Imbolc

Imbolc, Imbolg, Óimelc, Oimelc, Oímelg. Old Irish name for a seasonal feast of pre-Christian origin fixed at 1 February on the Gregorian calendar. One of the four major Celtic calendar feasts known in Old Irish as Samain (1 November), Beltaine (1 May), and Lugnasad (ModIr. Lughnasa, 1 August). The natural phenomenon at the root of Imbolc is thought to be the visibly perceptive lengthening of daylight, and therefore the anticipation of spring; the alternate name for the day, Óimelc, is thought to denote the time of ewes coming into milk, also a signal of spring. From earliest times Imbolc was associated with Brigit, the fire-goddess, and after Christianization with St Brigid of Kildare, eventually becoming known as St Brigid's Day. The saint, it should be pointed out, was often seen as the patroness of sheep, the pastoral economy, and fertility in general.

Unlike the other calendar feasts, celebrations acknowledging Imbolc's pagan origins have not persisted in popular tradition. The Scottish Gaelic name for the day, Là Féill Bhr'de, and the Irish Lá ‘il Bríde, retain the link to St Brigid, but the common Irish and Manx names acknowledge the further Christianization of Imbolc as Candlemas Day, and associates it with the Blessed Virgin Mary: Ir. Lá Fhéile Muire na gCoinneal; Manx Laa'l Moirrey Ny Gainle. There are also echoes of Imbolc as an anticipation of spring in the American secular celebration Groundhog Day. See Joseph Vendryes, ‘Imbolc’, Revue Celtique, 41 (1924), 241–4; Dorothy A. Bray, ‘The Image of Saint Brigit in the Early Irish Churches’, Études Celtiques, 24 (1987), 209–15; Séamas Ó Catháin, The Festival of Brigit (Dublin, 1995); Eric Hamp, Studia Celtica, 14/15 (1979–80), 106–13.