Brigid Art Print

Imbolc represented the moment when the goddess Brigid, embodied by the sun, draped her green cloak over the land, liberating it from the icy grip of winter. Because all forms of light, heat, and illumination are sacred to Brigid, the celebration was marked with bonfires, hearth fires, lit candles, and a feast of sacred foods that represented the power of the sun. This was a time of magic rituals, to release the old year and invite the life-giving energy of the new sun. As the goddess of smithcraft, poetry, and inspiration, Brigid’s fires symbolized inner illumination, and many women practiced the arts of fire divination.

This celebration was undoubtedly a feminine festival. Women gathered to welcome the maiden aspect of the Goddess as embodied by Brigid. The festivities included the making of corn cakes and the weaving of Brigid's crosses, symbolizing the sun and the wheel of life. A doll-like figure of Brigid (a Brídeóg) dressed in white would be paraded from house-to-house by maidens, also dressed in white.

On the eve of the festival, people prepared their homes to be visited and blessed by Brigid, by making a bed for her, preparing food and drink offerings, and lighting a candle at every window to show her the way. They left offerings in barns, so that Brigid could bless the animals. On this day, Brigid was honored as the Great Mother and all-encompassing deity.

With the arrival of Imbolc, the pregnant animals who survived the winter months birth their young. Their milk was considered sacred—in fact the word ‘Imbolc’ is believed to be derived from the old Irish word for milk, ‘Oilmec’. The cow was symbolic of the sacredness of motherhood, life-force and nourishment, and was associated with the goddess Brigid. It is customary to offer this sacred milk to Brigid by pouring it onto the earth to invoke the return of fertility to the land.

Brigid may have been a Triple Goddess—a deity who appears in three forms or aspects. Unlike other mythologies where the Triple Goddess represented the three chronological stages of a woman's life (Maiden, Mother, and Crone), the three Brigids were all of the same generation, and the distinctions between them were based on their domains of responsibility. Brigid the Healer, or the 'Fire of the Hearth', was the goddess of fertility, family, childbirth and healing. Brigid the Smith, or the 'Fire of the Forge', was a patroness of the crafts (especially weaving, embroidery, and metalsmithing), and a goddess concerned with justice and law and order. Brigid the Poetess, or the 'Fire of Inspiration', was the muse of poetry, song and the protector of all cultural learning.

Brigid’s folklore and traditions were assimilated by the Church and attributed to St. Brigid of Kildare, making her one of the few goddesses whose rituals and customs still survive today. This endurance could be attributed to Ireland's resistance to complete Roman or Christian colonization. In Ireland and Scotland, many of the historical practices of ancient people heavily emphasized the traditionally feminine aspects of life. Today, Imbolc and other ancient earth-based festivals are experiencing a revival, as societies steeped in modernity feel a growing desire to re-attune themselves to the sacred cycles of nature.