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Professor Séamas ÓCatháin's monumental study of the Festival of Brigit - Imbolc, February 1st - updated, extended, and published in a new edition, in honour of Ireland's newest national holiday. Brigit was one of three great saints of early Irish Christianity, alongside Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and Colm Cille (Columba), Irish colonizer of Scotland and founder of Iona. By tradition, Saints' Day festivals and other Holy Days were celebrated over twenty-four hours, starting on the eve of the feast and continuing through the night and through the following day. Thus the Festival of Brigit includes Oíche Fhéile Bríde (St Brigit's Eve) and Lá Fhéile Bríde (St Brigit's Day) - on 31st January and 1st February respectively. However, these are not the oldest names associated with this festival in Irish tradition, for in earlier pre-Christian times it was called Imbolc - a word whose basic meaning has much to do with milking and milk-production.
This book views Brigit - the Celtic goddess and the Christian-era Saint - not merely in an Irish context, but also in an international and western European context. It attempts to uncover the motivation of previous generations, both within Ireland and beyond it, in sustaining and preserving ancient practices and beliefs, and highlights how fundamentally important folk culture is to our understanding of the past.
About the author
Dr Séamas ÓCATHÁIN was educated at Queen's University Belfast, where he became Professor of Celtic. Later he was appointed Professor of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin, and Director of the National Folklore Collection. He has edited and authored numerous books on the folklore of Ireland and north-western Europe, and has received many distinctions and awards, including Knight (First Class) of the Order of the Lion of Finland; the Dag Strömbäck Prize of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy, Uppsala, Sweden; the Ruth Michaelis-Jena Ratcliff Prize, Edinburgh; and in 2022 the Jöran Sahlgren Award of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy.Living in Dublin since 1973, he is married to Maj Magnusson, whom he met in the late 1960s while he was a Lecturer in Celtic Philology and Folklore at the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
