonderful customs were maintained when she was later venerated as St. Bridget, the daughter of a druid. She is much beloved in Ireland and Scotland, her powers as Goddess and saint interwoven still." - Sharynne NicMhacha
"Before Candlemas there was, indeed, the Celtic festival of Imbolc (pronounced IMolk) meaning 'in the belly,' as in a pregnant ewe, but also symbolic of the earth right before spring. It is associated with the goddess Brigid, who some say became St. Brigid, whose feast day is Feb. 1. Imbolc was much concerned with fertility and weather prognostication. According to Gaelic folklore, the hag goddess Cailleach would gather firewood on Imbolc. If she intended to prolong winter she would make the day bright and sunny, the better to gather firewood. If Imbolc turned out overcast, it meant that Cailleach was asleep in her den and that there would be an early spring. Sound familiar?" - Daniel Deagler, The Morning Call
"Brigid's protection of agriculture and poetry underscores the need to tend our inner fertility. Tending our forms of creativity is crucial to a fulfilling life. The ancients believed that gifts of expression were only on loan. We are reminded to remain grateful, and to be good custodians of artistic talents." - Jonathan Young, The Center for Story & Symbol
"Although Carolyn Deby has named her new performance Imbolc (in the belly), the choreographer said she's not trying to transplant a Celtic festival to the West Coast. She's interested in exploring how the eternal rhythms of life, death and birth celebrated by pagan Celts affect multicultural urban Vancouverites. 'I'm interested in how people see themselves as part of the natural world,' Deby said." - Kevin Griffin, The Vancouver Sun
"I call it Candlemas. Some people call it Imbolc. And for me it's the start of spring, which is not most people's understanding of when the season starts. Candlemas is celebrated on Feb. 1 and 2, and here in Seattle the first buds are on the trees and the first green shoots are coming out of the ground already, so there are really very clear signs that something is changing. I also like to use it as a new beginning time, so instead of doing New Year's resolutions on Jan. 1, I wait until Feb. 1, and then make some kind of intention - that I'm either going to symbolize in a collage or a pledge that I'll make to myself. For me it's really the start of a new year." - Waverly Fitzgerald, The San Francisco Gate
"I'd sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We'd be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer." - Excerpt from "Saint Brigit's Prayer"
Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the third annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web today, I'll see you by the lake of beer!
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