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Imbolc, also known as the Feast of Brigid, celebrates the arrival of longer, warmer days and the early signs of spring, a festival of hearth and home, a festival of hope.
It is one of the four major "fire" festivals in Irish mythology from medieval Irish texts. The other three festivals on the old Irish calendar are Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain.
The word Imbolc means literally "in the belly" in the old Irish Neolithic language, referring to the pregnancy of ewes. Imbolc is strongly associated with St Brigid.
In ancient Irish mythology, Brigid was a fire goddess. Nowadays, her canonization is celebrated with a perpetual flame at her shrine in Kildare.
<h2>Imbolc traditions and customs</h2>
The holiday was a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Celebrations often involved hearth-fires, special foods, divination or watching for omens, candles or a bonfire if the weather permitted.
Fire and purification were an important part of the festival. The lighting of candles and fires represented the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. A spring cleaning was also customary.

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Holy wells were visited at Imbolc, and at the other Gaelic festivals of Beltane and Lughnasa. Visitors to holy wells would pray for health while walking sun-wise around the well. They would then leave offerings, typically coins or clooties. Water from the well was used to bless the home, family members, livestock and fields.
Families would have a special meal or supper on Imbolc Eve. This typically included food such as colcannon, sowans, dumplings, barmbrack or bannocks. Often, some of the food and drink would be set aside for Brigid. Brigid would be symbolically invited into the house and a bed would often be made for her.&nbsp;
One folk tradition that continues in some homes on St. Brigid's Day (or Imbolc) is that of the Brigid's Bed. The girls and young unmarried women of the household or village create a corn dolly to represent Brigid, called the Brideog ("little Brigid" or "young Brigid"), adorning it with ribbons and baubles like shells or stones. They would then make a bed for the Brideog to lie in.
On St. Brigid's Eve the girls and young women would gather together in one house to stay up all night with the Brideog, sending her to sleep with lullabies. Later visited by all the young men of the community who must ask permission to enter the home, and then treat them and the corn dolly with respect.

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Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. Before going to bed, each member of the household may leave a piece of clothing or strip of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. The head of the household will smother or "smoor" the fire and rake the ashes smooth.
In the morning, they look for some kind of mark on the ashes, a sign that Brigid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes or strips of cloth are brought inside and believed to now have powers of healing and protection.
The following day the girls carry the Brideog through the village or neighborhood, from house to house, where this representation of the saint/goddess is welcomed with great honor.
<h2>Today's Imbolc celebrations</h2>
Up until the mid-20th century, children in Ireland still went house-to-house asking for pennies for "poor Biddy", or money for the poor. In some places men in white robes went from house to house singing.
In Ireland Brigid’s Crosses were made at Imbolc. A Brigid's cross usually consists of rushes woven into a four-armed equilateral cross. They were often hung over doors, windows and stables to welcome Brigid and for protection against fire, lightning, illness and evil spirits.

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In western Connacht people would make a Crios Bríde (Bríd's girdle); a great ring of rushes with a cross woven in the middle. Young boys would carry it around the village, inviting people to step through it and so be blessed.
Neopagans of diverse traditions observe this holiday in a variety of ways, celebrating Brigid's divine femininity.&nbsp;
Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how the ancient Celts are believed to have observed the festival, as well as how these customs have been maintained in the living Celtic cultures.&nbsp;
We are our culture and traditions. Traditions are the memories of those before us, breathed to life when we carry them on. Blossom by blossom, spring begins.
Lá bréidíní naomh sona duit!
“She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbor: "Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

St Brigid , Imbolc and The Coming of Spring,

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