Imbolg

Imbolg , also Imbolc [ 'imbolg ] or Oimelc, is, along with Beltane (May 1st), Lughnasadh (August 1st) and Samhain (November 1st), one of the four great Irish festivals created through certain agricultural work. The name Imbolc comes from the old Irish <imb-folc ("all -round washing") and thus characterizes it as a cleaning festival. Oimelc is the name given to the sheep giving milk for the first time in spring. The festival was celebrated starting the night before February 1st and on that day and is still celebrated in rural areas of Ireland as the day of St. Brigid ( Lá Fhéile Bríde ).

mythology

Imbolc is seen as a fertility and lustration festival , in which people made straw figures as a custom, which were considered a symbol of salvation and protection and were used in various rituals. The second name, Oimelc , means that from this point in time the ewes, which will soon give birth to the spring lambs, will give milk again - a date that points to the mild Western European-Atlantic climate. Imbolc can therefore be described as a shepherd's festival , comparable to the Roman February and Spurcalia , as well as the Lupercalia . Vendryes draws the conclusion that it could be an Italoceltic cultural heritage. Ingeborg Clarus therefore translates Imbolc as "laying down the lambs (to the ewe)".

The festival day is also seen as the festival of light because the longer days reflect the hope for spring. Traditionally, all lamps in the house are lit for a few minutes and rituals often include a large number of candles. It is also still common to consume special foods (butter, milk, Bannock bread ), to look for omens, or to light bonfires. According to the Carmina Gaedelica , laomachan was produced on this occasion , a magical cheese that protects against the Sídhe (people from the otherworld ) and with which one can make prophecies.

Neo-paganism

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Imbolc Festival 2008 in Marsden, West Yorkshire

Some neo- Pagans associate the celebration with the midpoint between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara). However, this actually falls on February 4th or 5th. In the southern hemisphere, it is celebrated on August 2nd and thus coincides with the northern Lughnasad. Today most of the New Pagans celebrate the festival on February 1st or 2nd, with February 2nd being more popular in America, perhaps due to the later identification of the festival with Candlemas .

Imbolg is traditionally a time of delayed weather, and perhaps the ancient tradition of watching for snakes and badgers come out of their homes is a precursor to Groundhog Day, celebrated in America and Canada . Some modern pagans claim that the Christian Candlemas, the date of which depends on Christmas, is a Christianization of Imbolg. On the other hand, there is no evidence that Imbolg was practiced anywhere other than Ireland in pre-Christian times, while Candlemas was first celebrated in the eastern Mediterranean. Fire is so important on this day because Brigitte, according to the neo-pagan conception, is the goddess of fire, healing and fertility. The lighting of fire symbolizes the increasing power of the sun in the coming months.

literature

• Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. 2nd corrected and enlarged edition. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
• Helmut Birkhan: Post-ancient Celtic reception. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 .
• Ingeborg Clarus : Celtic Myths. Man and his otherworld. Walter, Düsseldorf et al. 1991, ISBN 3-530-70014-2 , pp. 290 ff. (2nd edition. Patmos, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-491-69109-5 ).
• Bernhard Maier : The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-48234-1 .

See also

• Disting
• Celtic mythology
• Celtic religion
• List of island celtic myths and legends
• List of Celtic gods and legendary figures

Web links

Commons : Imbolg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 790 f.
2. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The religion of the Celts. Gods, myths, worldview . P. 177.
3. ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 616 f.
4. ↑ Joseph Vendriyes: Imbolc , in: RC 41, 1924, p. 241 ff.
5. ^ Ingeborg Clarus: Celtic myths. Man and his otherworld. P. 91 f.
6. ↑ Kevin Danaher: The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs. Mercier, Dublin 1972, ISBN 1-85635-093-2 , p. 38.
7. ^ F. Marian McNeill: The Silver Bough. Vol. 2, William MacLellan, Glasgow 1959, 1961, p. 11 ff.