BRIDGET’S FIRE

Today is St. Bridget’s Day, also known as Imbolc in the ancient Celtic tradition.  It is technically the first day of spring on the Celtic calendar, and the time when the Celts would clean and sweep their homes, and then light a new fire in the hearth.  The day celebrated the Celtic goddess Bridget, whose fire was warming the earth now, and the memory of St. Bridget of Kildare, perhaps the most influential female church leader in Ireland. 

Both the goddess and the saint had female followers who would take turns tending a perpetual fire for all but the last day of the month, leaving the last day to be tended by the goddess or saint herself.  During that time the fire never died out.

***Do you celebrate Imbolc or St. Bridget's Day?