REKINDLING THE RITES OF IMBOLG1By: Wade MacMorrighan

I. The Microcosm

Imbolg is one of the least understood of the ancientfestivals that were celebrated by the Iron Age cultures ofWestern Europe and Britain. However, what do we know of therites and rituals as they may have meant to our Celticforebears other than the fact that it was celebrated as theonset of spring?2 Our first insights into the celebrationof Imbolg as our ancient ancestors might have understood itmay be gleaned by examining the etymology of the festivalitself, the lexeme, “Imbolg”. According to the infamousGlossary written by the bishop-king Cormac mac Cuilleanáin ofCashel in the ninth-century CE—a text that yields the mostcommonly propagated meaning for this festival to date—thisfirst tentative clue, if Cormac is correct, seems to haveits roots in the alternative identification for thisfestival: Óimelc (“beginning of spring”), which theglossarist seems certain was derived from ói-melg (“ewe-milk”), meaning “the time that sheep’s milk comes”. DespiteCormac’s good intentions, this particularly fanciful lexemeinstead appears to be a benign folk-etymology that wasintended to assist rural husbandmen by attempting to codifythe folk-memory of an old pastoral term that may haveidentified 1 February with the lambing season. Indeed, theMetrichal Dindshenchus would seem to underscore thisproposition, which notes that, “after Candlemas rough was theirherding”. But on linguistic grounds this interpretation iscertainly a faulty one—notwithstanding its endorsement bynoted professional scholars in the field of Celtic Studies,such as Myles Dillon and Nora Chadwick—when we consider thatói, the first syllable in question, cannot have signified

1 This is my own preferred spelling, pronounced im-volg, taken from: MacCana, Proinsias. Celtic Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1968:pp. 34.2 Minard, Antone. “Imbolc”. Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. 5 vols.Ed. John T. Koch. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2006: pp. 958-959.

“sheep” due to the absence of a phonetically weakened orlost m–consonant when compared with several identical Indo-European lexemes roots that also denote “sheep”, such as theSanskrit ávi-, the Latin ouis, the Greek őις-, and the Luwianhawi-. In light of the academic controversy that ultimatelysurrounds the term for this festival, the distinguishedlinguist Eric Hamp has conclusively proven that the secondsyllable for Imbolg can be traced to the Old Irish words for“milk” and “milking” which, in turn, was derived from theProto-Indo-European root-word *Hmelǵ- signifying“purification” occasionally with the implication of wipingor cleansing ritual tools being attached to these semanticterms.3 Furthermore, certain episodes within Irish folk-lore seems to furnish our exegesis with examples of themiraculous purifying properties of milk. Amongst the threefolk-tales supplied by Hamp is one involving an individualnamed Suibhne who was renowned for drinking milk from anindentation in a pile of manure, suggesting that milk couldpurify even dung, while the Book of Lecan relates that milkcould antidote any injury caused by a poisoned dart and thatmilk was also poured in the battlefield furrows of Eremonpresumably to cleanse them;4 even the pan-Celtic goddess-3 It is worth noting that Joseph Vendryes has formerly suggested thatimbolg is a derivative of the compound including the prefix imb- and theword folc, with the meaning of “to wash”, particularly any cleansingrites that he believed may have occurred during Celtic sports,rivalries, or competitions at this time (Vendryes, J. “Imbolc”. RevueCeltique 41 [1924]: pp. 243-244. Print.). This particular analysis is nolonger considered tenable, though as we have seen Hamp has revived thisgeneral connotation of purification on far more secure cultural andlinguistic grounds.4 Cormac. “Ói, i.e. a sheep.” Sanas Chormaic: Corma’s Glossary. Trans. JohnO’Donovan. Calcutta: O. T. Cuiter, 1868: pp. 127; Dillon, Myles andNora Chadwick. The Celtic Realms: The History and Culture of the Celtic Peoples from Pre-History to the Norman Invasion. 1967. Reprint, Edison: Castle Books, 2006:pp. 108; Hamp, Eric. “Imbolc, Óimelc”. Studia Celtica 14/15 (1979-80):pp. 106-113. Print; Ó Catháin, Séamas. “The Festival of Brigit theHoly Woman”. Celtica 23 (1999): pp. 243. Print; Lemacher, G. “TheAncient Celtic Year”. The Journal of Celtic Studies 1 (1950): pp. 144-147.Print; Matthews, John and Caitlín. The Encyclopaedia of Celtic Myth and Legend: ADefinitive Sourcebook of Magic, Vision, and Lore. Guilford: The Lyons Press, 2004:pp. 256; “Imbolc”. Revue Celtique 41, pp. 241-244.

turned-Saint Brighid, whose hagiography Hamp seems to haveoverlooked, was notorious for her inability to consume anyimpure food, as a result she was entrusted to the care of anOtherworldly red-eared white heifer whose milk nourishedher.5 In light of this unequivocal data, however, eminentIrish folklorist Dáithí Ó hÓgáin has advocated for analternative suggestion that Imbolg, instead, signifies“large bellied” or “parturition” in view of the fact thatthe festival of the comely saint Brighid—as we shall see—wasconcerned with the birth of young animals that wereoriginally under the tutelage of her pre-Christian pagancoeval.6

Also, simple folk-rites of purification seem to haveplayed a substantial role for the celebrants of Imbolgaccording to a brief poem now known as the “Quatrains of theFeasts” that was recorded in an Old Irish manuscript, heretranslated by Kuno Meyer and excerpted from his anthologyHibernica Minora:

Tasting each food according to order, this is what is proper at Imbolg; washing the hands, the feet, the head;This is what I declare…7

The question of the necessity for cleansing rites at theonset of spring celebrated by the convergence of Indo-European cultures that will be examined below ultimatelyseem to have their antecedent in the desire to purge oneselfafter contact or communication with the dead—a procedurethat was not uncommon in the ancient world—considering thatthis more dreadful period of ill omen was generallysignified by the previous winter quarter that commenced onNovember Eve and was officially abrogated by 1 February.

5 Stokes, Whitley, trans. On the Life of Saint Brigit (Leabhar Breac). CELT:Corpus of Electronic Texts: pp. 59. Web.6 Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. “Time”. The Lore of Ireland: An Encyclopedia of Myth, Legendand Romance. Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 2006: pp. 472-475; “Brighid(II)”. Op. cit., pp. 51-55.7 “Imbolc”. Revue Celtique 41, pp. 242.

Furthermore, by examining the Irish rural folk-customsthat surround the Festival of Brighid, which are generallybelieved to have totally absorbed the pre-Christian rites ofthe festival of Imbolg,8 might also provide us with furtherclues about the nature and meaning that the onset of springmay have held for our ancient kinsmen.

According to one Scottish folk-tale, Brighid was themistress of a hostel in the city of David (Bethlehem), whenher master left to fetch water from a great distance duringthe height of a drought. He left her with one stoup ofwater and a single bannock to sustain her during hisabsence. Before leaving he instructed her to neither feedthe hungry, quench the thirsty, nor to hostel the vagrant.However, sometime after his departure, a couple arrived inneed of shelter for the night. Tenderhearted Brighid metthem at the threshold and turned them away, but not beforesharing her stoup of water and bannock with them. As thecouple journeyed into the distance Brighid felt sorry forthem, and she wished that she could have done more becauseshe saw “the sickness of life” upon the young woman andwished to shelter them from the heat of the sun and thedreadful cold of the approaching night. But as she turnedback to her chores at twilight she noticed that her bannockwas once again whole, and her stoup of water was also full!When she recovered her senses after this miraculous sightshe left in search of the couple, but not knowing where theyjourneyed she followed a glowing star overhead that she knewmust not be a meteor of ill-omen. She arrived just in timeat the stable where the couple had found lodging so that shemay assist in the birth of the Christ child.9

Another ubiquitous hagiographic legend from Ireland—ofwhich twenty-eight variants have been identified—furtherlink Brighid to the Blesséd Virgin of the Christians andserves to explain how 1 February was hallowed after thecomely Saint. As Mary was about to be “churched”—or, some

8 “Imbolc”. Revue Celtique 41, pp. 241.9 Carmichael, Alexander. Carmina Gadelica: Hymns & Incantations. 3 vols.1900/ 1940. Reprint, Edinburgh: Lindisfarne Press, 1992: pp. 580-581n.70.

say, to bring the Christ child to the Temple—she wasjourneying to a Church where she met St. Brighid to whom sheconfessed how shy she was about stepping up to the altarrails before the whole congregation. St. Brighid told hernot to worry, and she took a nearby harrow (a sharp forkedagricultural tool intended to till the soil in preparationfor spring sowing) and placed it on her head, turning thepoints upward. No sooner had Brighid entered the Churchthan the points of the harrow miraculously transformed intoa glittering crown of glowing candles! Not one eye turnedfrom the Saint as the meek Virgin stepped up to the altarrails until the commencement of the ceremony.10 The VirginMary was so pleased that the saint had preserved her modestythat she decreed that from this time forward 1 Februaryshould be held in honor of Brighid the day before theVirgin’s own festival of Purification. It is likely onaccount of Brighid’s association with midwifery—casting herin the role of a “Light Mother”—as well as the kindling ofcandles that Alexander Carmichael sought to identify her,not without good cause, as “the Juno of the Gaels”. Brighidmay be further identified with a variety of traditionalepithets that underscore her association with the soft glowof candlelight, such as Bríde boillsge (“Brighid ofbrightness”), Lasair dhealrach oir, muime chorr Chriosda (“Radiantflame of gold, most noble foster mother of Christ”), andBríde non Coinnle (“Brighid of the Candles”).11

A study examining the folk-traditions of Brighid furtherillustrates the hold she has over the affairs of human andanimal procreation and the fructifying potentialparticularly embodied by women.

Brighid was a favorite saint on whom to call for aid bymidwives throughout Ireland. In Scotland, when a woman isin the throws of labor, it is a standard custom for themidwife to stand at the doorway, grasping the door jams, and

10 A Scottish variation holds that Brighid escorted Mary to the Templebearing a lighted taper in each hand as the Saint led the way (CarminaGadelica, pp. 583 n.70).11 Danaher, Kevin. The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs. Dublin: MercierPress, 1972: pp. 38; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 244-245.

softly invoking the presence of the saint to attend thebirth with these words:

Bride! Bride! come in,Thy welcome is truly made,Give thou relief to the woman,And give the conception to the Trinity.

If the birth is successful it is a sure sign that Brighidhad, in fact, been present; but if the birthing should gopoorly it is believed that the saint was absent or possiblyoffended. After a successful birth, the midwife wouldconsecrate the newborn to the Trinity by letting three dropsof clear cold water drop onto the tablet of the babe’sforehead in a clear intimation of how Brighid dedicated theChrist child when she attended the Blesséd Virgin at theholy birth.

However, childless couples also beseeched her in need sothat the fallow wombs of some poor wife might be quickenedwith life. Some of the wells dedicated to Brighid were alsoreputed with the ability to cure sterility and may havefeatured as a popular pilgrimage site for married couples indesperate need. In general, however, the fructifying powersof Brighid’s blessing was regularly sought from her sacredwells on her Feast Date which was then carried back home andsprinkled about the house, its occupants, as well as uponthe fields for the growth of the seasons crops.12

One custom that appears to have been centered somewhatexclusively upon the agency of women and females of thehouse13 is the so-called brat Bríde (“Brighid’s mantle”). Thiswas a fertility charm could be any piece of unwashed cloth,12 Carmina Gadelica, pp. 581 n-70; Year in Ireland, pp. 37; “Brigit the HolyWoman”, pp. 232-233.13 Married men also appear to have taken advantage of the healing andprotective power of Brighid during the festival of Imbolg by placing abelt, tie, or even braces onto a bush in order to receive the blessingsof the saint, particularly when traveling by sea. Many Irish immigrantsto America wore this familiar charm on themselves during the frighteningjourney. However, wearing these items were also commonplace for womenduring childbirth.

linen, a shawl, an old garment, a sash, scarf, handkerchief,or a silk ribbon that was placed on a bush, a windowsill, onthe doorstep, thrown onto a low roof, or tied onto the latchon the Eve of Imbolg because, it was supposed, Brighid wouldpass by the home and touch the article to bless them. Thischarm was then taken indoors after dark and torn intopieces. Each young girl within the home was given a segmentas a protective “amulets”. Mothers sewed it into theirdaughters’ garments to preserve their virginity, and it wasused as a charm to save children from being abducted by thefaeries. These charms were reputed to withhold theirhealing virtues indefinitely; indeed, the older the brat,the more potent it was believed to be, particularly after aminimum of seven years. If a ribbon was used it wasmeasured in a folk-rite of divination before being laid outat night in the evening dew. The next day it was measuredonce again to see if it had lengthened and, if this wasindeed the case, it was a fortuitous sign that foretold of along life and an abundant yield of both crop and cattlethroughout the forthcoming year. In some districts ofIreland the length of the ribbon, once re-measured, was alsoa sign of the potential healing power that the saint hadbestowed upon it; greater length was suggestive of morepower.

The brat was also a miraculous charm with which one couldabsolve infertility when confronted with the prospects ofbeing barren (whether or not due to age), but also to aidwomen and animals during a difficult labor, and to ensure anabundant supply of milk in the breast for their nursingyoung. The country midwife was rarely without a brat whenattending to a birth. Indeed, should an expectant mothersick in childbed desire relief the brat was simply placedupon the forehead as tradition specified. Measures werealso taken with the brat to determine if the newborn—whetherhuman or animal—would thrive, have a nourishing supply ofmilk, or be kept safe from evil forces. There may be aninteresting Classical parallel with the Gaelic brat wherewomen offered their clothes to Artemis as an offering if thebirth was successful; though if women had died in childbed

her clothes were offered to the goddess’s more capriciousidentity as Artemis Brauronia.14

The fertility symbolism seems to have been carried overinto the folk-tradition of the brídeóg (“young Brighid”),15

the most ubiquitous feature of this festival-complex thatfurther link Brighid with the growth or revival of the cropsand to new life. The effigies of the saint were quitediverse in their representation: a doll may have beenborrowed from a young girl for this purpose, which was thenredressed or decorated for the imminent festivities; or asmall dress was procured and fashioned into a rough hewnanthropomorphic figure using sticks, wheat, straw, or hay; achurn dash16 or a broom handle was also used with frequencyas the base for the brídeóg once it had been adorned with adress and a shawl, after which a face was carved or paintedonto the wood (sometimes with a ferocious countenance),though a mask, a ball of hay fitted with a muslin cap likeunto those worn by old women, or a peeled and carved turnipmay be used instead (soot from the hearth was employed tocolor the spaces for the eyes, the nose, and the mouth). Asmall ornament in the likeness of a Maltese cross, knownlocally as the rionnag Brídeóg (“the star if young Brighid”),was also affixed to the breast of the effigy. Throughout

14 Year in Ireland, pp. 32-33; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 234-236.15 Durney, James. “Brideog. An Old Kildare Custom”. Co. Kildare OnlineElectronic History Journal. 28 January, 2011. Web. 4 March, 2014. ThisGaelic lexeme is pronounced “Breothogue”.16 It is possible that this particular custom arose from an oraltradition that seems to underscore Brighid’s renown as a source ofPlenty. According to a seventh-century CE monk named Cogitosus, whorecorded many of the local orature detailing the life and deeds ofBrighid from the Irish peasantry, the first legend he commits to writingis a tale wherein Brighid is sent off to a Dairy by her mother to work.However, her kindly nature compels her “to obey God rather than men” whichleads the saint to give away all of her milk and the butter that she haschurned to any vagrants that pass her by. After her hard work had beendepleted, the saint fears her mother’s anger for her generosity, and soshe prays for divine assistance and finds that her former store of milkand butter had not only been replenished, but that it now surpassed eventhe quantity produced by her coworkers (McNamara, John. “Brigid,Saint”. Medieval Folklore, pp. 49-50).

the highlands and islands of Scotland it was not uncommonfor young women to decorate the brídeóg with primroses,snowdrops, sea shells, crystals, and greenery, while anespecially bright shell or crystal was set aside to beplaced over the heart of the corn dolly. This was calledthe reul-iuil Bríde (“the guiding star of Brighid”), and itsymbolized the star that led the saint to the stable whereshe had assisted in the birth of the Christ child. Thetokens, such as the shells and the crystals, appear to yielda sympathetic relationship with the animal kingdom thatinhabits the natural world, e.g. the fish of the oceans andlakes, or the beasts of the mountain regions.

These images were then taken from house to house by aretinue of young people up to twenty years of age on the Eveof the saint’s Feast Date throughout the Gaelic world inprocession by which they would extend the blessings of thesaint upon the residents. Sometimes a length of straw wastaken from the brídeóg to be used when fashioning a St.Brighid’s Cross. However, a living brídeóg was often chosento lead the procession by choosing the most comely andexemplary virgin from the village and adorning her with aveil, as well as a cross and shield that had been platedfrom locally grown rushes. When the brídeóg was admitted toeach home she said:

“Are you resolved, with God’s assistance, to obey His laws and the laws ofHis Church, and to lead blameless lives like the great St. Brighid?”

When an affirmative answer had been given she then entrustedher sword to the residents and then proclaimed:

“Take the sword with which the great St. Brighid fought her enemies, theworld, the flesh and the devil, and remember to bear the crosses of thislife with true Christian fortitude after the example of the great St. Brighid.”

The shield was then presented with the followingdeclaration:

“Take ye this shield, the shield of Faith; remember the many victoriesgained by St. Brighid under its protecting influence, and bravely follow herexample.”

Before the veil was presented to the residents, the brídeógqueried them one last time:

“Will you follow the rules of virtue, piety and general good conduct laiddown for your guidance by St. Brighid?”

The mistress of the house gathered her daughters and thefemale domestics to answer in the affirmative beforereceiving the veil, at which time the brídeóg was heard tosay:

“Be modest, chaste, and virtuous according to the example which thesaint, whose festival we celebrate, has left for your imitation.”

The brídeóg then held her cross aloft to remind the residentsof the redemptive sacrifice offered by the Christian savior-god, at which they would fall on their knees in humbleprayer before she made her departure to another home. Afterthe commencement of this folk-rite, the shield, cross, andveil was then installed above the door of each house as ablessing to the pious, and a reminder to live as modestly,as chaste, and as virtuous as Brighid once had.

This tradition is much different throughout severaldistricts of Ireland where the folk-ritual primarilyrevolves around the father or head male of the home. Hecarefully fashions a brídeóg from a bundle of straw that hepushes into the likeness of a woman, and raps around it abrat that served as the effigy’s dress. This image wascradled in his arms like a newborn babe before beingpositioned upright at the back door where the father kneelsand loudly declares for all those inside to “Go down on yourknees and open your eyes and let Brighid in”. Those who were withingave their blessing for the saint to enter, and the fatherthanked them on Brighid’s behalf. The latch was then raisedand the brídeóg is first “thrust” through the portal followed

by, in this case, the man of the house, or the troop ofrevelers as the case may be. The brídeóg would then beplaced against the leg or rail of the table with great careand respect as the family adjourns to a supper preceded byinvocations and prayers to the saint.

In Scotland the tradition was much the same and involveda procession of young girls known as the banal Bríde(“Brighid’s maiden band”), which went from house to houseclad all in white with their hair unfurled to symbolizepurity and youth as they carried a well-crafted brídeóg atthe front of their group, all the while singing songsdedicated to the saint. Each home that they visitcustomarily places a gift onto the brídeóg, such as a shell,a spar, a crystal, some primrose, or a bit of greenery,while mothers are expected to bestow a more substantial giftto the saint, such as a bannock, a knob of butter, or asegment of cheese. Once the young people have made theirrounds, as in Ireland, they retire to the house of aneighbor where they commence the feis Bríde (“feast ofBrighid”). Here they bar the doors and secure the windows,and they position the brídeóg where all in attendance may seeher. The young men of the community then come to the doorand humbly seek permission to pay homage to the saint and,after some parleying, the latch is lifted and the young menare then admitted to show due honor to Brighid. Throughoutthe remainder of the night the young men and women engage insinging, dancing, feasting, and frolic under the auspices ofthe saint.

In the south and west of Ireland these processions wereled and administrated not by young women, but by young menknown as “Biddy Boys” who would parade in fancy dress bywearing women’s skirts, ribbons, sashes, brightly coloredcloths, decorated hats, flannel coats tied about the waste,and sometimes masks, while one or more would wear a conicalhat made from straw. This institutionalized gender varianceis very likely an expression of the liminality that sothoroughly infused the cult and the life of the saint,herself! It is also worth noting that this same costumingwas worn by the “stawboys” and the “soppers” at wedding

celebrations where they would dance with the bride, herattendants, and friends as well as being treated toentertainment and food before making their leave. Duringthe Festival of Brighid, however, they would carry thetraditional brídeóg with them, as well as musical instrumentsto accompany themselves as they danced a concertina or sangin order to entertain the residents of each home that theyvisited. It was customary for the Biddy Boy carrying thebrídeóg to “beg” for a penny upon arriving. Two verses—thefirst from the Co. Kerry, and the second from the Co. Clare—are reflective of this tradition:

1 Something for poor Biddy!Her cloths are torn.Her shoes are worn.Something for poor Biddy!

2 Here is Brighid dressed in white.Give her a penny for her night.She is deaf, she is dumb,She cannot talk without a tongue.

The Biddies typically spend what pocket change they earn ona pint of ale after the festivities. Each troop thatcarried about a brídeóg, regardless of gender, ensured thatthey visited homes only within a certain district (about asquare mile in circumference) because to encroach uponanother nearby troop was considered unmannerly.17

As fanciful as it may at first seem, even the Gaelicfolk-custom popularly known as leaba Bríde (“Brighid’s bed”)would ultimately seem to derive from a possibly Indo-European birthing custom. On the Eve of Brighid’s Day theelder women of the home—clearly intimating the role ofmidwives—fashion the leaba in the shape of an oblong basketafter the form of a cradle. An arrangement of flowers thattraditionally open their eyes at “the morning of the year”, suchas snowdrops, daisies, and primroses are placed within theleaba. When Brighid’s bed had been thoroughly embellishedone of the women adjourns to the threshold and grabs thedoor jams as she softly calls out into the darkness,

17 Carmina Gadelica, pp. 581-582 n.70; Year in Ireland, pp. 24-31 and 45;McNeill, F. Marian. The Silver Bough, vol. 2: A Calendar of Scottish National Festivals—Candlemas to Harvest Home. Glasgow: William Maclellan, 1959: pp. 25-27;“Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 246 n.72, 247-249, 256 n.124.

“Brighid’s bed is ready”, after which a woman behind her repliesin kind, “Let Brighid come in, Brighid is welcome!” The woman standingat the door again entreats the saint to enter, “Brighid!Brighid, come thou in, this bed is made. Preserve the house for the Trinity.”The customary brídeóg is then tenderly placed into the leabaalong with a straight white wand that is variously known asthe slatag Bríde (“little rod of Brighid”), the slachdan Bríde(“little wand of Brighid”), or the barrag Bríde (“birch ofBrighid”). The wand is usually a stick of birch, broom,blackberry, white willow, or any other sacred wood that hasbeen carefully stripped of its bark; so-called “crossed” orbanned wood, such as blackthorne, is carefully avoided asmaterial for the wand. The women then carefully raked theashes of the hearth evenly before retiring to bed, and thenext morning they would then scan the ashes for a sign ofthe saint’s presence. They rejoice on witnessing a sign ofBrighid’s wand, but if they should observe the lorge Bríde(“Brighid’s footprint”) their joy is magnified because it isaccepted as a sign that the forthcoming year will greet themwith an increase in family, in flock, and in field. If thefamily observes no sign of the saint’s presence it is takenas a sign that Brighid may have been offended and will nothear their prayers. As a consequence the family regularlyentreats the saint with offerings of incense, and anoblation—usually a cockerel or pullet—that is buried alivenear the junction of three streams, and any leftover scrapsfrom supper are burnt at the hearth before the familyretires for the evening. Some districts of Ireland,however, made use of the leftover straw or rushes from theconstruction of the brídeóg to fashion a rough-hewn bed knownas sráideog (a “shakedown”) where the saint was welcome tospend the night.18

This folk-custom must be derived from an early Irishbirthing procedure in which an expectant mother was movedfrom her usual bed in the kitchen to a straw-line floor.

18 Black, Ronald, ed. The Gaelic Otherworld: John Gregorson Campbell’s “Superstitionsof the Highlands and Islands of Scotland” and “Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Highlands andIslands”. 1900 and 1902. Reprint, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, 2005;Carmina Gadelica, pp. 582-583 n.70; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 248.

Her husband or, if he were unavailable, than a male neighboror friend would place his hands on her shoulders as sheassumed a kneeling posture, encouraging the woman, while themidwife assisted in the birth. Clues as to the antiquity ofthis procedure may be found in country expressions that tellof how births were traditionally performed not in beds, buton straw-lined floors. In Co. Mayo the tradition wasobserved that subsequent to the birth of a child, the newmother was stationed on a leaba thalúna (“ground bed”) besidethe domestic hearth for nine days, after which she was thenallowed to return to her normal bed, known as the leaba ardor “high bed”.19 Throughout northern Europe, as we shallsee in the forthcoming pages, this procedure has astartlingly direct parallel.

In certain districts where the brídeóg lost prominence ithad been eclipsed by the “passing through” tradition of thecriose Bríde (“Brighid’s girdle”) which took the form of abraided straw rope that had either been spliced together orwoven into a loop, with four plaited straw crosses woveninto the supporting braid. When the young men presented thecriose at each residence a standard prayer was offered beforethe folk-rite could commence:

The Girdle, the Girdle of Brighid, my Girdle,The Girdle of the four crosses,Mary entered it,Brighid emerged from it;If you be improved today,May you be seven times better,A year from today.

Only boys and young adult males were permitted to carry thecriose according to the terms of the tradition, while thegirls may have carried the brídeóg if it was used in therite. However, sometimes the boys carried both the crioseand the brídeóg. The inhabitants of the home were thenexpected to pass through the criose—which would seems to bean attempted intimation of the birthing process—in order to19 “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 245 and 246 n.72.

receive the protection of Brighid, as well as freedom fromall illness and “pains in the bones”. Each person would make thesign of the cross and recite an invocation to the saintbefore stepping through the criose three times in succession;men would pass through the “Girdle” by stepping through withtheir right leg, then their right arm and shoulder, followedby their head, and then the left shoulder, arm, and foot.Women, on the other hand, were extended the grace of havingthe criose put down over their head, shoulders, and feetbefore stepping out of the loop. In some areas anexceptionally large criose was woven on St. Brighid’s Eve andplaced over the door of the byre so the cattle may be driventhrough in order to receive Brighid’s blessings of healthand protection.20

The second most ubiquitous and widespread traditionthroughout Ireland at this time is that of the criosog Bríde(“Saint Brighid’s crosses”), which was sometimes called abogha Bríde. It was fashioned by plaiting together a sheafof rushes most commonly in the form of a lozenge (diamond)or an equidistant cross with crooked arms resembling aswastika-motif, however the three-armed cross seems to havebeen a rare occurrence by comparison. The form that eachcross took varied from locality to locality. The crossesalso featured as an apotropaic charm, and so they were hungin stable, byres, outhouses, and within the home to protectthe occupants from such misfortune as fire, storm,lightning, illness, and evil spirits were said to be unableto enter a door over which hung a Saint Brighid’s cross.

A simple Christian folk-rite very often accompanied theconstruction of the cross, which was sprinkled with holywater and hung at a place of prominence by the front doorwith some version of the following prayer: “May the blessings ofGod, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be on this cross and this place where it hangsand on everyone who looks at it.” In the northern half of Ireland amuch more elaborate ritual is extant, though it variesslightly from region to region. It begins with a “return”to the tradition of the living- brídeóg when the eldestdaughter from the home (though it was just as often the man20 Year in Ireland, pp. 34-35; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 249-250.

of the house), representing Brighid, leaves to gather freshgreen rushes or straw. When she returns she knocks at thedoor three times and, with each knock, she says, “Go down onyour knees, do homage, and let Blessed Brighid enter the house.” Somedistricts, such as Co. Donegal, make use of the followingfamiliar variation that has been quoted above: “Go down onyour knees, open your eyes, and let Brighid in.” After the third knockand call, the following reply is heard from within the home:“Oh, come in, you are a hundred times welcome.” The girl enters andplaces the rushes under the dinner table upon which a dinnerhas been served. The parents begin the meal with a prayer,and they both end it with a thanksgiving grace. After thefeast the rushes are fashioned by the family into crosses,which are then, as before, sprinkled with holy water andhung upon the walls and under the roof for the year to comein the hope that the family will have enough bread to lastthem throughout the next twelve months that follow. Thecrosses that the children of the house had fashioned weresometimes hung over their own beds. Throughout some partsof the northern half of Ireland the crosses were made beforesupper and came to be incorporated into the feast, either bylaying the dishes that contained the food atop them, or bylaying pieces of bread upon the festival Saint Brighidcrosses. Occasionally the crosses were taken to the localChurch to be blessed if the parish was tolerable of thecustom and willing to do so.

The crosses and the rushes from which they were woven,including the saint herself, also played a not insubstantialrole in the health and vitality of the crop fields. Infact, in Ireland as well as England, Imbolg (whether New orOld Style) was the onset of the agricultural year whenplowing commenced, lest one be considered late in planting.It may be that this agrarian cycle derives from remoteantiquity for we note that in the Lebor Gabála Érenn thegoddess Brighid was also said to be in possession of twooxen, which suggests that plowing may not have been anunknown function of the deity. In fact, older people oftenprayed the rosary to invoke the blessings of Brighid uponthe crops for the year to come.

Grain seeds, or sometimes the seed from the rushes thatthe crosses were fashioned, were bundled in a white clothafter which they were hung near the crosses and then mingledwith the general stock of seed when it came time to sow thenew season’s crops. A seed potato was also pinned next to across under the roof before it was added to the stock ofseed potatoes when planting commenced. When this portion ofseed was later added to the general stock of seed for thecrops Brighid was again invoked to protect the crops fromblight as the oats were rubbed between the hands to releasetheir seeds, or when the potatoes were cut into wedges.Remnants of the leftover rushes used to fashion the crosseswere also, on occasion, woven into baskets that were used todistribute the seed to be sown in the fields; while somewould chop the rushes which were then mixed with the seedstock, or dug into the furrows when potatoes were planted.Though the cross itself occasionally played more of a directrole when it was taken into the fields to extend itsblessings, or else it was placed into the basket of seedstock and potatoes. However, it was also customary to leavea portion of grain seeds and seeding potatoes by the door onSt. Brighid’s Eve so that the saint might extend herblessing of fertility upon them as she entered the home.These were also then added to the general stock at theappropriate time.

Along with assisting the fertility of the land, the SaintBrighid’s crosses also had their own role to play in humanfertility. According to a custom recorded in Co. Mayo, itwas the habit for a mother-in-law to fashion for a newlymarried couple a cross and singe each of the four endsbefore placing it under the tick of the couple’s bed toensure that the couple would be blessed with children.

What remained of the straw or rushes once the crosseswere made was not simply discarded with the rubbish, but itwas notably placed with reverence by the hearth and coveredwith a white cloth to fashion a simple leaba Bríde for thesaint to rest upon when she would visit the home after theresidents had retired to bed for the night. The rushes orstraw used to fashion the brídeóg or the bed for the saint

was also believed to have curative properties. Withies fromthe rushes or straw were preserved as healing talismans thatwere worn about the head or the arm at night, and burned inthe hearth fire the next day. A withy that burned quicklyforetold that any injury would be short-lived. Fishermen,however, would weave a “ribbon” with leftover rushes thatthey would carry with them while at sea to gain the saint’sprotection. While some houses, instead, made “rushlights”from the refuse that was lit aflame to honor Brighid.21

Again we turn once more to the subject of kindlingcandles as they relate to the folk-culture that embracedBrighid and her festivities. Candles that had been blessedduring the Candlemas proceedings were reserved for usewithin Ireland typically to invoke the blessings of Brighidupon cows with milk or for health during the lean months inlate winter when pantries began to dwindle. Occasionallythis rite would take the form of singing the hair of thecow’s tail, though at other times tongs would carry hotglowing coals around the animal, usually over her kidneysand below her udders three times in succession. Midwivesalso reserved candles blessed during the Candlemasprocession as a valuable tool of their trade, which appearsto be the preservation of an ancient Indo-European folk-tradition, as will be made evident below. Acadian midwivespracticing in Quebec, Canada, for instance, would kindle acandle that had been so blessed should the need arrive tobeseech “the hosts of Heaven” for aid during a difficult birth.Candles blessed at Candlemas also featured as protectivecharms when manipulated into the shape of a crucifix.22

Brighid would also appear to personify the conqueringspring that abrogates the icy clutches of deathly winter.This should come as no surprise because Brighid was21 Baker, Margaret. Folklore and Customs of Rural England. Newton Abbot: David& Charles, 1974: pp. 81; Roles of the Northern Goddess, pp. 67; Year in Ireland,pp. 16-23 and 35-37; Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the RitualYear in Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996: pp. 135-136;“Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 237-238 and 252-253.22 Arsenault, Georges. Acadian Traditions on Candlemas Day: Candles, Pancakes, andHouse Visits. Trans. Sally Ross. Charlottetown: The Acorn Press, 2012:pp. 19; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 238 and 239.

responsible for the changing of the seasons. A possiblesurvival hinting at this function may occur amid the folk-beliefs of the fishermen who sail about northeasternScotland who ironically insist that “Good Annie” causes therough spring gales. It has been suggested that this figuremay have been the Celtic goddess Annan, who was alsoidentified as the goddess Brighid. Throughout Scotland andelsewhere amid continental Europe the three months of winterspanning November Eve at Samhain until the Eve of Brighid’sDay are commonly identified with death, and throughout theBritish Isles it is Brighid who revives the “dead” landscapefrom its winter slumber with her white wand of birch wood.Indeed, one Scottish legend seems to cast the saint into therole of a Persephone-like figure and recalls how the saintwas journeying to take the veil when she came upon atreacherous stretch of bogland that, at first, seemedimpassible until she set foot on it at which time the landwas transformed into a green meadow and erupted in aprofusion of spring flowers. Another Gaelic legend detailsthe mutual enmity at Imbolg between Brighid and thecyclopean hag-goddess, the Cailleach Beheur (the “veiledone”). It is said that the Cailleach conjures winter bywashing her plaid in the whirlpool known as the Gulf of theCorryvreckan, which means “the Cauldron of the Plaid” fromthe Gaelic Coire Bhreacain. When her washing is complete theplaid, which represents the tartan of “Old Scotland”, isvirgin white. The Cailleach was also possessed by avenomous temper that led the goddess to blast all vegetationwith her magick wand as the year wanes. And, it is duringthis bleak period of winter that Brighid is held a captiveprisoner at Ben Nevis as she awaits her hero, the youthfulgod Aengus mac Óg who would appear to represent the wintersolstice sun returned from the Underworld. It is after hebeholds Brighid in a vision that he sets out on his milkwhite steed from his Otherworld Island drenched in perpetualsummer23 to rescue the imprisoned goddess. The Cailleach

23 White horses are ubiquitously identified with solar-gods throughoutancient Indo-European mythic systems (West, M. L. Indo-European Poetry &Myth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007: pp. 203-207).

attempts to stop him at each step of his journey, however,it is in vain as Aengus secures Brighid’s freedom at Imbolg.As the Cailleach storms away in a fury she flings her wandwith one last gasp of resentment towards the roots of aholly bush as a final curse when spring once again returns.Another in kind parable portrays Brighid and the Cailleachnot as imminent challengers, but as two sides of the samecoin. As the season of winter draws to a close theCailleach again journeys to the Otherworld island of Tír nan-Óg where she searches a deep wood for the magickal Well ofYouth. At the moment when the dawn sun crests over thehorizon she bends to drink its bubbling waters from thecrevice of a rock and emerges renewed as the fair goddessBrighid. Where her enchanted wand once caused allvegetation to wither and die, it now transformed the dormantbrown grass into vivid green shoots surmounted by the yellowand white flowers of spring.24

Before leaving Britain to widen our scope in search of themeaning behind the traditions that converged to form thiscomplex of agrarian spring rites under the auspices ofImbolg one more crucial theme must be examined. The“Quatrains of the Feasts”, which has been quoted above, hasleft us a vital clue that the store of winter preserves wasritually tasted “according to [the proper] order” along with thepurification rites that are usually attended at Imbolg.

Furthermore, one Irish legend tells how Aengus mac Óg deceived hisfather, the Daghdha, of his residency at Brúg na Boinne by promisingthat he could live within it for “a day and a night” which, lacking thedefinitive article of “the”, implied that Aengus could retain ownershipof the site forever. Brúg na Boinne is a “faery mound” located at theNeolithic passage tomb of Newgrange into which a shaft of sunlightilluminates the back wall every winter solstice. Another clue hintingthat Aengus represents the midwinter solstice sun is that, when he wasconceived by the Daghdha during an affair with the river-goddess Bóann,he commanded the sun to stand still for nine months until the he wasborn (Ancient Irish Tales, pp. 82-92). The second syllable of the term“solstice” is derived from the Latin verb sistere, which was so-named bythe Romans because it seemed to them that the sun ceased its movementfor three days while it transited the sign of Capricorn during the ritesof midwinter. 24 Carmina Gadelica, pp. 585 n.70; Silver Bough, vol. 2, pp. 20-21, 22, 134 n.5.

This “monitoring rite”, likely performed by the mistress ofthe house who not only managed the pantry but alsoadministered hospitality towards any guests, was intended toconvey to her family precisely how much of the supplies fromthe previous year remained. By taking stock of whatremained of their provisions she was able to calculate andapportion how strict her economy had to be until the lardercould be feasibly restored. The prosaic function of thisfolk-rite, it seems likely, evolved out of necessity duringa time when winter was ending and the spring crops hadobviously not yet matured to the point of supplying viablenourishment. Indeed, as I have emphasized above, this wasevidently a liminal period of time when, according to oneOld Irish story, “the old hag shares her coffin with the girl”. As ananalogue to the domestic duties of the woman of the house,the farmers of the community also made sure to take stock ofhow much fodder was left to properly care for theirlivestock.

In the northeastern Canadian district of Acadia, whichoriginated as a French colonial outpost in the earlysixteenth-century CE, the custom of taking stock of one’slarder was also observed not at Imbolg, but at Candlemas, asearly as the arrival of the pioneers. The concern that onlyhalf one’s pantry should be depleted at this time led tosuch colloquial expressions as demi-cave, demi-grenier or “halfthe cellar, half the attic”. In some villages throughoutPrince Edward Island, as pieces of pork were being placedinto the salting vats during the fall in order to preservethem throughout the long winter, it was customary to placethe pieces of meat that were still attached to the pig’stail at the midway point so that the family might be able tojudge within reason how much longer their salted pork willlast. This piece of meat was traditionally donated tocharity during the annual food collection at Candlemas,which is a uniquely North American custom. Acadian farmersalso took stock of what winter fodder remained to tend theirlivestock.

Moreover, throughout Acadia, Candlemas also marked“Pancake Day” which had its origins in France. It was

believed that consuming pancakes on this day assured anagrarian community that their fields would yield an abundantharvest of wheat in the ensuing months. Leaving the lastpancake uneaten and saving it in the cupboard was alsobelieved to not only guarantee a good harvest, and aprofitable hunt, but it also assured the mistress of thehome that there would be enough flour to last out the year,as well as money in the home. Some took this a step furtherand held a coin in their hand while flipping the pancake asthey made a wish so that they might have plenty of money.Even without a coin, making a wish while flipping a pancakein the air was still an important custom. Trinkets werealso carefully placed into pancake batter as they were friedas a means to divine one’s future prospects for theforthcoming year. The traditional interpretations were asfollows: a ring meant that marriage was on the horizon; amedal determined that one would lead a religious life; abutton foretold a life of celibacy or an unlucky romanticlife; a pin signified a large family; a coin meant wealth; apiece of rag, poverty; a nail was a sure sign that one wouldbecome a blacksmith; a piece of wood suggested that onewould either be a carpenter or a wife-beater; and a piece ofpaper indicated that one might follow a teaching profession.It is worth noting, however, that in Britain and elsewherethroughout continental Europe, the festival on whichpancakes were routinely celebrated was Shrovetide, which wasinstead commemorated between the last third of Februaryuntil the final day of the month.25 But, as will be madeevident, these much later spring rites and pancake customs,particularly in Europe, frequently retained a very similarconnotation with a desire for Plenty.

It is perhaps a consequence of these much more prosaiclean-winter or hungry-spring customs that may serve tounderscore precisely why the mysterious sowing and fertility

25 Acadian Traditions, pp. 21, 27-29, 32, 43-44, and 46; Year in Ireland, pp.14; Stations of the Sun, pp. 151; Patterson, Nerys. Cattle Lords & Clansmen: TheSocial Structure of Early Ireland. 2nd edn. Notra Dame: University of NotraDame Press, 1994: pp. 130-132 and 142; “Pancake Races”. Dict. Of EnglishFolklore, pp. 274.

folk-rites that we have examined thus far have come tofeature so prominently as an indelible fixture among ourcustoms at Imbolg and Candlemas!

II. The Macrocosm

Despite this overwhelming wealth of evidence, however, arecent historical analysis of the pagan and Christianseasonal traditions that have converged at the calends ofFebruary have concluded26 that not only is there no evidenceconnecting the pagan Irish festival of Imbolg to the

26 For a different examination, cf. Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft inthe Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972: pp. 50-52. Prof.Russell concludes that the old pagan “Fire Festivals” of Samhain,Imbolg, Beltane, and Lughnasa persisted for many centuries alongside thefestivals of their Christian coevals well into the seventh and eighth-centuries CE. However, he argues somewhat impulsively that thetraditional dates fixing Christian religious ceremonies to a pagancalendar must therefor be a coincidence because the dates of the fourEuropean fire festivals had not been standardized, but also because thestereotypical witch-cult had shown no interest in co-opting the far moreimportant celebrations of the Christian calendar, such as Easter (which,with a note of irony, like other Christian festivals does not occur on afixed date, but is calculated by the Sunday following the Full Moonafter the Vernal Equinox). In spite of this sweeping exegesis Russellgoes on to concede that the particular pagan rites of Imbolg and thecalends of February were assimilated by the “Fathers” of the Churchthrough a process of evident cultural appropriation and were transformedinto the Christian festival of Candlemas. This view is generally sharedby a variety of scholars in the field of Celtic Studies, includingJoseph Vendryes in his contribution to the journal Revue Celtique. Forsubstantiating views see: Eden, Bradford Lee. “Candlemas”. MedievalFolklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs. Ed. Carl Lindahl, JohnMcNamara, and John Lindow. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002: pp.57. The late folklorist Dr. Ó hÓgáin, however, was somewhat moresuccinct that the pre-Christian Irish pagan cross-quarter festivalssurvived relatively intact, in spite of an attempted Christianextirpation that led to the piece-meal Christianization of Irish paganfolk-customs. As a consequence, Imbolg was “displaced” as the centuriespassed by the Christian Feast of Brighid, which was a bare attempt at“civilizing” festivities that were far more ancient, virile, andsocially engrained within the psyches of the local pagan septs thatcalled Ireland home (Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland. Wilton: The Collins Press, 1999: pp. 215-216).

Christian feast of Candlemas; but, the very notion thatcandles feature at all during this religious convergence offestivals must have derived from the hagiographic passagefound within the Gospel of Luke in which an elderly man bythe name of Simeon the Just greets the Christ Child after heis taken into the Temple at Jerusalem, and there he likensthe newborn as “a light to lighten the Gentiles”.27 Meaning, theChrist would come to illuminate all non-believers with the“Holy Spirit” of the Church’s theological doctrines. Thisrather specious argument, it must be pointed out, ispolemical at best, or perhaps myopic at worse. It hasotherwise been well established that Pope Sergius I (687-701CE) instituted the celebration of Candlemas in Rome—whichhad originally been known as merely “The Fortieth Day AfterEpiphany”—as a direct cultural appropriation of the festivalof Juno Februata who was celebrated at the calends ofFebruary. Sergius, we are told, observed that both candlesand torches were kindled in honor of this enigmatic Romangoddess, so he contrived to transform this pagan folk-custominto one that served the Christian god and their Virgin Marythrough the adoption of this tradition, and perhaps evenattempting to “civilize” it, by instructing all initiatedChristians to bring a candle to Church rather than inservice to this belovéd pagan goddess!28 It was also duringthis complex of fertility rites that occurred duringFebruary that the Romans would kindle candles that were thentaken around their fields to bless their crops and livestockwith protection and fertility.29 It is also interesting tonote that a very similar custom associated with agriculturalprosperity, and perhaps torch-light, was recorded in thenineteenth-century CE during the Midsummer Eve rites of theIrish goddess Áine (“lustre/ brightness”) where thepeasantry of Knockainy in Co. Limerick would carry littorches in a procession to the top of the goddess’s sacred

27 Stations of the Sun, pp. 139-140; Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud.“Candlemas”. A Dictionary of English Folklore. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 2000: pp. 46.

28 Silver Bough, pp. 29. 29 Acadian Traditions, pp. 15.

hill, and afterward they would scatter to wave their torchesover and around the cultivated fields and cattle to ensureboth luck and increase the following year. Áine wasoccasionally said to have been seen standing atop her sacredhill during these rites on the Eve of Midsummer.30 Albeitthis folk-tradition occurs much later in the agriculturalyear, it serves to underscore the widespread nature oftorches and candles in sympathetic rites to facilitate thegrowth and vitality of both crops and livestock.

The Roman goddess Juno was further identified as orconflated with two not-inconsequential pagan goddess whowere also associated with light and oversaw childbirth:Lucina (“she who brings children into the light”) and MaterMatuta (“Mother Morning”). As Juno Lucina (or Lucetia) shewas the feminine principle of celestial light—as Jupiter wasthe masculine principle—and barren wives beseeched thegoddess to quicken their fallow wombs with life.31 It isdistinctly possible that, during the process of childbirth,midwives may have kindled candles to ease the labor of newlife, as was the custom for the Roman goddess Candelifera(“taper-bearer”).32 When children were born throughout theRoman world, however, it was customary to adorn one’s frontdoor with boughs of full-grown bay laurel because thesefebruum—or key implements of purification—as they were knownmay have served the important function of cleansing thedomestic space of ghosts for fear of the harm they mightcause to mother and child.33 The festival of Matralia thatwas celebrated in honor of Mater Matuta on 11 June may serveto underscore a further connection with Juno to whom themonth of June was consecrated. Mater Matuta was a goddessof light and possibly of the dawn that took over Aurora’smythic narrative, but she was also a goddess whose dominion

30 “Áine”. Lore of Ireland, pp. 7-8.31 “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 243-244.32 Adkins, Lesley and Roy. “Candelifera”. Dictionary of Roman Religion.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996: pp. 37; “Lucina”. Op. cit., pp.133.33 Lennon, Jack J. Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press, 2014: pp. 60.

extended to the growth—“ripening”, if you will—of childreninto their adolescence. Votive offerings fashioned fromterracotta have been unearthed in the remains of her Templein the Forum Boarium, and these depict inner reproductiveorgans, infants in swaddling cloths, and “mother-and-child”figurines, all of which emphasize her concern for the wellbeing of children and mothers in childbed. Her cultcontained significant peculiarities, such as the custom thatonly a wife who had never been re-married could clothe hercult-image, and female slaves were prohibited from herTemple at the time of the Matralia. Women were alsoexpected to bring offerings of yellow cakes and to pray, notfor their own children, but for the well being of hersister’s children, so that they might reach adolescence.This may be because Mater Matuta was said to have had takencare of her sibling’s offspring whom had been fated to “anunfortunate parent”.34

February, which was named after religious festivities ofpurification, also marks the onset of spring in the Romanworld as it does within several ancient and modern Indo-European cultures. It should then come as no surprise thatthe Romans fixed the formal beginning of spring on the Nonesof this month, which fell on the fifth day of our moderncalendar.35 It announced to farmers of rural areas that themeadows and their fields must be cleared of weeds anddebris, as well as ritually purified for the proper growthof the crops. Furrows were then dug into the preparedfields, and the sowing of crops completed. Local customs ofpagan Rome underscore the necessity of ritual purificationat this time, such as sweeping spelt grain out the door witha broom once it had been scattered onto the floor by the34 Dexter, Miriam Robbins. Whence the Goddess: A Source Book. New York:Teachers College Press, 1990: pp. 37; Price, Simon and Emily Kearns.“Matuta Mater”. The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth & Religion. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 337; Scullard, H. H. Festivals and Ceremonies of the RomanRepublic. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981: pp. 150-151.35 The Nones were so-named because they occurred nine days before the idesor fifteenth of the month. Hence, the Nones fell on the seventh duringthe long months of March, May, July, and October; while the Nones fellon the fifth of every other month (Festivals of the Roman Republic, pp. 42).

heir of the household. This rite, which is found also inGermany, appears to have been intended to vanquish ghostswho may be lingering amid the habitats of the living.36

Another celebration of the agrarian calendar by the name ofFeria Semenitivae (“Seeding/ Planting Festival”) or Paganalia wascommenced at the tail end of January at a movable date thattoggled between the twenty-fourth and the twenty-sixth ofthe lunar month. This festival celebrated the sowing ofspring wheat, some millet crops, and legumes in the hopesthat the goddesses of the Earth and corn (wheat) wouldprotect the crops that had previously been sown—such as thewinter wheat that was had been planted in October—as well ascrops that had yet to be sown. This festival, like thelatter spring-festival on the Nones of February, alsoinvolved a ritual purification of the fields and a sacredprocession about each field to erect a “barrier” against anyevil spirits that might harm the crops. On the first day ofthe festival the Romans sacrificed to Tellus (Mother Earth),and then on the second day they sacrificed to Ceres, theagrarian goddess of corn and growth so that she mightprotect the seedlings. Into the furrowed fields would besprinkled, in token offering to the goddesses, pieces of aspecial cake that had been fashioned from spelt and apregnant sow would be slaughtered. As the festivalcontinued the oxen that had ploughed the field would beadorned with garlands, clay masks or figurines were alsohung from a nearby tree in tribute to the infernal powers ofthe Earth, and prayers were intoned for the protection ofthe seed from the ravages of birds, beasts, and blight.This complex of important agrarian folk-rituals from theRoman world lingered long into the Christian era becausepeasants were reluctant to abandon their local customs andrituals that were so intimately connected with the joyousabrogation of winter, and with the growth of vegetation thatsustained human life.37 Furthermore, the sacrificial sow

36 Festivals and Ceremonies of the Roman Republic, pp. 69-70.37 Berger, Pamela. “Grain Miracle”. Medieval Folklore, pp. 185-186;Falassi, Alessandro. “Festival”. Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs,Tales, Music, and Art. 3 vols. 2nd. edn. Eds. Charlie T. McCormick and Kim

may ultimately have served the function of a “sin”-offeringintended to propitiate the earth-goddesses for any ritesthat were neglected, especially on behalf of the dead.38

Not coincidentally, the ancient Greeks also celebratedthe return of the goddess Korē (“maiden”) from theUnderworld at the calends of February (Anthesterion) duringthe Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries, which involved purificationrites of the initiates at the Ilissos River.39 This annualfestival announced the arrival of spring when, according tothe Homeric Hymns, Demeter lifted her implacable curse uponthe Earth and allowed grain to once more sprout andthrive.40 Korē was evidently the personification of notonly spring’s renewal, but of vegetation as well; and thismay be primarily observed in her epithet, which is derivedfrom the masculine pronoun koros, meaning both “sprout” and“young boy”.41 But, moreover, as Queen of the Underworld,one could say that she also epitomized the seed of promisethat was laying in wait below the fallow wintery soil in thedark cavernous womb of the Earth-Mother.42 In fact,following the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries, it was customaryfor Greek women to again gather in honor of Demeter duringthe festival of Thesmophoria in October where they wouldhold fertility rituals before sowing the grain seed thatwould lay dormant during the bleak winter months untilspring. These rites would involve a three-day festival inwhich only married women were allowed to partake. Virgins,men, and children (save for infants) were prohibited fromthe rites. On the first day the “Bailer”—a woman who had

Kennedy White. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2011: pp. 493-501; Festivals andCeremonies of the Roman Republic, pp. 68.38 “Tellus”. Oxford Dict. Of Classical Myth & Religion, pp. 536.39 Kerényi, Carl. Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter. Trans. RalphManheim. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1967: pp. 48 and 52-3.40 Homer. Homoeric Hymns. Trans. Jules Cashford. Lomdon: PenguinClassics, 2003: pp. 25; Price, Simon. Religions of the Ancient Greeks.Cambridge: Campridge University Press, 1999: pp. 26.41 Gimbutas, Marija. The Living Goddesses. Ed. Miriam Robbins Dexter.Berkeley: California University Press, 1999: pp. 160.42 Mikalson, Jon D. Ancient Greek Religion. Malden: Blackwell Publishing,2005: pp. 88.

endured ritual purification—would descend into a sacred cavethat was dedicated to Demeter and Korē where she wouldretrieve the putrefied remains of suckling pigs that hadbeen sacrificed and deposited three months prior. Thesewould then be heaped upon the Altar of Demeter, and latermixed with the seed corn for a plentiful Harvest. Theimportance of the piglets in this fertility rite seems to bea ritualized legend that honors the swine of the herdsmanEubouleus that was swallowed up by the Earth when Hadesseized young Korē as his unwilling bride. Fertilitytalismans in the form of cakes made in the shape of piglets,snakes, and phalloi, along with pinecones taken from firtrees were also tossed into the cavern during the initialsacrifice. The second day was a relatively somber affairduring which women would fast on beds fashioned fromanaphrodisiacal plants as they sympathetically mourned withDemeter. The final day was one of feasting in which cakesshaped in the form of yonis or vulvas were eaten, along withpomegranate seeds that symbolized blood and death. Anyseeds that fell to the ground, it was believed, were leftthere as the Food of the Dead. Also during this time amysterious goddess of “Fair Birth”, known as Kaligeneia, wasinvoked. Because she was not identified with any goddessfrom the Greek pantheon it has been assumed that she serveda purely ritual or prosaic function lacking a proper cult.Later, as seed corn was eventually taken from the sacredstorage bins to be sown in the fields the farmers weretraditionally sprinkled with water as the following prayerwas recited: “As the water flows, so may life flow.” This folk-riteappears to have been a direct appeal to the sky-god Zeus asbringer of the fertilizing rains.43 Indeed, prayers werecustomarily offered to Zeus and to Demeter during the act of43 Burkert, Walter. Greek Religion. Trans. John Raffan. Cambridge:Harvard University Press, 1985: pp. 242-246; Davidson, Hilda Ellis.Roles of the Northern Goddess. London: Routledge, 1998: pp. 53-54; Gimbutas,Marija. The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe: Myths and Cult Images, 6500—3500 BC.Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982: pp. 214-215; Gimbutas,Marija. The Language of the Goddess. Fwd. Joseph Campbell. New York:Harper & Row, 1989: pp. 147; “Thesmophoria”. Oxford Dict. Of Classical Myth &Religion, pp. 550.

sowing and when the farmer set to work his fields andgrasped his plow to ensure that the grain ripened fully.44

It should seem evident that even here in antique Greece atthe time of sowing and sprouting the forces of Life andDeath have merged in a delicate symbiosis.

Furthermore, one of Korē’s sacred attributes, the torch,which was frequently observed on her cult-images and relief-carvings may also have served the function of quickening thegrain from the Earth. It may be for this reason that bothDemeter and the Initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteriesengaged in a torch-light search for the missing goddess45

who had been hidden away in the Underworld. The process ofbirth also seems to have been directly underscored withinthe Lesser Mysteries and tied to the growth of grainsometime during the late archaic and early classical eras.At one point during the proceedings of the Lesser Mysteriesthe Hierophant and the Hierophantide—the Priest and Priestess,respectively—both descend into a sacred cave or largecrevice and, after a time where they may have served assymbolic midwives to Korē, they emerge surrounded by flamesand carrying an ear of corn (wheat) that they display to theassembled initiates before proclaiming: “Lady Korē has given birthto the holy child, Dionysos!”46

In Anglo-Saxon Britain a peculiar fertility rite seems tofurther underscore this Indo-European complex of agrarianceremonies at what was believed to be the onset of spring.According to the Venerable Bede the month of February wasknown as Solmonath (“Month of the Sun”),47 which was when

44 Hesiod. Theogony, Works and Days, Shield. Trans. Apostolos N.Athanassakis. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1983: pp.78 §465.45 Living Goddesses, pp. 160; Ancient Greek Religion, pp. 87; “Persephone/ Kore”.The Oxford Dict. of Classical Myth & Religion, pp. 417.46 Living Goddesses, pp. 161; Graf, Fritz and Sarah Iles Johnston. RitualTexts for the Afterlife: Orpheus and the Bacchic Gold Tablets. 2nd edn. Oxon:Routledge, 2013: pp. 198-199; Eleusis, pp. 93; “Brimo”. Oxford Dict. ofClassical Myth & Religion, pp. 90; Wright, Dudley. The Eleusinian Mysteries and Rites.Project Gutenberg. Web.47 It is quite possible that Bede may have unfortunately transcribed ormisheard an Anglo-Saxon cognate of the Old English lexeme suhl, which

“cakes were offered to their gods” and the fields were plowed.Because it is extremely unlikely that Bede would haveexaggerated, let alone invented, non-existed folk-traditionsdue to his hostility towards the Old Religion it seems,instead, more plausible that he was in fact recalling afertility rite known as the Æcerbot (“field remedy”) inwhich loaves were plowed into the furrows to quicken theEarth and hasten the growth of the crops. The rite requiredthat four segments of sod be cut from the four quarters ofany field that has failed to yield during the previousgrowing season. The underside of each section of turf wasthen coated with a thick mixture of yeast, honey, oil, milk,and a portion of each locally grown plant (with theexception of hardwoods and buckwheat) before they were takeninto the parish Church where a mass was sung over each pieceof sod in turn. A special cake no larger than the palm ofone’s hand, which may have been an offering to the localsun-god, was then fashioned from every kind of grain andkneaded with milk and holy water. This was then placedbeneath the first piece of sod that had been turned at theculmination of the rite where a healer now stood facing thedirection of the rising sun. A cross was placed atop thefurrow as the healer sung over it, before turning clockwisethree times, and invoking the sun to “fill the Earth” withcrops in a prostrate gesture of obeisance. The plow of thefarmer was then anointed with a mixture of oil, paste,frankincense, fennel, and salt that had been blessed with asong invoking the Earth-Mother goddess:

Erce, Erce, Erce, Mother of Earth…Hail to thee, Earth, Mother of men!Be fruitful in God’s embrace,Filled with food for the use of men.

Plowing and spring sowing could then commence. In spite ofits thin veil of Christian platitudes, however, the ceremony

would have, instead, rendered the month of February “Plow Month” ratherthan “Month of the Sun” (Miller, Michelle. “Plow and Plowing”. MedievalFolklore, pp. 322-323).

itself clearly establishes a surviving pagan ritual from thepre-Christian religions of Britain. Moreover, it evidentlymaintained Indo-European antecedents by invoking therelationship between the sun-god who was believed to quickenthe fallow womb of the Earth-Mother during the crucial ritesof spring.48

It also seems a certainty that the Anglo-Saxons inheritedfrom their Norse kinsmen an epic tale not unlike that whichhad been recorded by the mythographer Homer detailingsimilar agrarian themes and the passing of winter to spring.According to the Prose Edda, which was confined to history bythe twelfth-century CE scholar and politician, SnorriSturluson, the god Baldur decides to address the council ofthe Æsir after he is plagued by terrible dreams. The godscome to the conclusion that Baldur has had a dreadful omenof his own impending death. As a result, Frigg, the mother-goddess of fertility and love made every animate andinanimate object within creation swear an oath of fealty toher not to harm her cherished son, Baldur. Afterwards thegods decided to amuse themselves by throwing items at Baldurin a vain attempt to “slay” him only to see him riseunharmed. The mischievous Loki observed this fruitlessdisplay and thought that it was evil for anyone to be ableto stave off the grim clutches of death so wantonly. Takingthe form of a crone he sought out the goddess Frigg andlearned that the only item that did not swear an oath to herwas the mistletoe because she considered it too immature tocause any harm. Loki then secured a bough of mistletoe and,upon fashioning it into a spear, he convinced the guilelessblind god Hermod to hurl it at Baldur once he had lined upthe devious shot. The injured Baldur immediately crumpledto the floor and perished. Distraught by what had occurredOðinn commanded Hermod to ride the his eight-legged horseSleipnir to the gates of Hel’s keep and bargain for the48 Branston, Brian. The Lost Gods of England. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1974: pp. 50-51; Grigsby, John. Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth BehindEngland’s Oldest Legend. London: Watkins Publishing, 2005: pp. 96-97; Shaw,Philip A. Pagan Goddesses in the Early Germanic World: Eostre, Hreda and the Cult ofMatrons. London, Bristol Classical Press, 2011: pp. 99-100; Indo-EuropeanPoetry and Myth, pp. 166 ff and 214-15.

release of poor Baldur.49 Once he had journeyed across thevast bridge on which only the dead may pass Hermod met blue-skinned Hel who said that he was free take Baldur back toAsgard, but only if all things on Earth wept for the loss ofthe god. The gods scoured the Earth and bid all livingcreatures and inanimate objects to weep for Baldur’s return.They dutifully complied, but when Hermod came to the cave ofa giantess, whom he believed to be Loki in yet anotherdisguise, she somberly replied:

Alive or dead, the old man’s sonhas been no use to me.

Let Hel hold what she has!

Thus Baldur’s fate was sealed—at least for the time being!His spring “resurrection” was postponed following the eventsof the fateful Ragnarök, after which the god would return toherald the emergence of the Earth’s crops. The Völuspá (“TheWitch’s Prophecy”), an Old Icelandic poem is particularlyclear about this detail, noting that after the demise of thegods, “unsown fields will wax with fruit, all ills grow better, Baldur will return”.

As should be evident, the sagas of the Norsemen and theAnglo-Saxons of Britain, tell a myth that runs directlyparallel to those Indo-European traditions that have beendisclosed above, as well as by recalling the descent intothe Underworld and eventual resurrection of the vegetationgods of the Near East, those being Adonis and Tammuz, ofwhom the former was culturally appropriated by the ClassicalGreeks as the belovéd of Aphrodite who was, herself, also of49 This is a direct parallel between the account recorded by Homer inwhich Zeus commands Hermes to bargain for the freedom of young Korē fromthe Underworld (Homeric Hymns, p. 19 §333-385), and the Sumerian mythrecorded on cuneiform tablets that recorded how Enki, the god of wisdom,brought forth some dirt from under his fingernail and fashioned twoandrogynous beings—“neither male nor female”— known as a kurgarra and a galatur,respectively, which secured the release of Ištar from the Underworldafter intimating what may have been the birth pangs of Ereškigal andthen revived Ištar from her state of death by sprinkling her with “thewaters of life” (Wolkstein, Diane and Samuel Noah Kramer. Inanna: Queen ofHeaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer. New York: Harper & Row,1983: pp. 63-67).

foreign extract by way of the Phoenician seafaring tribespeople. The essential Indo-European features of the Dying-and-Rising God myth from the Near East have been retainedover the centuries in a remarkably pure form in the ProseEdda when we compare how both Adonis and Tammuz were alsoadored by the goddess of fertility and love (Aphrodite andIštar, respectively), endured a death that resulted in abloody accident or a dismemberment, after which each godmust descend into and remain the consort of the Queen whopersonifies the Underworld (Persephone and Ereškigal) beforefulfilling the promise of resurrection with the growingseason.50

Among the shamanic people of Northern Europe known as theSaami (Laaps) we may find, perhaps, a much more broad set oftraditions that share some of the elementary Indo-Europeanthemes that have hitherto been examined. However, it isonly in Scandinavia where the Saami people have retainedthese peculiar traditions and beliefs. With regard tochildbirth, and the wellbeing of mother and her newbornchild are three ancestral goddesses—Sar-akka, Juks-akka, andUks-akka—who are the daughters of an ancestral earth-mothergoddess by the name of Madder-akka (“earth-ancestress”).Madder-akka’s daughters were believed to live below theground in a traditional Saami hut. When a child is about tobe born Sar-akka takes her place at the center of the homeat the hearth where freshly split tinder wood is heaved ontothe fire in her honor because her name is derived from sarator saret (“to split”), with the meaning or intention to helpseparate a child from its mother during the pangs of labor.Little is known for certain of her sisters Juks-akka andUks-akka save for the fact that the former and the lattertake their respective positions beneath the front and backdoors of the home. Juks-akka, however, has a crossbow asher symbol that was placed above the cradle of a newborn.50 Lost Gods of England, pp. 157-169; Greek Religion, pp. 19; Davidson, H. R.Ellis. Gods and Myths of the Viking Age. 1964. Reprint, New York: Barnes &Noble Books, 1996: pp. 35-38; Roles of the Northern Goddess, pp. 147; Simek,Rudolf. “Snorri Sturluson”. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Trans. AngelaHall. Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 1993: pp. 296; Sturluson, Snorri.Edda. Trans. Anthony Faulkes. London: Everyman, 1987: pp. 48-51.

Both Madder-akka and Sar-akka were said to help women duringtheir period of menstruation or to aid cows during theprocess of calving. Each of these four goddesses maypossess a significant function revolving around theprotection and care of both mother and infant, thoughMadder-akka’s three daughters seem to fulfill the identityof a trio of Fate Goddesses who seem to determine thedestiny of the newborn not unlike the duties of the Nornswho were recorded in Icelandic mythology.

From northern Sweden, we have an account of a nearlyidentical birthing-custom to that of the Irish birthingcustom and of “Brighid’s bed”, which may also be reflectiveof a widespread tradition throughout the Nordic countries:the expectant mother was not allowed to lie in her own bed,but was instead resolved to lay on a bed of straw that hadbeen prepared on the floor. Here she would move to and froin an attempt to quell her labor pains. Though, one of thebest positions, it was said, for easing the pangs ofdelivery was to lean against her husband. It was then thatthe midwife—who was variously known throughout northernEurope as the “Light Mother”, a “Straw Mother”, or an “EarthMother”—stood behind the woman to catch the child as itemerged into the world. The designation of “Earth Mother”seems to have derived from a local Saami tradition thatsurvived until the eighteenth-century CE concerned with agoddess associated with childbirth who lived beneath anearthen floor. While the term “Light Mother” may haveentered into the Norse lexicon due to a speculative ritualwhere a lighted candle was taken to examine the health ofthe newborn babe. It was not uncommon for the midwife tolook after the child in her own home for several days whereit was nourished by a wet-nurse or from cow’s milk.Furthermore, a birthing-charm in the form of a pin has beendiscovered from Bergen (Germany) that bears a runic Latininscription invoking “light” and sympathetic imagery, albeitwithin a thin Christian context to facilitate the birth of anewborn: “Mary gave birth to Christ, Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist.In honour of them, be delivered! Come forth, child! The Lord calls you to the

light.” This charm very likely would have been placed ontothe abdomen of the mother-to-be during her labors.51

Throughout the nations of Eastern Europe there appear acomplex of strikingly familiar folk-rites that appear toconverge around the notion of extinguishing the powers ofdeath and of winter before spring and the agricultural yearcan begin. In Poland betrothals are brokered or couplescourt, and the farmer’s agricultural year begins immediatelyafter the local rites of Candlemas have adjourned. It iscustomary for the Polish as well as the Acadians to takewith them a candle that is to be blessed at the Churchwhich, thereafter, serves a variety of talismanic and amuleticfunctions. Often it is burned on a windowsill or upon thecentral beam of the home along with a crucifix as a charm toward against lightning, as well as to ensure good fortune inthe coming months. However, farmers will typically take thelighted candle throughout all of his sheds and barns so thatthe glow from the flame will cast its prosperous blessingsacross the entirety of his farm. When the flame is quenchedhe will then inhale the smoke as a protective gesture toward against a sore throat.

The holidays of the Poland peasant stock that harbingerspring center upon the ancient Mysteries of life, death, andresurrection. At the period of Lent, which occurs near tothe Old Style date of Imbolg in mid-February, it iscustomary to vanquish the personification of death by thename of Marzanna. She, much like the goddesses Brighid andthe Cailleach, seems to represent two sides of the same coinas she personifies not only death and winter, but alsofertility by extending her blessings to the growth of fruitand the health of fruit-bearing trees. The officialabrogation of winter is dramatized annually by theconstruction of an effigy, known as a goik, of the goddessMarzanna that is surmounted on a dowel. This image is thencarried to the outskirts of the village where it is eitherburned, or it is thrown into a pond and “drowned”. As the

51 Roles of the Northern Goddess, pp. 144-146 and 149-150; “Brigit the HolyWoman”, pp. 245-247.

girls made their way back and approached the entrance to thevillage they were heard to sing:

We have taken little Marzanna out of the village—We are bringing a gaj into the village…

The gaj or gaik is a freshly cut evergreen tree or a branchthat is festively decorated with ribbons and flowers thatpersonifies the essence and promise of spring, and which maybe brought out to officially welcome spring anytime betweenLent and Easter Monday. The girls of the village carry thegaj with them from cottage to cottage as they singtraditional songs in exchange for food or some other smallgift. The following two songs are customary:

1 In the green little treeDappled with goldIs summer and May—God give us good fortune.Mistress, the new summer is in thehallIf you’d like to see itYou must give it something.

2 Our green little tree, beautifullydeckedGoes everywhereFor it is proper that it shouldWe go with it to the manor houseWishing good fortune, good healthFor this New YearWhich God has given us.

However, the bringing in of the gaj usually occurs sometimeafter Marzanna has been ritually dispatched. On EasterMonday, however, before the onset of spring sowing, youngmen play a prank on girls of the village called oblewanki(“drenching with water”) where they douse the girls withwater in order to magickally evoke the rains required forspring sowing. When the farmer sets to his task it is agesture fraught with solemnity. It is then that the familygathers to pray for a good harvest, and it is not uncommonfor them to be joined by the priest who extends his ownblessing onto their field. As the farmer walks slowly upand down each furrow with his seed bag hanging from his neckhe is deep in contemplation as he casts a handful of seedmuch like a priest offering his benediction. It is a dutythat must never be entrusted to the inexperienced hands of

young men, in spite of the Polish proverb that decrees,“Things will not grow after an old man”.52

Marzanna may be related to the complex of easternEuropean death-goddesses of Fate, such as the deadlySlavonic goddess Mor whose name is indicative of a “plague”or “pestilence”. In Serbia and Poland the death-goddesswould spin thread at night while sitting on the kitchenstove.53 The implication, here, seems to be that the stoverepresents the ancestral hearth flame that wassimultaneously tied to the family’s lineage and destiny.The Russian death-goddess Mara—whose name means “phantom” or“vision” (presumably of death)—was also renowned fortangling and tearing up freshly spun thread if she were notproperly propitiated before the mistress of the houseretired to bed. As a result, Mora was also believed to becapable of metaphorically entangling people’s lives!54

The Russian festivities of Shrovetide that occur near theend of February bear a significant parallel to the custom ofthe Irish brídeóg at the Feast of Brighid that is held muchearlier in the same month. This celebration, whichcommences the awakening of the Earth, is named after thegoddess of spring, Maslentitsa (from maslo, meaning “butter”or “fat”), and it is characterized by games and a communalfeast that are held in honor of the goddess as she returnsfrom her winter exile on a slay loaded with Shrovetidepancakes and an entourage of revelers and masked jesters. Atree was customarily decorated and a straw doll representingwinter was typically fashioned or else a young womanproperly dressed for the role was chosen to play the part ofthe effigy. A feast of traditional Russian food thenensued, which was thought of as “feeding” the goddess,followed by a sledding competition down artificially

52 Acadian Traditions, pp. 17 and 19; Benet, Sula. Song, Dance, and Customs ofPeasant Poland. Pref. Margaret Mead. 1951. Reprint, New York: PolishHeritage Publications, 1996: pp. 43-45, 56-57, 59-60, 110-111, and 150;Dixon-Kennedy, Mike. “Marzan(n)a”. Encyclopedia of Russian & Slavic Myth andLegend. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1998: pp. 185.53 Whence the Goddess, pp. 64.54 Ibid.

constructed hills for the amusement of the deity. The“feeding” and entertainment of the goddess was believed toappease Maslentitsa so that she might bless the wholecommunity with abundant crops by Harvest, though the marriedcouple and the spinner who marked the greatest distanceduring the sledding competitions were each assured the bestcrops and yield of flax for spinning in the village.

At the culmination of the festival the straw doll wouldbe taken into the field with a procession where it would betorn asunder as food was seen to spill from it onto theground. The doll and its former contents would then beimmediately burned with the resulting ashes being scatteredover the village fields to further bargain the good gracesof the goddess, so that she might bestow fertility upontheir crops. Moreover, the implication of this threateningsympathetic rite seems to be that the villagers weredemonstration precisely what it was that they would do towinter if it should linger to long.55

In Slovakia, the pagan rites of spring—which wereannually celebrated up until the eighteenth-century CE—tookon a decidedly sexual characteristic. They were held inhonor of Yarilo, a phallic dying-and-rising god ofspringtide, the sun, vegetation, fertility, and erotic orsexual love. According to Slavic myth, Yarilo was the sonof the thunder-god Perún, and he was born on the last nightof February during the festival of Velija Noć (“Great Night”),which announced the official abrogation of winter and theonset of spring.

He was believed to be a handsome and barefoot youth whowore a white cloak and was adorned with a crown ofwildflowers. At springtime he rode astride his white horseand carried a branch of grain ears or a bucket of corn(wheat) seed in his left hand. Thus, the identity of thegod is bound up in the concept of spring, the sowing ofgrain, and human sexuality. His consort was said to beKupała, the Slavic and Russian goddess of peace, water,witchcraft, and herbs. Yarilo’s dual role as the god of55 “Maslenitsa”. Russian & Slavic Myth and Legend, pp. 186; Warner, Elizabeth.Russian Myths. London: The British Museum Press, 2002: pp. 19.

spring and sexuality made the Earth visibly eager to receivehis seed at this time. The rites of spring involved asowing ritual and the most comely young woman from thevillage who was crowned with wildflowers as the god’s“Queen”. She was dressed, like the god, in a white cloakand mounted on a white horse. A large chorus of maidensfrom the village, each crowned with freshly cut flowers,encircled the Queen in the newly sown fields as they sang afertility chant to encourage the growth of the corn andglorified the blessings of the god:

Where he sets his foot,The corn grows in mountains;Wherever he glances,The grain flourishes.

This complex of rituals that were begun in the springwith the sowing of the fields seem to have been adjourned inthe summer with the burning of an effigy of Yarilo after theharvest had been gathered in, followed by a feast where thevillagers gorged themselves on food, wine, and lovemakingfor several days to the consternation of the parish Priest.Afterward the ashes of the effigy were then spread acrossthe fields of the village in order to ensure an abundantcrop during the year to follow. In some districts ofEastern Europe, however, as the vitality of the crops wanedthere was, instead, a funerary rite held for Yarilo on thetwenty-ninth or the thirtieth of June as the sun wassetting. At this time an old man was chosen to carry aphallic image of the god in a procession to a field outsidethe village were an open grave had been dug. Those inattendance sang mournful chants and dirges. After theeffigy had been lowered into his resting place the communityengaged in pagan Slavic funeral games. In the Ukraine thecustom was somewhat different. Yarilo was carried throughthe streets after sunset by a procession of drunken womenwho shouted mournfully, “He is dead! He is dead!” The village menattempt to revive the figure by frantically shaking theeffigy, but being unsuccessful, they turn their attention to

consoling the women and say: “Yes the women do not lie. They knowhim well, they know that he is sweeter than honey.” But the women areinconsolable in their grief as they lament “Of what was heguilty? He was so good. He will arise no more. O how shall we part from thee?What is life without thee? Arise, if only for a brief hour. But he rises not, he risesnot.” Finally, the figure is buried in solemnity. His powerover fertility and vegetation also extended to barren womenwho would beseech the god to quicken their womb with life atNoon atop a hill where they would prostrate themselves andconfess their misfortunes.

Interestingly enough, the annual rites celebrating Kupała(from kupati, meaning “to bathe”) on Midsummer Eve alsoinvolve the practice of ritual cleansing as well as thecasting of floral crowns onto the surface of a body of freshwater in tribute to the goddess. An effigy of Kupała madefrom straw is dressed in women’s apparel and adorned withribbons, a necklace, a floral crown and garlands, which wasalso thrown into a river, or else it was burned at sunsetbecause fire was thought to have the same purifyingproperties as water. As a result, her worshipers would alsorun around bonfires or leap over the flames as a means ofpurifying themselves. In some districts the rite is moreinvolved and a special tree—sometimes a birch—is cut downand affixed to the ground in some festive place, at whichtime it was brightly decorated, and given the name ofMarena, meaning “winter” or “death”. The effigy of Kapułais situated atop a table next to the tree. Couples thentake the effigy and leap with it over a ritual bonfire. Atdaybreak the villagers scoured the forest for sacred andmagickal herbs, such as the purple-flowered loosestrife,whose root was prized by sorcerers for its power to subdueor vanquish demons and frighten nefarious witches.Saxifrage was also gathered later in the day for its powerto break iron, copper, silver, and gold into crumbs merelyfrom its touch. It was also reputed to float on the water.Chief among Kupała’s sacred herbs was the fern, which wasreputed to produce but a single flower once a year thatblossomed at midnight. This flower, when gathered,possessed unlimited powers that could subdue demons, locate

hidden treasure, bestow the power to understand the secretlanguage of trees that spoke on this night, and it also gaveone access to riches, attracted the most beautiful women,and the favor of kings. This “fire-flower”, as it was knowndue to its radiant brilliance, was jealously guarded bydemons. Following this series of scavenger hunts the effigyand the tree were both unceremoniously stripped of itsornaments and thrown into a stream.56

A similar complex of springtide rituals involving thethemes of the death and annual rebirth of spring to thosethat have been previously discussed have also been observedin the Ukraine and Russia where we find the grain andfertility-goddess Kostroma and her consort, Kostromo.During the Easter season effigies of these deities, whopersonify the return of spring and the rebirth of crops, arefashioned from grain and clothed. Though, some sources saythat this ritual occurred on 29 June during St. Peter’s Dayduring a festival called “Kostroma’s Funeral”. The effigiesare taken into the fields where they are lamented.Sometimes, however, a living substitute was chosen from thecommunity. The girl would be taken to a local watercoursewhere she was ritually bathed with the resuscitating powersof the water before being escorted to a field where shewould lie on the ground as if dead, and a circle of singerswould slowly move about her and chant:

Dead, dead is our Kostroma!Dead, dead is our dear one!

This continued until the girl sprang up as if she had beenrevived, at which the chorus of singers joyfully exclaimed:

56 Alexinsky, G. “Slavic Mythology”. New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology.Int. Robert Graves. Trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames. London:The Hamlyn Publishing Group, 1959: pp. 294-296 ; “Kupala”. Russian & SlavicMyth and Legend, pp. 159; “Yarilo”. Op. cit., 317; Frazer, James George.The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. 1900. Reprint, New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1998: pp. 292-294; Rozhnova, Polina. A Russian FolkCalendar: Rites, Customs and Popular Beliefs. Moscow: Novosti, 1992: pp. 41 and61.

Come to life, come to life has our Kostroma!Come to life, come to life has our dear one!

The ritual death and burial of vegetation figures such asthese were believed to encourage the growth or rebirth ofcrops at the onset of spring,57 which certainly figures as aprincipal Indo-European theme of agricultural necessity.

III. Conclusions

Despite Christian hagiography, which states that the VirginMary, abiding by Jewish law, must be ritually purified atthe Temple forty days after having given birth, theassociation between the Christian festival of Candlemas andthe vernal calends of February with the process of humanbirth probably indicates a direct attempt by the ChurchFathers to usurp this complex of Roman festivals and Indo-European folk-rituals that occurred during the Nones of themonth. Indeed, Christians appear to have directly inheritedthese customs, more or less intact, since it has been notedthat during the thirteenth-century CE, English women who hadgiven birth carried blessed candles with them as they wentto be “churched,”58 i.e. purified.

Moreover, as it should be evident at this point there wasclearly a “folk-logic” not only identifying human fertilitywith the fertility of the crops, but the process ofgestation and eventual birth was also identified with thegermination and sprouting of the seedlings as they emergedfrom the darkness of the soil into the light of day, an actthat was ritualized in the birthing chamber by the kindlingof a solitary candle. These complexes of human and naturalfunctions were identified not merely within the human andvegetal worlds, but with the cyclical and mortal experiencesthat the principal gods of nature also enjoy. As aconsequence, the goddess who personified the Earth and the

57 “Kostroma”. Russian & Slavic Myth and Legend, pp. 156; “Kostromo (-Kostrobunko)”. Ibid.; Golden Bough, pp. 292-293; Russian Myths, pp. 28.58 Homans, George Caspar. English Villagers of the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941: p. 363.

nourishing dark soil was considered the “protectoress” ofthe grain, as a mother carrying a child was renowned as boththe vessel and guardian of new life! One may thereforpresume that it was of considerable importance within Indo-European cultural and religious consciousness to perform,due to human necessity, certain traditional sympatheticfertility-rites that directly infusing the seeds prior to orduring the act of sowing the spring fields with sometangible or spiritual expression of fertility, fecundity,and human sexuality.59 This is particularly true even atImbolg, though this is now obscured by latter folk-customsdespite a thin Christian veneer. One former German custom,which is relatively identical to the Thesmophoria found amidancient Greece and the traditional Irish festival of Imbolg,which prescribes one to mix particular baked goods with cropseeds prior to spring planting as a sympathetic rite ofblessing. These pastries were usually identified withfecundity, such as sow with pendulous teats or a turtle-shaped cookie—given as a gift to an expectant mother by hermidwife—that was thought to resemble a womb. Other pastrieswere more directly linked with human fertility, such as theschippe, a spade-like cookie from Berlin that signifies thephallus; the maultasche, a vulva-shaped filled pasta thatoriginates in Swabia; as well as the Rhinish wecke rolls,which yield a distinctive vulva-like cross. Even the namesfor pastries are very often identified with human and animalfertility, such as stutensemmel (“stud bread roll”), büwespitzle(“boy’s [tip-end] piece,” or “penis”), or the generic termfor hard rolls that are divided by a center split, spaltgebäck(“split pastry”).60 Furthermore, the eminent Irishfolklorist Máire Mac Neill was astute to observe that if theintent of these ceremonies was thought of in terms of humanpregnancy, than the folk-rites ought to be performed atSamhain when there is no “magical reason for mating”; if, on theother hand, it was thought of in terms of quickening thegrowth of the crops, than we should expect to find this59 Roles of the Northern Goddess, pp. 52; “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 232.60 Dow, James R. German Folklore: A Handbook. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2006: pp. 169-170.

convergence of ceremonies during the onset of spring, nearImbolg, or St. Brighid’s Day as it is now known.61 Theprominence of the protectress of the seed and the livelihoodof the crops at the time of spring sewing was paramount asGregory of Tours (538-594 CE) illustrates in his Liber in gloriaconfessorum (“Book in Praise of the Confessors”) where herecounts that it was customary of the Franks—a confederationof third-century Germanic tribes inhabiting lands betweenthe Lower and Middle Rhine—to drag a cult-image of theEarth-Mother goddess of sowing in a cart throughout thecountryside, and perhaps about individual fields, in orderto enhance the prosperity of the crops. However, when thecart became stuck, as Gregory informs us, the peasantsturned their back to the goddess as a gesture signalingtheir conversion to the Christian faith. According to Prof.Pamela Berger this documentation provides a clear insightinto how the Christian Church adopted these early springsowing rituals in an attempt to redirect the localveneration away from a pagan Earth-Mother goddess toapproved virginal female Christian saints from Europe whowere renowned for protecting fields, enhancing the fertilityof crops, and announced the opening of spring, whichcertainly included Brighid of Ireland who fulfills this samefunction. According to French hagiography, the sixth-century saint, Radegunda, had as her feast date 11 February(cf. Imbolg OS) which was renowned as the time “when birds beginto sing” as the sowing and plowing season commenced; and theseventh-century British saint, Milburga, was renowned forkeeping peasants’ fields free from geese and worms duringsowing62 season in February, thus inheriting the necessaryrole of the grain protectress from an early pagan Earth-Mother goddess.

Moreover, the phallo-centric and procreative functionsthat have been noted are customarily observed in the folk-dramas that surround this complex of traditions at the heartof Imbolg. The chain of symbolic events is first set inmotion by the male agent of Brighid—perhaps a prototypical61 “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 232.62 “Grain Miracle”. Medieval Folklore, pp. 185-186.

“Lugh”-figure to whom she was connected—the man of thehouse, who seeks admission to his home in the name of the“saint”. He then commands those within (particularlyvirgins) to fall down on their knees and open their eyes.This custom has been interpreted as a request for the womenof the home to submit themselves to the process ofinsemination and potential impregnation under the auspicesof Brighid.

The second phase involves a feast that traditionallyinvolves the presence of butter that serves as thecenterpiece of the meal. The process of churning butterwith a dash—an item around which a brídeóg was oftenconstructed—is a clear intimation of sexual intercourse andthe Mysteries of creation that ensues from that action.Moreover, the churn and the dash probably signify the femaleand male generative organs, respectively, perhaps in a stateof excitement in view of the fact that the Irish nouncuinneog, meaning “churn”, is cognate with the Old Irishpronoun cuiniu, or “woman”; while the Irish noun loine (“churndash”) may be cognate with the term liṅga, which is areference to the primary phallic cult-image of the Hindu godŚiva that resembles a cylinder with a rounded top.Furthermore, the churn dash-brídeóg, which also signifies aliteral “bride” in Irish, is thrust through the opening ofthe door in a passively phallic gesture that has beenaccepted as an alternative to the man of the house seekingentry. However, the doorway, which the midwives make ademonstrable point to grasp when invoking Brighid during adelivery, yields evident connotations with the vulva or thebirth canal when one recalls that Brighid was brought forthinto this world while her mother straddled the threshold ofher home. Even the custom of plowing the fields at thistime—the onset of spring—seems to recall the tribalagricultural notion likening the furrows of the field to thevulva, with the plough standing for the inseminatingphallus.63 Thus, the essential features of the Feast of St.

63 “Brigit the Holy Woman”, pp. 254-256, 256 n.123-124, and 257 n.126;On the Life of St. Brigit (Leabhar Breac), pp. 57; Indo-European Poetry and Myth, pp.222-223.

Brighid, and of Imbolg itself, may be distilled into that ofa fertility cult associated with the “birthing” and“nurturing” of new crops that will surely follow. Theseinterpretations may at first seem circumstantial, and evenspeculative, until we broaden our scope and examine a set ofsurprisingly analogous traditions from Continental Europethat have been detailed in the previous section above.

As a consequence, I would also argue, then, that thisseries of traditions is not solely confined to the Festivalof Brighid at Imbolg, but that it is one found throughoutmany Indo-European cultures that associates the onset ofspring not merely with human sexuality and the sowing of thefields, but with the annual birth and eventual death of thegod or goddess that heralds spring as the spirit ofvegetation. It is perhaps for this reason that the Greco-Roman cult of plants associated certain vegetative godsparticularly with spring plants that only had a very brieflifespan before passing into eternity, likely alluding tothe young death of the god whilst he was still in the flowerof his youth, and who annually returned to herald the springand officially abrogate the death-wielding powers of winter.