If you were to take a wee walk down Edinburgh’s ancient cobbled streets today, your face turned away from the bitter wind, you might hear the whispers of change in the air. Clutching your Celtic necklace under your scarf, a reminder of the never-ending cycle of the seasons, of life and death, you wonder if you will ever feel warm again.
You walk down an old close off the Royal Mile, it’s glistening with a rainy lustre that compels you to appreciate the beauty of winter. But oh, how cold you are! You stride into Princes Street gardens below and walk under the great crag of Edinburgh Castle, the endless grey reaching high up above you into the clouds. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see small clusters of white peeping up from under thick tufts of grass. You notice for the first time the tips of barren trees becoming softer and rounder, your Tree of Life necklace makes sense again.
As the snowdrops push their way up through the cold, green ground, and the branches start to stretch out and form their small buds of promise, you realise you are witnessing the very first signs of Spring, the beginnings of the endless cycle of life, the Celtic knot stirring in your mind’s eye.
The pagan Celts marked this coming of spring with their ‘Festival of Awakening’ called Imbolc. A time of new beginnings and re-birth, a quickening of the fertile life force, Imbolc acknowledged and celebrated the first signs of the light returning to the earth. Imbolc was seen as a time to set and bring forth new intentions, an opportunity to prepare for changes and challenges ahead by tuning into creativity and intuition. Imbolc was an invitation to gather around the fire and share any insights gained through the long, dark months of winter. Rituals of fire, songs and feasting brought communities together to observe and honour the change in season and rhythm of life.
Imbolc has long been associated with the Celtic goddess Brigid. Goddess of poetry, healing, fertility and smithing – folklore and faith have intertwined like Celtic knot work to create the legend also known as St Brigid. St Brigid’s feast of Saint Day falls on 1st February; Imbolc usually falls on or around this day.
In the northern hemisphere, Imbolc (February) is the first festival in our Gregorian calendar, but then the second festival in the Celtic calendar. There are three other Celtic lunar calendar festivals – Beltane in May, Lughnasadh in August and Samhuinn, the start of the Celtic new year, in October. These festivals are punctuated by the solstices in June and December and by the equinoxes in March and September. Samhuinn, particularly Beltane, have become important fixtures in the Edinburgh calendar of festivities thanks to The Beltane Fire Society https://beltane.org/.
The first Beltane Fire Festival was started in 1988 as a way to ‘create a sense of community, an appreciation of the cyclical nature of the seasons and a human connection to the environment’. Beltane is the ostentatious and rapturous flow of energy that is the start of summer. Alive with freedom of expression and movement, Beltane is the dance of fertility and life. Imbolc, by contrast, is observed and celebrated by creating art and poetry or song, slowly awakening from the hibernation of winter and planning our way with intention.
Brigid had a strong connection to the land, and as her festival falls around lambing time, she is associated with the health and fertility of domestic animals, as well as childbirth, nature, fertility and fire. She was a powerful force and was regarded as a triple deity due to her wisdom (poetry), life force (healing, fertility, fire) and creativity (smithing).
Brigid’s mastery of smithing and metalwork is linked to her elements of fire and water. She was the guardian of wells and springs and brought the fire of rebirth and change.
Brigid embodies the divine feminine energy and could well have been a source of inspiration for the symbolism found in Celtic jewellery. A Claddagh ring is a symbol of love, loyalty and friendship – which Brigid represents in abundance. The triple deity, or the number three, is a common theme in Celtic mythology and holds special meaning for the Celts. The triple spiral or triskele is a reminder of the constant cycle of change and transformation and has been represented in Celtic jewellery and Celtic rings for centuries.
Jewellery has always transcended culture and language, providing a common symbolism and narrative for a community of people with shared values. Jewellery also connects us to ourselves – to our intentions, promises and memories. Celtic jewellery speaks to the themes of love, loyalty, strength, unity, flow and change – themes that continue to inspire and embolden us in our journey through life.