IMBOLC - IN THE BELLY or
MILK OF THE WOMB
IMBOLC: ORIGINS OF THE FESTIVAL
Imbolc or Oimelc is the second of the Great Festivals. the name appears to mean either ‘in the belly’, referring to lambing or ‘ewes milk’ though a better word would ‘clolostrum’, as the word used translate not as milk but ‘ìm’, ‘butter’. Colostrum is the first milk which contains added immune enhancing elements. February is a bit of an odd month. It can be very cold or very mild. Very dry or constantly rain. It can be extremely snowy or have none at all. It can have ferocious storms or calmness. The days get noticeably longer than in January and the first buds begin to appear so there is a feeling of renewal.
February is the time of year when east winds can bring freezing air from Siberia or warm southerlies from the Canaries. Historically -20 was not uncommon but the average is closer to 4 degrees centigrade. The snow and ice of winter can remain a little longer or the big thaw can set in melting it away. There is usually a battle between the two.
The main occupation of the month is lambing. Sheep have a gestation period of five months so ewes were normally ‘tupped’ in late September or October. Although it’s the start of lambing it can continue through til May.
The first flowers are beginning to bloom such as irises, primroses, snowdrops, violets, cyclamens etc. The hazel puts out catkins. Badgers disappear underground to mate. Foxes are still mating, which means they are still screaming, and hares start ‘boxing’. Birds such as the Linnet and the oyster-catcher, geese, herons, cranes and waterfowl are all active.
The oyster-catcher is known as ‘Brighid’s page’ and the linnet is known as ‘Brighid’s little bird’. The dandelion is known as ‘Brighid’s notched flower’.
There are no particular notable astronomical events in February.
IMBOLC: ANGUS & BRIGHDE
Imbolc is an odd festival in that there are few if any myths associated with it. The only reference to Brighid is the Coming of Angus and Bride from Scotland. The myth was only written down in the eighteenth century. the written version is a syncretic form of various versions which existed throughout Scotland. There are echos of it in Ireland at the cliffs of Moher and the caves of Lough Crew.
The basic story is that Aonghas Òg senses Brighid who has been imprisoned by the Cailleach in a cave over winter. The Cailleach demands she washes a brown fleece until it is white. Manannan, or Father winter which may be a Scandinavian or Slavic influence, depending on version, shakes the fleece clean and gives her snowdrops, which causes the Cailleach to fly into a rage, as it indicates growth has returned to the earth.
“ride to the north, and ride to the south, ride to the east and ride to the west and I will ride forth also. Smite the world with frost and tempest so that no flower may bloom and no grass blade survive. I am waging war against all growth.”
The Cailleach has eight servant hags, who may be symbolic of the eight cardinal and ordinal, points, suggesting universality Aonghas rescues Brighid at Imbolc by ‘borrowing three days from summer’ and in some versions they are married, in others he is her brother, which fits in with the Irish view of their relationship. The Cailleach raises storms on the third day onwards to keep Aonghas from Brighid. Eventually he finds her in a forest by Ben Nevis, which is one of the Cailleach’s homes.
“’It will be a day of great joy to all mankind after this.’, that is why the first day of spring – the day on which Aonghas found the princess is called Bride’s Day”
Over the next six weeks we get a detailed description of the weather conditions at this time of year as Aonghas and the Cailleach battle where Aonghas tries to bring sun and warmth while the Cailleach afflicts the land with ice, frost, snow, hailstones and storm.[1]
[1] The Coming of Angus and Bride, Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend, MacKenzie, A., Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1917
THE CAILLEACH & THE SETRPENT
Another tradition associated with Imbolc is the Cailleach collecting firewood, which gives us some weather lore for the forthcoming season. If the weather is bad on Imbolc Morn then winter will finish quickly because the Cailleach does not need to collect firewood. If it is good, it’s because the Cailleach is collecting her firewood and winter will last another six weeks. This eventually becomes Groundhog Day in America. This may come from rhymes common in Scotland about either the Cailleach, Daughter of Ivor, the serpent or the queen emerging from the ground on Imbolc. It also demonstrates the Cailleach’s control over the weather.
Another tradition was making a symbolic representation of a snake from a stocking or bag, which was either stamped on or thrown over the shoulder against a door or wall. Accompanied by the following rhyme or a version of it.
“Early on Bride’s morn,
The serpent shall come from the knoll,
I will not molest the serpent,
Nor will the serpent molest me.”
Some suggested this was a remnant of serpent worship but as the accompanying actions involved smashing the representative of the serpent, this is unlikely. February can be the start of the spring thaw. Rivers fill with melt-water from ice and snow, which can turn calm easy going flows into raging torrents. I think that the ‘serpent’ is a reference to flood-waters coming off the hills as the thaw starts. The course of the river resembles the snake’s undulating movements across the land.
Another prayer later in the Carmina talks about putting the ‘serpent into the sea’, which may be a reference to floods entering the sea. The other possibility is that the ‘serpent’ is actually a reference to lightning, though the main period for that tends to be between May and august.
TLACHTGA
The only other myth which is connected to Imbolc is the Conception of the Sons of Tlachtga, which was discussed in Samhuinn. Tlachtga gives birth at Samhuinn, which means baring some act of Druidheachd, which is not mentioned, she had to become pregnant at Imbolc, nine months beforehand. The conception matches the theme of the season of new life emerging from the darkness of winter. One could argue that the conception comes of out of the evil of the sons ‘ravishing’ her but that Dòigh ensures that only good comes from it.
Her grandmother is described as ‘skilled in arts’. Her mother is described as ‘strong fierce and fell’ while she is described as ‘choice’ ‘bringer of wise sayings’, ‘not chill was her bosom’, ‘no weakling she’, ‘bright brisk lady’ and ‘lady of the chilly lands’. All descriptions which suggest a line of strong personalities. Both Tlachtga and Brighid are associated with the bringing of new life, though Tlachtga is more a protective force, where as Brighid is more of a generatrix. Brighid is associated with wisdom and inspiration and Tlachtga is the ‘bringer of wise sayings’. Brighid is associated with the heath-fire, the sun and the moon, whereas Tlachtga is associated with the Roth Ramach, the Rowing Wheel, which may be connected to the sun, and her name means ‘earth spear’ which may be a reference to lightning – fire in this case from or to the earth, and initiating the fires of Samhuinn.
TRADITIONS OF IMBOLC
The traditions of the festival focus on Brighid as the ‘midwife’ of humans, animals and the spring. Unlike the other Great Festivals, it is centred on the house and the family. Most of the ritual actions take place in or around the home. There was a tradition of visiting wells, which may be connected to the ‘serpent’ lines above, and mountain tops which may be related to Brighid as patron of excellence and ‘highness’ and her connection to the sun and the moon, as there was at Lughnasadh.
A Dealbh or icon was made from rushes reeds or dried oats and adorned with shells, stars, brightly coloured ribbon and pebbles. A bed for the Dealbh was also made as well as a small birch rod. Brighid crosses and girdles were blessed at her passing and then used to bless the family and then hung at the top of the house as protection. The Dealbh, crois and crios were all made by the women of the family as was the Bonach Bride or ‘Bride Cake’ specially made for the occasion.
On the eve once all the preparations had been made a woman will go to the door place an arm on each door jamb imitating a cross and softly says into the darkness:
“tha leaba Brighid deiseal” – “Bride’s bed is ready!”
To which a woman behind her replies:
“Thigeadh Brighid a-steach, “Let Brighid come in,
Is e beatha Brighid” Brighid is welcome”
The woman at the door then says:
“A bhrighid, a Bhrighid, “Brighid, Brighid,
Thig a-steach, Come in,
Tha do leaba deanta, Thy bed is made,
Gleidh an teach dh’an Triana” Preserve the house for the trinity”
Obviously we would replace the trinity with the Brianna. The Dealbh is then placed in the bed together with the white birch rod and a piece of the Bannock and a little milk, for Brighid’s little red-eared heifer. Red ears was a sign of being Sith. A similar greeting is used to invite Brighid in when a mother was giving birth.
A square piece of green cloth would be hung on a tree outside for Brighid to bless as she passed by.
The Brat or mantle was used in healing and was kept from year to year, as the more times it was blessed the more powerful it becomes. A myth associated with the Christian saint says the King of Leinster would only permit the saint as much land as would be covered by her mantle. She spreads her mantle over the ground and it miraculously grows to provide enough land for her foundation.[1]
The Crois Bhrighid has four arms and a woven centre indicating universality. The Crios Bhrighid is circular again representing the ‘flower-garlands’ of the sky – the sun and the moon. The bed is a link to her patronage of both birth and spring as is the Slatan Bhrighid, the white birch rod.[2]
One of Brighid’s epithets is ‘Foster mother of the cow-less’, as calves and lambs whose mother had died were supposedly fed by Brighid herself. Brighid is the patron of the flocks and she owns Torc king of the Boars, Triath, King of the Rams and Fe and Men, two Royal Oxen. Brighid possesses the exemplars of each domestic flock animal indicating her patronage. She is the Brianag of excellence, the best possible buadh, of each kind including human babies. The two oxen are also said to be owned by Dil, the wife of Donn in the Dinnshenchas. This could be that Donn of the sand Dunes is said to be the protector of cattle or because Brighid and Dil are the same Brianag or they have the same function, in other words ‘sisters’.
“I have heard of the two oxen of Dil,
radiant of beauty, conspicuous;
Fe and Men are they called,
whence Mag Femin gets its name.”[3]
In the morning the ashes are checked for any sign of disturbance to see if Brighid has been there to bless the house in the night. If there are no signs, the family burn incense on the hearth at night before bed to ensure Brighid has not been inadvertently offended.
The period right up to Bealltuinn was a time to clean and renew homes, tools and even people. The concept of purifying after winter is a very old one. The Gregorian month is even named after the Roman goddess of purification.
Barns and homes were locked up against the winter snows and storms and February was the first time to open up and start the process of spring cleaning. The time after birth is especially fraught with danger to mother and baby so a period of cleansing after the birth was designed to try and prevent illness and disease to both. In that sense Imbolc is the birth of the spring, so by definition it’s a time to get cleaning!
Imbolc is a family and female orientated festival. It celebrates the return of growth and light though it is also a festival to ask for protection from the Cailleach’s storms.
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The central theme is the rebirth of the earth through the return of the power of the sun symbolised by Brighid’s green mantle, cross and girdle and the birth of Tlachtga’s sons. The most appropriate time to mark the festival would be the Religious New Moon, though there are arguments for holding it at the first quarter, emphasizing the growth aspect. As Samhuinn finishes on Day Four of the month, Imbolc should begin after that. As its associated with healing and birth Day 6 would be appropriate given its association with all-heal. One can see the winter Solstice as the impregnation of the earth with the potential of new life and Imbolc as the birth of that new life.
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[1] Brigid and the King of Leinster, St. Bride’s G.N.S., Dublin, 2013
[2] Bride, Carmina Gadelica, Vol. I, Carmichael, A., Floris Books, 2006 (1900)
[3] Mag Femin, Metrical Dinnshenchas, Vol. III, Gwynn, E., Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies, 1991 (1906), CELT, Faerber, B. & Hazard, B., & O’Corrain, S., 2004/08