Happy Feast of St. Brigid!

[ZombieNixon]

Brigid, as I'm sure many of you know, is the Secondary Patron of Ireland after St. Patrick. Today is also Imbolc or Candlemas for neo-druids. It is also known as Lá Feabhra, the first day of spring. Why spring, I dunno, 'cuz it must be pretty cold and un-springlike there now.

[CBHagman]

1. Okay, I didn't know that such things neo-druids existed.

I knew the druids, the Wiccans, et al were out there, but I'd never heard the term "neo-druid."

[ZombieNixon]

3. Wiccan! There's the term!

I couldn't think of it. Thanks!

[Maeve]

2. Actually, it is spring from a farmer's perspective

The darkest quarter of the year is over and there's probably been one thaw by now. It's a good time to check your supplies and see how much you have left to make it thru until the weather turns warmer. If you raise sheep, it's a good time for lambing to begin--they'll be strong enough when the weather turns warmer and you'll have something big enough for Easter dinner.

Summer begins with May (Beltaine) and harvest season in August (Lunasa), and everything must be gathered by winter's start at Samhain or the pookas will ruin it!

There's a good book "The Year in Ireland" by Kevin Danaher for those interested.

[Donkeyboy75]

4. Actually, it rarely gets below freezing here.

At least in the South. We had highs of 50 F today. And it was sunny. Not much in the way of temperature extremes here.