Imbolc
_The Goddess in Glastonbury_ by Kathy Jones. (Grammatical and spelling errors are as they
appear in the original text.)
_Festival of the Maiden Goddess Imbolc_
The Festival of Imbolc takes place halfway between the Winter Solstice and the
Spring Equinox and is celebrated on Jan 31st, Feb 1st and Feb 2nd.� It lies
opposite the Lammas festival...* * *
In Glastonbury Imbolc is the Maiden Brigit's Festival in which the Light of
Illumination from Her perpetual flame is brought into a darkened room,
heralding the coming of spring.� Small honey and barley cakes are eaten and
milk drunk in Her honour.� On the first day the ears of corn from the Lammas
Corn Doll are planted in the ground and the dried stalks are burned the flame
releasing the lifeback into the earth.� The ashes are spread upon the ground.
In the evening the Bridie Doll is made from the last sheaves of corn harvested
in the previous summer, which have hung by the hearth through the autumn.� The
Doll is made in the image of Brigit.� Like the Corn Doll of Lammas She is
decorated with love and good wishes for the coming year.� Through the night
the Bridie Doll is laid in a manger next to the fecundating flame.
On the following day, the Maiden Bridie Doll is taken with Her Mother and
Grandmother Dolls from previous years to the Sacred Well to receive Brigit's
Blessing.� Brigit's Healing aspect is celebrated through Poetry spoken beside
the Sacred Spring.� Unlike the Lammas Corn Doll, who returns Her life force
and seeds back into the earth each year, the Bridie Dolls symbolise the nature
of the Triple Goddess as she moves from Maiden to Mother to Grandmother.
A new Bridie doll is made each Imbolc who then becomes part of the larger
group of Mother and Grandmother Bridie Dolls.� She brings knowledge of the
present and future to them and learns from them their ancient wisdom.� She
represents the circle fo the Ancestors who we will one day all join.
Misha Ma'Heo writes:
A biddy is a figure made with straw, rushes, or corn husks (modern
development) that represents Brighid as the Maiden. The phallic symbol can be
made of a number of things, but my own grandma used to use an alder wand
(alder being sacred to the fertile/protective god Bran). The bed is a basket
decorated with ribbons, or Bride's Bra\ts and/or Brighid's crosses.� The bed
is carried by the young women of the village from house to house, and special
cakes or breads are given out as a blessing of the goddess/saint for a
healthy, proseperous springtime.
In my family, we kind of danced around the house, inside and out, with the
basket and handed out little shortbread cakes to our family. Then the basket
was lovingly placed in Her sacred space and we would then have a big supper
to celebrate. We usually also had Valentine's candy for dessert (probably
because it was available--no other significance intended).� The night before,
I would help my grandma make a new Brighid's cross for her house and ours,
and we would light candles everywhere in her house while we worked. I
remember it fondly......
