Imbolc February 1st

Imbolc/St Brigid's Day is mentioned in several early Irish manuscripts, but they say very little about its medieval rites and customs. Imbolc (1 February) was treated as one of four seasonal festivals in Gaelic Ireland along with Beltane (1 May), Lughnasadh (1 August) and Samhain (1 November). The tale Tochmarc Emire, which survives in a 10th-century version, names Imbolc as one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals and says that it is "when the sheep are milked in early spring".

This connection of Imbolc with the arrival of lambs and sheep's milk probably reflected agricultural customs that ensured that lambs were born before calves. In late winter and early spring, sheep could survive better than cows on the meager vegetation, and farmers sought to resume milking as soon as possible due to their dwindling supplies.

The Hibernica Minora includes an Old Irish poem about the four seasonal festivals, translated by Kuno Meyer (1894). It says, "To taste each food according to the order, is proper to Imbolc: to wash the hands, the feet, the head." This suggests ritual purification.

The eminent folklorist Seán Ó Súilleabháin wrote: "The main significance of the feast of St. Bridget would seem to be that it was a Christianisation of one of the focal points of the agricultural year in Ireland, the starting point for preparations for the spring sowing. Every manifestation of the cult of the saint (or of the deity she replaced) is linked in some way to food production."

The festival is traditionally observed on February 1st. However, as the day was supposed to begin and end at sunset, the celebrations and observances would begin on what is now January 31st. It has also been argued that originally the festival's timing was more fluid and based on seasonal changes.

It is associated with the start of the lambing season, the beginning of preparations for spring sowing and the flowering of the blackthorns. In Ireland, a spring clean was also customary around the time of Saint Brigid's Day.

Holy wells were visited, as they were during the other Gaelic festivals of Beltane and Lughnasa. Visitors to the holy wells would pray for health while walking 'sunwise' around the well. They would then leave offerings, usually coins or clooties. The water from the well was used to bless the home, family members, livestock and fields.