egarimea | Интересная открытка на Имболк

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lana_taiges в Интересная открытка на Имболк

IMBOLC was a festival of stimulus to birth, waxing and opening, whatever else might be said. Scholars have suggested several possible meanings for the word Imbolc, including "milking," and, more tenuously, also washing and ritual purification from the Celtic word folcaim, "I wash." This might also relate to the house cleaning, house blessing, and well devotions associated with Imbolc in recent folk practices. The lines of the medieval poem quoted above support this association of spring and washing

Another possible explanation (one that I prefer) is "in the belly" (*En-bolgo-m) which may relate to the processions held around the fields, often seen as the body of goddesses in which the grain and other crops would grow. This would also reflect the general association with rebirth of nature that was beginning at the time of Imbolc. The Irish verb imbolgaid (*en-bolga-ti) means to "blow a bellows," and, since smithing was another aspect of Bridget, the goddess and saint often associated with Imbolc, one could visualize a ritual image of blowing the bellows to increase the fire that would warm the cold earth. Today, Imbolc is generally called St. Bridget's Day or it may be conflated with the Christian feast of Candlemas (the Purification of Mary) on February 2.

This beautiful picture is “IMBOLC” © The Celtic Art of Hamish Burgess 011: Original Celtic art by Hamish Burgess, a piece for the cover of Celtic Connections newspaper in Vancouver/Seattle. The second of a series of four seasonal works.