Holidays – What Is Imbolc And How Is it Celebrated?

Spring is near, and it is bringing the light with it. Imbolc has arrived.

Some of you may have heard of a holiday named Imbolc. It is the first holiday of the wheel of the year. It is also called St Brigid’s Day. It is a pagan holiday that marks the beginning of spring and it is celebrated on the first and second day of February.

Of course, spring might be a few months away still, depending on where you live. Where I live, I consider spring to be around Ostara, and the snow may remain for as long as mid-April or early May, depending on the year. With the environment being what it is, no one really knows what to expect from the weather and the seasons anymore.

Imbolc is right in the middle of two other holidays. Yule – winter solstice – and Ostara – spring equinox. I celebrate both. Further back, the holiday was a feast for Saint Brigid, which is Ireland’s patroness saint. Imbolc is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, and the others are Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. I celebrate those holidays as well.

Christians who celebrate St Brigid’s Day sometimes weave crosses and hang them on doors and windows, or make Brigid dolls. It is said that Brigid visits your home during St Brigid’s Day and one would make a bed for her and leave out offerings to receive her blessings.

While I celebrate the pagan version that is tied more to nature, I do find the woven Brigid crosses beautiful. I love handicrafts and I really love it when we are encouraged to make things ourselves to celebrate certain holidays.

What do we eat during Imbolc?

I bake bread or I make pancakes using berries and seeds from the year prior. Sometimes I grow microcreens or beansprouts and have them in salads or stews.

Lots of warm drinks full of healing and energising herbs from the year before.

If I fancy it, I make more jam and marmalade using berries and freezers from last year’s harvest. Some go in the pantry, and some are given away as gifts.

For each holiday, I like to bake oat cookies. I either keep them plain, like regular hobnobs, or I add some seasonal spice or ingredients. For imbolc, I add dried berries or raisins.

Basil is an herb that symbolises both new life and prosperity. So you can make fresh pesto and have pesto pasta or noodles is an excellent meal for Imbolc. Or you can make pesto sourdough bread, something I make all year round.

Rosemary is not only sacred to Brigid, but it is also medicinal and connected to both our spirit and the sun. This makes it perfect for Imbolc. I like to make a marinade with thyme and rosemary and I marinate clusters of oyster mushrooms and panfry them, cut them into slices and have them with mashed potatoes and various steamed vegetables.

As it is still technically dark and winter, even if we have begun moving toward spring. So I like to make saffron scones and have them with homemade butter. Plant-based, of course. I also have my homemade jams and marmalade with the scones, and some herbal tea or spiced coffee.

If I am not feeling up to cooking something grand, I panfry potatoes with garlic and onions. Both of the latter are associated with fire, and they are in season this time of year. As is cabbage, it is an excellent time to make winter kimchi or perhaps a batch of sauerkraut.

Before the holiday, I like to make some berry liqueur using my berries from the year before, and I drink it on Imbolc. Sometimes I give away some to friends and family as well.

How can we celebrate Imbolc?

If you can find any, you might want to pick some snowdrops and keep them in a vase for your dining table. They do a fine job of representing spring and the hope spring brings with it.

Birth

I consider it an excellent time to do creative projects, both on your own and together as a family. Brigid is the goddess of fire and fertility, and as a Leo myself, I do feel drawn to fire, passion and warmth. Thus, warm drinks are kept plenty for Imbolc.

Around Imbolc, I start to make gifts for Ostara, and I plan and start making the decorations I wish to have for Ostara. All of them represent warmth, hope, spring and fertility. Eggs shapes, bunnies, tulips, colourful floral decor and the like.

Seeds

Starting our seeds for the garden, and starting microgreens inside, or beansprouts, are all excellent ways of celebrating Imbolc. It is the perfect time to plant seeds, both in the literal and metaphorical senses.

Inner work

As with most holidays, the inner work is more important than anything else. Therefore, I like to meditate, journal and plan creative projects and work projects I’d like to take on. I list things I’d like to experience and things I’d like to learn during the year. I also settle on my affirmations for the year and set up a manifestation routine.

I clean my altar and I add some flower petals, snowdrops or something else to represent spring and life.

Movies and books

If you enjoy animated movies, I recommend Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service as well as My Neighbour Totoro. All three go exceptionally well with the Imbolc energies.

As far as books go, any book that fills you with warmth, hope and energy will do. Or perhaps a book that will bring you another kind of warmth? Imbolc is one of the fertility holidays after all.

Have a lovely Imbolc!