St Bride by Margaret Tarrant
The month of February, a feast is rare,
the spade and the wheel are hard at work...
Mis Chwefrol, anaml ankwyn,
llafurus pal ac olwyn...
Imbolc
Tasting every food in order
This is what behoves at Imbolc
Washing of hand and feet and head
It is thus I say.
Fromad cach bíd iar n-urd,
issed dlegair i n-Imbulc,
díunnach laime is coissi is cinn,
is amlaid sin atberim.
(From an Irish calendar poem in Hibernica Minora, edited by Kuno Meyer,translation by Kenneth Jackson.)
