02/02/2023
Imbolc is an important Sabbat Celtic holiday and according to tradition Imbolc was meant to mark the halfway point between winter solstice and the spring equinox.
Poetry from that time relates the holiday to ewe’s milk, with the implication of purification.
It’s been speculated that this stems from the breeding cycle of sheep and the beginning of lactation. The holiday was traditionally aligned with the first day of spring and the idea of rebirth.
BRIGID THE GODDESS
Imbolc celebrations took the form of a festival in honor of the pagan goddess Brigid, who was evoked in fertility rites and oversaw poetry, crafts and prophecy. Brigid was worshipped by the Filid, a class of poets and historians among the Celts of ancient Ireland and Britain.
Brigid was considered one of the most powerful Celtic gods, the daughter of the Dagda, the oldest god in the Celtic pantheon Tuatha du Danann. She had two sisters also named Brigid (though it’s speculated that these sisters are meant to symbolize different aspects of the same goddess.)
Myths about Brigid’s birth say she was born with a flame in her head and drank the milk of a mystical cow from the spirit world. Brigid is credited with the very first keening, a traditional wailing for the dead practiced at funerals by Irish and Scottish women.. Celebrants prepared for a visit from Brigid into their homes by crafting an effigy of the goddess from bundles of oats and rushes. The effigy was placed in a dress and put in a basket overnight.
The day of Imbolc was celebrated by burning lamps and lighting bonfires in tribute to Brigid.
ST. BRIGID
Over the centuries, Brigid was adopted into Christianity as St. Brigid.
BLESSING OF THE WATERS
One aspect of the Goddess Brigid is that she is the guardian of the wellsprings. At this time of year you can call upon this connection to water to help heal the waters and the earth. It is also at this time that the “waters break” in respect to the coming springtime and the ice breaking to release the free flowing clean waters.
