Imbolc & Butser Imbolc

Where: Countrywide & Butser Ancient Farm, Hampshire
When: February 1st and near weekend
Time: All day (Butser 1pm-4pm)

 

Imbolc is the feast day of St Brigid and marks the beginning of spring in the pagan year;  Brigid was a pagan goddess later christianised and adopted by the church and is also known as Bride and Bridget. Today neo-pagans, Wiccans and Druids celebrate the festival countrywide, and the reconstructed Iron Age village at Buster hots a special afternoon involving blessings, firelighting, storytelling and the passing of the Bed of Bride around the roundhouse. Fire and water are important elements in the festival but it may celebrated in a variety of ways; in the past corn-dolly representations of the saint were carried from house to house in a luck bringing custom.

Helpful Hints

Imbolc Fire Festival celebrates Imbolc every other year (see listing under February Variable Dates). As well as ceremonies organised by Wiccan and Pagan groups throughout the country (and too numerous to list here) there are celebrations for Imbolc organised each year  at Butser Ancient Farm on a weekend near February 1st. All of the major Celtic festivals are marked at Butser including the spectacular Beltain (see separate article). Click here for their website and to buy tickets: http://www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/

In 2024 the Butser Imbolc was on Saturday 3rd February from 2-4pm- 2025 details are yet to be announced but likely to be on Saturday 1st February (follow website link above for tickets and full details).

A tasty vegetarian stew with a choice of different breads was included in the ticket price in 2019, and was served around 2pm, with another refreshment break around 3pm.

Photos are at Butser 2019.