Ireland's first day of spring: Feb. 1st

Fiann Ó Nualláin (IrishExaminer.com; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Today is February 1st. To some that means Lá Fhéile Bríde or a Christianized "Saint Brigid’s Day," and to others it is Imbolg.

To everyone in Ireland it is the first day of spring. Don’t throw the woolly hat away just yet, but instead do tip it to the start of rejuvenation and warmer days ahead.

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Not having succumbed to Roman invasion, Ireland kept its birth of spring with the impending lambs and the lush green rushes as cues, and not the thawing of the iced-up passes in the Alps and a return to war or resupply of the military outposts — the reason March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war.

First Western monk was Irish.

Yes, Irish ancestors preferred spring to be about rebirth and growth and not about reconquest and decimation.

And later on in Irish history, not having adopted all of Romanized Britain's customs either, Ireland maintained its uniqueness in the world as celebrating spring a month in advance of everywhere else on the planet — and boy, do I love us for it.

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It’s not a stubborn streak, it’s much more character-defining than that. Long before the shamrock met with a certain Christian’s fingers [Padraig], three was a sacred manifestation in Ireland -- from the other trefoil spirals carved on ancient boundary rocks and at sacred sites to poetic and wisdom-invoking triads, to triple deities, and so on.

So it is fitting that the first sacred day of renewal has a facet of three. Let’s look at the three aspects of today’s date and how they may pertain to the art of gardening. More