Happy February (and Happy 2023)!
I'm hoping that you are having a good start to the year. It seems hard to believe that it's February 1st already. In Ireland, February 1st is Imbolc, the Celtic celebration of the beginning of spring, and Lá Féile Bríde, or St Brigid's Day. Imbolc seems likely to have been the old Irish word for "in the belly," referring to the cycle of lambing and the imminent arrival of lambs in the Irish countryside this time of year. I love this connection to sheep and shepherding, though my own sheep have much smaller lambs in their bellies and are much colder right now than Irish sheep!
The connections between the pagan holiday of Imbolc and the figure of Brigid of Kildare are fascinating. St. Brigid is the patroness saint of Ireland and shares her name with a Celtic goddess. Recently, the day has evolved into a lively celebration of Irish women — and Irish women's creativity. You can learn more and find a schedule of events at Irish consulates and embassies here.
It seems strange to be thinking about spring here in Vermont, where temperatures will dip into the single digits today and tomorrow and then down to - 20 over the weekend! Spring is a very, very long way off for us, but a few years ago I was in Ireland in early February and I understood why February 1st is celebrated as the start of nature's waking from her winter nap. In Dublin, St Stephen's Green was ringed with flowering trees. In Wicklow, I saw green grass and daffodils poking out of the earth.
