Part 2 of 2
Last month, we looked at Brigid, the goddess, warrior, and saint who is honored on February 2. This month we’ll explore Imbolc. Although commonly celebrated on February 1–2, Imbolc is a moveable feast that marks the beginning of spring.
Some attribute the ritual to a German or Pennsylvania Dutch superstition. But long before either ethnic group evolved, the pre-Celtic people in neolithic Ireland observed Imbolc (pronounced im-mulk), as the beginning of spring.
Although it is traditionally observed from the evening of February 1 through sundown February 2, Gaelic scholar Anthony Murphy is adamant that Imbolc is a moveable feast that astronomically cannot be celebrated as early as February 2.
Blogging at Mythical Ireland, Murphy explains that Imbolc is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals (the others are Beltaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain) that are tied to the solar calendar, or the Wheel of the Year.
Imbolc marks the mid-point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. As such, it is called a cross-quarter day. Since quarters are defined by the solstices and equinoxes, cross-quarter days are midway, or crosswise, between these events.
Murphy breaks down the calculation of Imbolc quite simply.
“The cross-quarter festival of Imbolc generally falls between February 3 and February 6 because the moment of winter solstice (the sun’s lowest declination) does not always occur on December 21, and the vernal equinox does not always fall on March 20.”
Living Season to Season
Murphy further explains that the cross-quarter dates are not just arbitrary mathematical calculations. They coincide with observable and noticeable changes in the weather, the length of daylight, and the landscape itself. They are all related to agriculture, and as such are harbingers for the agrarian people whose lives were dictated by the seasons.
Short days and long, cold nights were dangerous. Would there be enough wood to fuel the fires, and enough food for people and animals to survive?
One of the most serious concerns was pregnant cows, ewes, and other herd animals. Milk was sacred, due to its purity, nutrition, and association with motherhood. By Imbolc, the cows and ewes would have birthed their young, milk would be flowing, and the grass would be growing.
The word Imbolc itself is from the old Irish i mbolg, meaning “in the belly.” It may also be a derivative of óimelc, meaning “ewe’s milk.”
Because of the close connection with the importance of spring, the very essence of Imbolc involves weather prognostication—which brings us back to the groundhog.
Weather Divination
Katharine Briggs, in An Encyclopedia of Fairies, ditches the groundhog and instead attributes the practice of predicting weather on Imbolc to the goddess Cailleach.
A seasonal deity, she predates even the Celtic mythology of which she has become a part. She rules the winter, i.e., the months between Samhain (October 31, the first day of Celtic winter) and Beltaine (April 30, the first day of Celtic summer).
Imbolc is the day Cailleach gathers firewood for the rest of the winter.
If she wants to make her reign (i.e., winter) last longer, she will make Imbolc bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. If Imbolc is foul, it means the goddess is asleep and winter is almost over.
It makes as much sense as a rodent looking at his shadow.
Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
Pre-Celtic to Christian
Although Imbolc is considered a Celtic holiday, its origins precede the arrival of the Celts in Ireland.
The evidence lies in County Meath, Ireland.
On Imbolc and Samhain, the rising sun illuminated the inner chambers at Loughcrew and the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill of Tara. These neolithic megaliths date from at least 3000 B.C., thousands of years before the Celts arrived.
When they did arrive, somewhere around 500 BC, they assimilated pre-Celtic beliefs with their own mythology. Imbolc became a time to celebrate Brigid, the Celtic Goddess of inspiration, healing, birth, fire, the hearth, and smithcraft. And when Ireland was Christianized in the fifth century, Brigid become Saint Brigid.
She first appears in Irish mythology as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The daughter of the Dagda and presumably Danu, she was born at sunrise with light shining from her head.
Murphy stresses, however, that Imbolc is not the same as St. Brigid’s Day.
“The fact that Saint Brigid’s Day is celebrated on February 1 is most likely a convenience of the Gregorian Calendar,” he says. “The fact that it falls close to the date of Imbolc is significant, and probably tells us something of probable common origins of both celebrations.”
Substituting one holiday for another follows the pattern of fixing dates for celestial-based holidays that began with the early church. As Christianity gained a foothold in pagan communities, church leaders adopted pagan festivities into its own belief system. They figured if a holiday looked like a pagan festival, pagans would accept both the Christian holiday and the God it celebrated.
“Just as Christmas Day falls about four days after winter solstice,” Murphy says, “And Easter is calculated by the first full moon after vernal equinox, Brigid’s Day occurs conveniently close to a significant solar astronomical date.”
February 2 is also Candlemas, the Christian commemoration of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple of Jerusalem. In Luke 2:22–40, Jesus is referred to as, “the light of the people of Israel.” On Candlemas, many Christians take candles to be blessed at church. The candles are then used for the rest of the year.
Thus, like Imbolc, Candlemas marks the return of light.
Customs and Traditions
- Symbols: Candles, cauldron, chalice, cow, sheep,
- Foods: Butter, milk, cheese, lamb
- Stones: Amethyst, bloodstone, garnet, onyx, ruby, turquoise
- Flowers & Plants: Snowdrops, angelica, basil, bay laurel, celandine
- Fire: Candles and bonfires
- The outdoors: Take time to go outside and enjoy the lengthening days and increased sunlight
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