{"id":2114,"date":"2014-01-30T16:29:55","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T16:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/?p=2114"},"modified":"2014-01-30T16:49:14","modified_gmt":"2014-01-30T16:49:14","slug":"oiche-fheile-bhride-the-eve-of-st-brighids-feast-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/2014\/01\/oiche-fheile-bhride-the-eve-of-st-brighids-feast-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Oiche Fh\u00e9ile Bhr\u00edde: The Eve of St. Brighid\u2019s Feast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Tomorrow night is perhaps one of the most celebrated in Ireland.\u00a0 No, there won\u2019t be any mad parties or green beer;\u00a0not even wild heathen drumming on the High Places. \u00a0Instead, the evening is about family, purification, and continuity of ancient practice.<\/p>\n

You see, the last night of January is the eve of St. Brighid\u2019s Feast\u2013the eve of Imbolc\u2013and it\u2019s a big deal. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The indigenous Irish marked the beginning of their festivals at sundown, and deemed that dark time especially potent. \u00a0[Consider how this thinking impacts the division of the Irish year between Samhain (winter) and Bealtaine (summer), and how the \u2018new\u2019 year begins at Samhain.<\/em>] While February 1st<\/sup>\u00a0is unlikely to mark the exact date of the ancient festival, it\u2019s only off by a few days (or 10, as M\u00e1ire\u00a0MacNeill would have it), and the practice of keeping the Eve hallow continues.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For instance, tomorrow tonight is when the Br\u00edde\u00f3g procession took place around the home, and Brighid was invited in for a meal with the family. \u00a0The\u00a0Br\u00edde\u00f3g was a doll, often fashioned from the last sheaf of grain which was tenderly stored in the barn over winter. \u00a0In many parts of the country, the young girls of the family collected the\u00a0Br\u00edde\u00f3g from the barn and walked her around the home three times, calling out as they passed the door, \u201cBrigid is coming!\u201d \u00a0During this Threshold Rite, those inside the home would respond, \u201cBrigid is welcome! \u00a0Welcome, Brigid!\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomorrow night is also the time for making the Solar Cross (Brigid\u2019s Cross); leaving it, and the Brat Br\u00edde<\/em> (the cloth to be used for healing), on the doorstep to collect her blessing as she enters; and performing fire divination in the hearth ashes after everyone is to bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrid is come. Brid is welcome. Welcome Brid.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Another important activity that takes place tomorrow night is the vigil.\u00a0 Many will light candles around their local St. Brigid\u2019s Well, perform the pattern (patron)\u2014which may include circumambulating trees and mounds, in addition to the well\u2014taking the holy water and leaving various offerings. \u00a0Interestingly, there are often patterns held at the many St. Brighid\u2019s wells on another important (and mirror) festival: Lughnasadh.<\/p>\n

\u00a0On St. Brigid\u2019s Eve, as the night fell,<\/p>\n

my mother and I went to Saint Brigid\u2019s Well,<\/p>\n

where the candles do burn and the great walls do shine<\/p>\n

on the graves of the dead and the vaults of O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

(Irish Folklore Commission MS 901; 55-56)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The etymology of Imbolc\/Imbolg<\/em> has been tied to the word for milk.\u00a0\u00a0Sanas Cormaic<\/a>\u00a0(ca. 900)\u00a0indicates\u00a0 o\u00edmelc<\/em> (sheep\u2019s milk) as an etymological base,\u00a0 but\u00a0Eric Hamp\u00a0has argued that the rather complicated etymology should be *uts-molgo- < *ommolg, so that oimelc<\/em> is a mixed-up spelling for *ommolg. \u00a0Hamp concludes that Imbolc<\/em> arises from a root meaning both \u201cmilk\u201d and \u201cpurification\u201d, and he offers several examples within Irish literature where milk is used in these ways: as a cure for poison darts (1),where it is poured into the battlefield furrows of\u00a0Eremon<\/a>\u00a0(2), and the curious detail from the story of Suibhne<\/em>, where he drinks milk from a hole made in manure\u2014the original implication being that milk would purify even dung!<\/p>\n

So in keeping with the spirit of the season, I am on my spring-time vegetable juice cleanse. It enlivens my system and jump-starts my sluggish winter body. \u00a0I am also, as my Grandmother taught me, cleaning-out and wiping-down all the surfaces of my home. \u00a0This is an important step, especially in Ireland, for over the winter, when the sky is gray and low, the damp seeps into corners and down walls.\u00a0 Green peeks through the white wash and rooms begin to smell musty.\u00a0 It is time for a freshen-up!<\/p>\n

I am not in Ireland this year, and I already miss the ritual of walking down my lane to gather reeds and visit the Holy Well. \u00a0I will weave the Solar Cross, though. \u00a0And into the local foraged materials, \u00a0I will weave items specific to my livelihood and well-being, tokens I wish Brigid to bless as she visits. \u00a0This was the purpose of the Brat Br\u00edde<\/em>: the piece of cloth, often taken from the bread-winner\u2019s clothing, would be put out for blessing.\u00a0 Strips of this would then be used for healing throughout the year, but a piece was also worn by the giver, to protect him\/her in their labour.\u00a0 \u00a0Other tokens of livelihood might also be put out for blessing: grain from the last harvest, seed, milk, butter. \u00a0For myself, I will put out the pen I use to write, the glasses I use to read scholarly discussion, and tokens that represent my four precious Little Bigs.<\/p>\n

If you would like to make your own traditional Imbolc Eve meal, try Colcannon.\u00a0 It\u2019s pretty easy and mighty tasty!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Colcannon (serves 6)\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1 1\/4 lbs. Kale or green Cabbage<\/em>
\n2 cups water<\/em>
\n1 tablespoon olive oil<\/em>
\n1 1\/4 pounds peeled and quartered potatoes<\/em>
\n1 tablespoon chopped parsley<\/em>
\n1 cup cleaned and chopped leeks white part only<\/em>
\n1 cup milk<\/em>
\nPinch of ground mace<\/em>
\nSalt and ground pepper to taste<\/em>
\n1\/2 cup melted butter\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Simmer kale or cabbage in 2 cups water and oil for 10 minutes, then drain, and chop fine. Boil potatoes and water, and simmer \u2019til tender. Simmer the leeks in milk for ten minutes \u2019til tender. Drain and puree the potatoes. Add leeks and their milk and the cooked kale, and mix in. Add mace, salt and pepper. Mound on a plate and pour on the melted butter.Garnish with parsley. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBrid agus Muire dhuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

We are under the shielding of Br\u00edd each day,
\nWe are under the mantle of Br\u00edd each night,
\nWe shall not be lost in this shifting age,
\nNor political corruption dismay us,
\nNor apathy delay us.<\/p>\n

No fire, no sun, nor star shall burn us,
\nNo lake, no water, nor sea shall drown us,
\nBr\u00edd is our comrade,
\nBr\u00edd is our escort through danger,
\nOur choicest of women, our guide.
\n~ adapted by Traci\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Duinn, Se\u00e1n\u00a0\u00d3. \u201cThe Rites of Brigid, Goddess and Saint\u201d. The Columba Press.<\/p>\n

Hamp, Eric. \u201cImbolc, \u00d3imelc\u201d. Studia Celtica 14\/15 (1979-80), 106-113<\/p>\n

MacNeill,\u00a0M\u00e1ire. \u201cThe Festival of Lughnasadh\u201d. Oxford Press.<\/p>\n

(1)<\/em>
\nAnd many early Irish magical charms use butter as a curative agent; cf. Carney, \u201cA Collection of Irish Charms\u201d.<\/em>
\n(2)<\/em>
\nEremon is the mythical first Milesian\u2014i.e. human\u2014king of Ireland; his name is thought to derive from the same origin as Aryaman\/Airyaman, the Indo-Iranian embodiment of \u201cAryan-ness\u201d, i.e. nobility and the ruling class.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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