The Imbolc Ritual of the 'Brat Bride'

Leaving cloth out on Imbolc eve for Brighid to bless

Images: (Top right) Joe McGowan, Sligo Heritage. Others - Jude Lally

It’s a bitterly cold morning, with clear skies and a deep frost that crunches underfoot. The rising sun highlights the snow on Ben Lomond and the surrounding mountains with a brush of brilliant bright pink and orange highlights.

Jackdaws take flight off the roof, tumbling and playing, their cheery popping calls as a small flock of pigeons race by swerving and dipping reveling in flight and each other’s company. 

We are deep in winter, cycling towards Imbolc and Brighid’s return to the world. I love the above photo of a woman putting out her brat. Laid out on Imbolc eve, the cloth would have sat overnight so as Brighid returned to the world the cloth would soak up her blessing.

The woman has on her best coat for the photo, and in these freezing temperatures, it would have been laid out over the bedcovers for added warmth. I love how carefully she is placing the cloth. It reminds me that although many of my ancestors would have done this, I particularly think of my Great Aunt Mary who lived had a small farm in Dungannon, in Northern Ireland. She never married and pretty much bartered for everything she needed. She kept chickens and a few cows.

Mary walked with a limp, I think she had one leg slightly shorter than the other, so it was assumed that Mary would never marry. And she didn’t. I recall meeting her when she came to visit her sister (my gran) in Scotland, but I didn’t ever visit her on the farm. Years later my mum recalls going back to visit and the house was now a cow byre, with Mary’s furniture stored up in the rafters. The house has long gone but I’d still like to go back and see and feel the lay of the land.

I always picture Mary putting out her brat, perhaps the same piece of cloth she put out year after year. A piece of cloth that she might lay across the back of the cow who was giving birth - akin to the touch of Brighid herself, associated with midwives and new life coming into the world.