We can trace Brigit's Eve back to Irish Keltic Tradition, and even into the pre-Keltic period, where it was called Oimelg or Oimelc or "sheep's milk." Oimelg is the time when the ewes are milked at the beginning of Spring. It is associated directly with the birth of the new lambs and indirectly with the rebirth of the agricultural world as a whole. It is specifically analogous with the life cycle of sheep. A female lamb born in late January or early February, or in Oimelg time, will reach maturity and first enter into estrus from seven to eight months later. If she is then impregnated she will give birth by the next late January or early February in Oimelg time. The gestation period of sheep takes from 144 to 151 days. Later the term Oimelg or Oimelc was transformed into Imbolc or Imbolic. With the coming of Christianity it was also called St. Brigit's Eve or St. Bride's Eve, when that saint took over the functions of the earlier Goddess Brigit (a.k.a. Brigit "breet"; Brid "bre-eed"; Brid; Brigid; Brighid).

Brigit's name comes from the root word brig and means "power, strength, vigour, force, efficiency, substance, essence and meaning" [Dames page 247]. It is also associated with the words for "Power", "Renown" or "Fiery Arrow of Power = Breo-Saighead". Brigit is called "The Poetess". As with many pre-Keltic Goddesses Brigit may have originally been a Goddess of Water, Streams, Rivers and Wells. Her name is given to several rivers; the Brighid in Ireland, the Braint in Wales and the Brent in England (she may therefore be comparable to the Goddess Brigantia or the "Exalted One" in England and Wales). Brigit is a Goddess of the Perpetual Flame of the Hearth and Home. Brigit is a Virgin (Unmarried) Goddess, although in later times she was said to be the Daughter of the Daghda, the wife of Bress, and the mother of Ruadan. Brigit is now seen as a multi-functional and multivalent Goddess of Fire, Smithcraft, Fertility, the Arts, Martial Arts, Healing, Water, Poetry, Inspiration, Learning and Prophecy. She is associated with snakes and mounds. Brigit is especially beloved in the province of Leinster in Eire/Ireland where her sacred well and perpetual flame in Kildare are still revered and where by at least 1100 C.E. she was remade into St. Brigid the virgin nun. St. Brigid and her nuns tended a perpetual flame. "At the time of Brigid twenty nuns here served a master as would a soldier, she herself being the twentieth...When indeed every night through succession they cared for the fire...on the twentieth night the last nun...said 'Brigid, I have cared for your fire'...and thus, the fire having been left...it was found again unextinguished." Geraldus Cambrensis, De Igne A Brigida Sua Nocte Servato, 1146 to 1220 CE.

In Ulster they say that the bullaun/bullauns, horizontal boulders or rocks with artificial or natural basins, are sacred to Brigit. These are large smooth stones with a hole in the middle of them in which there is another stone. They are rather like lingum and yoni stones. The bullaun/bullauns are sought out by childless women, are thought to bring about a successful childbirth, to render men fertile, and to cure sick children and cattle. The bullaun/bullauns were involved in the rites of Beltane and Lammas in Ulster.

Saint Brigit was said to be "a woman born in a druid's house a Tocharmaine in AD 453...At sunrise on the first day of spring, her birthday, February 1st the quarter day, a column of fire rose from her infant head...In Ardagh 'a fiery column flamed out of her head up to the ridge of the church', while her own religious house at Kildare revolved around a fire, which was kept alight continuously" [Dames, pages 247-248]

Michael Dames describes a traditional celebration of St. Brigit's Eve in Co. Mayo, Eire/Ireland:

"The greatest occasion in the traditional domestic year was, arguably, the festival of Brigit's birth, on February 1st, the Imbolc or Oimelg quarterday, and the start of spring...On St. Brigit's Eve it was customary to limewash the house inside. 'A good big fire was put down and the animals were bedded on clean straw. The whole interior had an air of cosiness and comfort ready to receive Brigit into the house.' In Co. Mayo the man of the house procured a garment to use as a mantle, or Brat Bride (the clothing of the infant goddess). The article chosen was the one which would be in greatest use by the member of the house whose occupation was the most dangerous...The man took it to the yard, drew a long sheaf of straw from the stack, and wrapped the garment around the straw to give it a rough outline of a human body. Then carrying it as if it were a child, he set it down outside the back door, and went into the house. So placed, this straw child also evokes the birth of St. Brigit. Her Life states that she was born neither within the house nor without. Her pregnant mother, visiting a queen, had 'put one of her two footsteps over the threshold of the house, the other foot [still] being outside...Then she brought forth her daughter, even St. Brigid.' The door is implicitly equated with the vulva of the saint-goddess's mother. In Co. Mayo folk ritual, the straw child who was refused entry at the back door represented Brigit of the completed wither quarter. Consequently that door (which usually faced north) remained shut at Imbolc, the start of spring. Instead, when the preparation for supper were complete, the man rose to say that he must fetch Brigit through the front or south door to share the feast. Going outside again, he knelt, and cried to the family: "Go on your knees, open your eyes, and let Brigit in!" Inside, they responded, She is welcome!" The formula was repeated twice more, and while the people within continued to chant 'she is welcome', the man brought 'Brigit' around to the front door and entered with her, whereupon all cried: 'Mush! Se beatha agus a slainte' - 'How wonderful! She is welcome, and seeing that, a toast.' The straw baby Brigit was then laid respectfully against a table leg, or, if need be, placed on a sick cow's back to effect a cure." [Dames, pages 252-253]

In the Hebrides they chant the following on St. Brigit's Eve:

"May Brigit give blessing
To the house that is here...
Brigit, the fair and tender,
Her hue like the cotton grass.
Rich-tressed maiden,
Of ringlets of gold;
Both crest and frame,
Both stone and beam;
Both clay and wattle;
Both summit and foundation;
Both window and timber;
Both foot and head;
Both man and woman;
Both wife and children;
Both young and old;
Both maiden and youth." [Dames page 253]

In some places a large, nearly three-meter ring, of plaited straw was made on which three or four straw crosses, St. Brigit's Cross, were attached. This was carried around the village. It was called the Cris, Crois Bride, or St. Brigit's Belt. It was taken to each house where the family would put it over their heads and down to the floor before carefully stepping out of the circle. It would seem that this was to bless them for the next year. It was based on a story where St. Brigit used her miraculous belt to cure the sick. St. Brigit also had a hair ribbon that is called the Ribin, or Ribe Bride. A silk ribbon would be left outside on Bride's Eve and was then used as a cure for headaches. This may also be associated with the word 'ribeann', which O'Donovan defines as 'a royal hill on which royal parleys were held.' [see Dames pages 253-254]

In both traditions one can see how Sacred Time is re-created and how people still sanctify their homes and families to Brigit.

In the Scottish Highlands the concept of the Goddess Brigit in her chthonic, or underworld, form still survives. There on St. Bride's Day (the day after St. Brigit's Eve) they say:

"Early on Brid's morn The serpent shall come from the hole; I will not molest the serpent, Nor will the serpent molest me.." or "This is the Day of Bride. The queen will come from the mound; I will not touch the queen, Nor will the queen touch me." [20th century hymns to Bride.] [Dexter page 165]

Brigit, or Bride as she is known in Scotland, is analogous with a female snake which is called a "queen." This "queen" is beneficial figure. In this way Brigit is associated with the ancient mounds or sidhes, which are the entrances to the underworld. In this form we see a definite pre-Keltic and Neolithic survival of Brigit as a Snake and Water Goddess.

As we have seen the a pre-Keltic Goddess survived as Brigit in Keltic times, and she has continued to thrive within the confines of Christianity as St. Brigit or St. Bride. Now what became Imbolc was later associated with the Christian holy day of Candlemas. We know that the Goddess Brigit is associated with Water and Fire. As such it would be easy to associate her feast of Imbolc with other so-called fire festivals such as the Roman Lupercalia, and the above mentioned Candlemas. However, this association may be deceptive.

"A few contemporary 'witches' have asserted that behind the festival of the Purification lay a pre-Christian celebration of the recovery of 'the Goddess' from giving birth to the 'new year's Sun God'. There is absolutely no evidence for this last idea...but the relationship between Imbolc and Candlemas is more subtle and deserves extended discussion. The Purification had to be celebrated by Christians because it commemorated one of the most important episodes in the early life of Jesus, his presentation at the Temple and his recognition as the Messiah by Simeon and Anna. Once Christmas was fixed upon 25 December, the Purification had to occur upon 2 February, being the time appointed for this ceremony, according to Hebrew law, after a birth. Its especial association with candle, evident during the course of the early Middle Ages, was suggested by Simeon's words, read out at the service, that the child would be 'a light to lighten the Gentiles'. All this was determined by churchmen sitting in councils around the Mediterranean and representing lands very far from the Gaelic area in which Imbolc was known. Nor is there any evidence that ceremonies involving fire were employed in the Gaelic feast,...So Imbolc and Candlemas were separate in their origins and observation. But in some Gaelic or semi-Gaelic districts, notably northern Scotland, the great Christian feast came to replace that of St. Brighid in the popular imagination as the quarter day which marked the beginning of Spring." [Hutton, pages 286-287]

I would like to add that there is a lot of overlay with the Christian mythos. St. Brigit is seen by some as a midwife to Mary. (Oy, a nice Irish girl like her in the Levant, can we say sunburn, bubbie.) The Candlemas confusion may stem from this connection. One must also remember that the Irish Church was pivotal in the early conversion of portions of Scotland, England and Wales. As such they would have brought over their worship of Brigit and the Imbolc celebration. When the Roman Church forced a syncretism of the two, Candlemas may very well have been forced to the forefront, being a recognized Roman Catholic holiday while Imbolc continued to be the holiday celebrated by the folk. As such it is easy for the two, once entirely separate mythos and holidays, to become enmeshed. Especially, since they fell during the same time period. However, their functions are entirely separate. Imbolc, and it's predecessor Oimelg, is an agricultural festival dedicated to the Irish Goddess and the later Saint Brigit. Candlemas, is dedicated to Mary and the recognition of Christ as Messiah, no matter how the Gaels tried to tack Brigit into the mix as a midwife. Brigit, is a Fire Goddess of the Hearth and Smithy, not candles or lamps. I for one will stick to Oimelg and the sweet birth of the gentle lambs and the autochthonic and parthenogenetic rebirth of nature.

Sources for this paper were:

Mythic Ireland by Michael Dames; Thames and Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110; 1992.

The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles by Ronald Hutton; Basil Blackwell, Inc., 3 Cambridge Center, Cambridge Massachusetts 02142; 1991.

Whence the Goddesses: A Source Book by Miriam Robbins Dexter; Pergamon Press, Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New YOrk 10523; 1990.

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