Imbolc

The story behind the day

Imbolc is the early Irish festival of the first day of spring, counted among the four quarter-day festivals of the Irish year and kept on 1 February. It falls on the feast day of St Brigid, and the saint's cult has long been thought to carry traces of an older goddess of the same name. In Ireland the day is marked with crosses of rushes. Wiccans, Druids and other modern Pagans keep Imbolc as one of eight festivals, honouring Brigid and the first signs of spring, though their eight-festival calendar is a creation of the twentieth century.^[1–8]

Origins

The Irish dictionary of the Royal Irish Academy defines imbolc as the name of a pagan festival held on the first day of the spring season, and the medieval saga of the Wooing of Emer glosses it as the beginning of spring. It is one of four quarter days, falling at the beginning of February, May, August and November. The meaning of the word is uncertain. Cormac's Glossary, an early Irish word list, derives it from a word for ewe's milk, an explanation the dictionary calls fanciful, while the Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable reads the name as meaning "in the belly or womb".^{[1–2, 10]}

What it marks

Imbolc marks the start of spring, the season of fertility in the old farming year. Its date coincides with the feast of St Brigid of Kildare on 1 February. Cormac's Glossary, in its Old Irish text, speaks of a Brigit who was a woman poet, daughter of the Dagda, and a goddess whom poets worshipped. Heritage Ireland describes her as a triple goddess of healing, smith-craft and poetry. Stories of the saint seem to draw on a Celtic fire goddess who bore the same name, and the monastery at Kildare was said to keep a perpetual flame.^{[3–4, 11–12]}

How it came to be

Brigid's link with Imbolc has long led writers to suspect that her cult at Kildare has pre-Christian roots. In 2023 the Irish state began a new annual public holiday in her honour around 1 February. The modern Pagan Imbolc is a separate development. The Druid Network notes that the cycle of eight festivals dates only from the mid twentieth century, and Gerald Gardner is reported to have adapted eight older pagan festivals into the sabbats of Wicca.^{[4, 6, 13]}

How it is kept

rush crosses being woven by a hearth — Rush crosses being woven by a hearthIllustration · AI-generated

In Ireland people weave crosses of rushes for St Brigid's Day. Wiccans mark Imbolc as a festival of lights that welcomes winter's end, and Druids speak of lambs born and of the goddess Brighid honoured. The Encyclopedia of Religion describes the festival for Neopagans as the return of light and the first evidence of new life.^{[5, 7–8]}

Across traditions

The Irish feast and the modern Pagan sabbat overlap but are not the same. The Druid Network gives the date as 2 February and the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids as 1 February, while the Wiccan sources consulted give 2 February. Wiccans also call the day Candlemas.^{[7, 9]}

Sources

Each statement above was checked against published sources; the verdict says whether it stood as written, was corrected or was hedged.