Note: This is the very first post I wrote about Imbolc. In the past decade, I have discovered even more fascinating layers to its mythology and food lore, so check out the links spread throughout this post.

Across the world, for thousands of years, our ancestors celebrated the turn of the seasons through sacred feasts and plenty of magic.  Marking the astrological alignments of the sun and moon, these activities had one central purpose – to harmonize human activity with the great cycles and forces of nature, thereby ensuring fertility, abundance, and good harvest.

Sounds pretty good to me. That’s why I’m preparing to celebrate one of the most beautiful and ancient of these “holy days” – the Festival of Light known as Imbolc or Brigid’s Day to the ancient Celts. This “cross-quarter day” occurred halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and is believed to have been celebrated as far back as the Neolithic when megalithic chambers marked the light of the rising sun on this day. Now Imbolc Day is fixed to Feb 2nd but it was originally a moveable feast fluctuating with the heavens. This matter of timing is of no small importance as I explore here.

Imbolc was when Brigid, the Celtic goddess in the form of the sun, spread her green cloak across the land, releasing it from the icy grips of winter. Brigid represents the light half of the year which banishes the dark, so all forms of light, heat, and illumination are sacred to her. So it’s no wonder that Imbolc was marked with bonfires, blazing hearths, lit candles, and a feast of sacred foods symbolizing the power of the sun. (see more on her sacred foods here.)  This was a high time for magic, for ritually burning off and releasing the old year and nourishing the new.

Brigid’s folklore and food lore were absorbed by the Church and attributed to St.Brigid of Kildare, making her one of the few goddesses whose honorary rituals and customs still survive today. (This is likely because neither the Romans nor Christianity ever quite managed to fully colonize Ireland.)  This fascinating article describes how in Ireland and Scotland these historical traditions are overwhelmingly concentrated on the traditionally “feminine” aspects of life, domesticity, and fertility. “It was customary for houses to be spick and span and women would open their cupboards and take stock of the supplies they had left. Many households would bring water from a well dedicated to saint Brìde and sprinkle it around the house, the farm buildings, fields, livestock, and family members, invoking a blessing of the saint as they did so.”

Top: Bridey Doll, Brigid Cross, or Sunwheel Bottom:  St. Brigid’s Holy Well at Kildare

Today Brigid crosses (symbolizing the sun and the wheel of life) are still woven and hung over doors as protective talismans and Bridey Dolls (symbolizing Brigid) are still placed in cradles on the hearth on Imbolc Eve. The following day girls carry the Bridey Doll from house to house and are rewarded with Bannocks of Bride, special oatcakes filled with magical fertilizing and protective powers. St. Brigid is said to wander the land on Imbolc Eve and so a candle was lit in every window to show her the way to the door and Bannock of Bride was left in the barn so that she might bless the animals. (Recipe for Rosemary Oat Bannocks here.)

Another custom was to gather a bundle of green rushes, and, standing with them in the hand on the threshold of the door, to invite St. Bridget to come in that night saying: “Bridget, Bridget, come to my house, come to my house tonight, open the door to Bridget, and let Bridget come in.”

Imbolc is believed to be derived from the old Irish word for milk  “Oilmec”  and it referred to the time when impregnated ewes began to lactate the “new milk”  or “Oilmec” associated with purification. It is customary to offer this sacred milk to Brigid by pouring it onto the earth to speed the return of green and fertility to the land. Today it is still made into special cheese and butter along with other magical ingredients associated with the sun (such as egg yolks and honey) for the Imbolc feast. This inspired me to make lovely Lemon Curd Tassies and Blackberry Scones with Bay Leaf Custard.

In the past, it was customary for women to dress in white (to honor the bride of the new year) as they gathered together at sundown to light sacred bonfires to purify the fields in preparation for the new year. These fires burned off the old year and invited in the fertilizing, life-giving power of the new sun. Because Brigid was the goddess of smithcraft, poetry, and inspiration, her fires symbolized inner sight and illumination, and many women practiced the arts of fire divination. Then, returning home, hearths were lit, and lighted candles were placed in each window to light Brigid’s way to their homes.  Gifts of food were presented to the goddess before the traditional Imbolc or Brigid’s Feast was served.

I love the idea that these rituals of cleaning, cooking, crafting, and fire-lighting were once considered integral to the well-being of our community (and to nature herself). Today we’ve come to see such thinking as superstitious. After all, baking a cake and lighting a ceremonial candle isn’t going to causally affect the coming harvest. But still, as irrational as it is, something about these ancient customs speaks to me, a sense of reconnecting with something very old and sacred.

Perhaps this impulse to celebrate the waning of winter, the first stirrings of green, and the warmth of lengthening days is a genetic memory. Worn deep into our psyche by generations of our foremothers is the faith that our intentions matter. By ceremonially cleansing our homes, preparing special foods, and lighting oodles of candles, we can create an energy of blessing for ourselves, each other, and our communities.

I don’t know exactly why I believe it, but I do.  And so once again, I am readying to harmonize my life with the great cycles of nature and cook up some old-world magic!  And I know that by doing so, I’ll feel as if I (mysteriously) accomplished something important.

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