Imbolc

The festival of Imbolc, the first festival of spring, of dreams and the waking of the earth

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Rituals

This is the festival that celebrates the beginning of spring, the first signs of life now beginning to emerge. Also spelled Imbolg, pronounced im-olk, or Oimelc in Gaelic, it is often known as Brighid’s Day. In Welsh, it is Gwyl Forwyn, pronounced gwil vor-wun, the feast of the maiden, or Gwyn Fair, the feast of Mary, Brighid having the role equivalent to Mary, the divine mother, in pre-Christian Britain. Unlike Mary the perpetual virgin, however, Brighid evolves through the cycles of woman, and at this rite she is felt in her triplicity, as mother reflecting in the innocence of her child, as hag in the darkness of the womb’s blood and ploughed earth. Candlemas is the same rite within the Christian tradition. Celebrated by the calendar between 1 – 2 February, for those who go by the seasons the festival comes when the first snowdrops are flowering, the first lambs are born, or when the energy of the earth can first truly be felt stirring. It is a festival which celebrates the mother who has given birth, the magical beauty of the mabon and all new life. (Excerpt from Ritual by Emma Restall Orr)