03/02/2026
Interesting facts! If you'd like to visit this ancient site during your visit to Ireland, let us know and we'll add it to your itinerary.. designed for you and logistically sound! āļøWww.emeraldisletour.com
ššš©š©š² šš¦ššØš„š šØš« šš¦ššØš„š! The ancient Irish festival actually falls on 4 February 2026 it is the festival marking the beginning of spring. The main ancient Irish festivals all fall on cross quarter days which are days which mark the midpoint between solstices and equinoxes. The four festivals are named Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa and each also mark the beginning of a season. For millennia these astronomical events not calendrical events, i.e. based on night sky observation rather than a date predicted by a calendar. Nowadays, we benefit from a reliable calendar and so Imbolg has been mistakenly assigned to the first of February thereby causing it to clash with St. Bridgetās Day.
The actual astronomical event can fall between the 2nd & 7th of February. This year 2026 it will occur at about 05:48 UTC on February 4th in Ireland or February 3rd in lands to the west, like North America right up to the International Date Line in places like Hawaii. In the lands ādown underā with a reversed calendar so it is Lughnasa, the beginning of autumn. Happy Lughnasa to all our friends down under.
The exact meaning of the word Imbolc remains unclear, some think it derives from the Old Irish Ć mBolc meaning āin the bellyā and this has given rise to various speculative theories. It is a time when ewes begin to lactate and give birth, an outward sign that winter has ended and the summer is about to be born. Thus the āin the bellyā is believed by some to refer to pregnancy of sheep. Others believe that it refers to milk because of its similarity to the word āoimelc/oĆ melgā used in the 10th century Sanas Cormaic (Cormacās Glossary). Some people have taken this to mean āsheepās milkā. The word āmelgā meaning āmilkā comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) (the ancestor language of most European languages) word āmelgā which means "to wipe, to rub off" which is what one does when hand milking an animal.
Purification/cleansing was an important aspect of many ancient festivals and āoĆ melgā is not milking but rubbing, as in the act of cleansing. Further evidence of cleansing comes from the Roman festival of Februalia. The Old Irish word for February is āfebraā, āfebraeā from Latin āFebruariusā which in turn comes from āfebruaā meaning purifications. However, if we accept that Ć mBolc is referring to pregnancy it might not be connected to sheep at all. It is the time of year when the ground is prepared to be impregnated with seed. Therefore Ć mBolc could have been used figuratively as the term for planting time or the planting season. The term spring clean survives to this day and it is strongly associated with imbolc therefore imbolc could also be an old term for the spring clean.
What we know for sure is that the cross-quarter days were of importance to the inhabitants of Ireland since the Stone Age from astronomical alignments of ancient monuments. At the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara, the rising sun at Imbolc illuminates the chamber and also again at Samhain. The structure approximately 5,000 years old dated from between 3000 and 2500BC which means it predates the arrival of Celtic culture in Ireland.
Approximate pronunciation guide.
imbolc ā im bolc
imbolg ā im bolg
Samhain ā sow in (as in female pig)
Bealtaine ā be all chin ah
Lughnasa ā loo nah sah
oimelc/oĆ melg ā oi melk
Sanasā shan as
Photo by Annie Gormlie, The chamber inside the Mound of Hostages on the Hill of Tara
https://flic.kr/p/o9ixcu
