Tomorrow, February 1, marks the feast day of Saint Brigid (St. Brigid's Day), also known as Imbolc. It is the halfway point from the winter solstice to the spring equinox. (This year the actual halfway point is February 3, 2023.) It is considered the start of the spring, the return to light, and a quarter day in Ireland/Scotland. A quarter day marks the transition from one season to the next. Four quarter days are celebrated in the year; Beltane (summer), Lunasa (fall), and Samhain (winter) round out the four. Note the weather plays a role in the creation and celebration of holidays, reminding us that everything is connected and one.
Imbolc celebrates the Celtic Goddess/Saint Brigid. St Brigid's Day was an important Celtic folk tradition/festival celebrating fertility, blessings, and protection. It was a time to look forward to brighter days, warmer weather, new growth on the land, and the birth of farm animals. It was very important to the Celtic ancestors to seek protection and blessings for the family, home, crops, and animals at this time.
You will note that we have a goddess Brigid (pagan) who has the same qualities as the latter Saint Bridget (Christian).
Traditions:
There are many traditions still used to this day to celebrate St. Brigid's Day.
• The most famous one is her cross. Create a St. Brigid's cross from rush/straw or buy one at a store. Hang it over your door on the eve of St Brigid's Day (Jan 31, TODAY) for St. Brigid to come and bless it and protect the home, people, and animals in which it dwells. It is believed that St. Brigid blesses and protects all who honor her on this night! Believe and receive!
"Brigid's cross hung over the door
And did, from fire, the house secure.
O Gillo thought,
O powerful charm ...
To keep a house from taking harm,
And tho’ the dogs and servants slept,
By Brigid's care the house was kept"
Fun fact, many Irish homes create a new cross every year, bless it with holy water and recite prayers and put it in their eaves or thatch roof for protection throughout the year. Many do not take the old crosses down so you can tell how long someone has lived at their house by the number of St. Brigid's crosses. It is also a great gift for those who have just moved into a new home.
It is also believed that Saint Brigid first created this cross as she was ministering to a king on his deathbed. It is said that she created this cross from the rush of his bedside and after telling him the story of the cross, he saw the light and was baptized by her on the spot.
• Leave a piece of cloth, ribbon, small face towel, or piece of clothing outside on a Hawthorne tree (any tree but lore says Hawthorne), your front railing, post, door, etc. so Brigid can come and bless it with dew on the eve of her feast (Jan 31, TODAY). You can then use that cloth, ribbon, towel, or clothing for healing throughout the year. Used whenever someone was sick or in need of help for any ailments or troubles. The cloth would be placed on the person’s head or around their neck (or taken along with them in their pocket) for blessings as a prayer to St Brigid was recited. It is believed that St. Brigid heals all who honor her on this night! Believe and receive!
• Bonfires, fire According to lore, the goddess Brigid was said to have been born at dawn’s first light with a crown of fire glowing from her head. There was an eternal flame created by her priestesses after her death, similar to the perpetual light candle that is lit in every church to show the presence of God.
Goddess Brigid and Saint Bridget
Goddess Brigid was said to have been born at dawn’s first light with a crown of fire glowing from her head and she drank the milk of a mystical cow from the spirit world.
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 is linked to tamed animals, blacksmithing, poetry, healing as well as knowledge. She had two sisters also named Brigid, Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith (though it’s speculated that these sisters are meant to symbolize different aspects of the same goddess.). She might have been a triple divinity, according to this observation. She is also believed to share a connection with Brigantia, a British Celtic divinity.
Her son Ruadán lost his life in battle and so distraught was Brigid that as she sang and wept over her son’s body, her harmonic cries were heard throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. Brigid is credited with the very first keening, a traditional wailing for the dead practiced at funerals by Irish and Scottish women.
Brigid then became devoted to healing and following the death of her child became the protector of children and childbirth. Her shrine was created by an ancient druid oak in Kildare that was so sacred no weapon could be brought into it. Her priestesses took care of her perpetual flame, the sacred fire of Brigid, one each day for nineteen days and on the twentieth day, Brigid herself would attend the flame.
The pagan goddess Brigid evoked fertility, and blessings, and oversaw poetry, crafts, and prophecy. Brigid appears in the saga Cath Maige Tuired and the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a purported history of Ireland collected from various poems and texts in the 10th century. Additionally, according to medieval sources, Brigid was both the divinity that poets worshipped and a wise lady or sage also known for her protective guardianship. Brigid was worshipped by the Filid, a class of poets and historians among the Celts of ancient Ireland and Britain.
Saint Brigid (Bridget) is one of the three patron saints of Ireland, along with the most famous St. Patrick and St. Columcille (Columba). As St. Patrick did, Saint Bridget converted the people to Christianity, she built a monastery and ministered to those in need. She was born from both sides of the track so to speak with a slave mother and super wealthy chieftain father. Although she lived with her slave mother until 10 years old, those years formed her strong faith and relationship with God/Universe/Yahweh/Buddha/Mohammed/whatever label you want to put on universal love and light. She was sent to live with her wealthy father, not as a member of his family but as a servant. In this role, she gave to those in need and continually gave away her father's prized possessions all in the name of God. With that, it is told that when it was time to marry, she disfigured her face and told her father that she was married to God and that ministering his word and healing to the sick and poor was her mission. In this healing work, she is also known to have blessed the Brigid wells of Ireland which people still pilgrimage to today for healing powers.
At Saint Bridget's monastery and nunnery, it is said that she chose Kildare, Ireland to follow the work of the goddess Brigid, taking on the perpetual flame as a symbol of the light of Christianity. In another nod to the fire goddess, Bridget founded a School of Art specializing in metalwork and illumination, from which came some of the most impressive works of the time including the legendary Book of Kildare.
Prayer To St Bridget
"Bridget, you were a woman of peace. You brought harmony where there was conflict. You brought light to the darkness. You brought hope to the downcast. May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious. And may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world. Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Bridget, you were a voice for the wounded and the weary. Strengthen what is weak within us. Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens. May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit. Amen."
Whether you believe in goddess Brigid, Saint Bridget, or both, the message of protection, healing, and fertility/rebirth are the same. She is the crone, the mother, and the maiden. The trine, and the trinity. She is the power of three.
We are in the process of leaving the darkness behind us (just survived the darkest ten weeks of the year!) and we are slowly moving forward into the sun. Each day has one more minute of light.
As the Beatles say, Here comes the sun, and I say
It's alright.
Please be kind.
Hope and light lives within us all.
xoxo
Joyce
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“I don’t understand it any more than you do, but one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t have to understand things for them to be.” ― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time
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