Happy Imbolc
Feb. 2nd, 2005 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonA toasty and blessed Imbolc to all of you that celebrate the same!
Here, we'll be having a milk-based meal, by candlelight. We're starting with a pretty extravagant cheese and cracker platter (Stilton, mmmm, and local cheddars), a good Gruyere and Jarlsburg garlic and Riesling fondue for dipping bread (sesame baguette), apples and veggies, then for dessert some good real, rich ice cream smothered with homemade whipped cream from local farm cream (with some vanilla and maple syrup added for spice), and a milk chocolate/white chocolate Frangelico desert fondue over pound cake, tart apples, Petit Beurre, bananas and fresh strawberries, and some after-dinner drinks made with Bailey's. Serious artery-clogger, but hey, Imbolc comes but once a year, right? Along with the Riesling and some Chardonnay, I'm going to open some braggot, a 14th c. transitional ale, brewed with honey (for Brigid), but using top-fermenting ale yeast.
Here in New England, Imbolc is a special date as well, marking the beginning of the maple sugaring season, as the sap first starts to rise in anticipation of the coming Spring. Kids in many schools get a week off in Mid-February, for two reasons. First, by tradition, to help with the sugaring, a very labor-intensive process. Next, with typical Yankee thrift, it was long ago discovered that if you gave the kids a week off in the middle of the coldest month of the year, you could save a lot of money by not heating the schools that week ;>
In other traditional cultures, such as Mongolia (one of the last surviving purely nomadic/pastoral cultures), this is also the season of "white food"-- milk, cheese, butter, curds, airag/khumiss (milk beer). No veggies to be found, and you really don't want to slaughter any animals this time of year if you can help it, unless they're sick. Better hope yer not lactose-intolerant iz all I can say...
The firey power of Brigid's life-transforming forge, the passion and comfort of her blazing hearth, and the cooling, blessed waters of her sacred well, bringing the wellspring of healing and creativity into your life, be with you all.
Croi mo chroi, aman chara
Croi mo chroi, aman chara
Bride, aman chara, Bride, mo cuisle, mo chroi
-------
Early on Bride's morn
The serpent shall come from the hole
I will not molest the serpent
Nor will the serpent molest me.
--Trad. saying
Here, we'll be having a milk-based meal, by candlelight. We're starting with a pretty extravagant cheese and cracker platter (Stilton, mmmm, and local cheddars), a good Gruyere and Jarlsburg garlic and Riesling fondue for dipping bread (sesame baguette), apples and veggies, then for dessert some good real, rich ice cream smothered with homemade whipped cream from local farm cream (with some vanilla and maple syrup added for spice), and a milk chocolate/white chocolate Frangelico desert fondue over pound cake, tart apples, Petit Beurre, bananas and fresh strawberries, and some after-dinner drinks made with Bailey's. Serious artery-clogger, but hey, Imbolc comes but once a year, right? Along with the Riesling and some Chardonnay, I'm going to open some braggot, a 14th c. transitional ale, brewed with honey (for Brigid), but using top-fermenting ale yeast.
Here in New England, Imbolc is a special date as well, marking the beginning of the maple sugaring season, as the sap first starts to rise in anticipation of the coming Spring. Kids in many schools get a week off in Mid-February, for two reasons. First, by tradition, to help with the sugaring, a very labor-intensive process. Next, with typical Yankee thrift, it was long ago discovered that if you gave the kids a week off in the middle of the coldest month of the year, you could save a lot of money by not heating the schools that week ;>
In other traditional cultures, such as Mongolia (one of the last surviving purely nomadic/pastoral cultures), this is also the season of "white food"-- milk, cheese, butter, curds, airag/khumiss (milk beer). No veggies to be found, and you really don't want to slaughter any animals this time of year if you can help it, unless they're sick. Better hope yer not lactose-intolerant iz all I can say...
The firey power of Brigid's life-transforming forge, the passion and comfort of her blazing hearth, and the cooling, blessed waters of her sacred well, bringing the wellspring of healing and creativity into your life, be with you all.
Croi mo chroi, aman chara
Croi mo chroi, aman chara
Bride, aman chara, Bride, mo cuisle, mo chroi
-------
Early on Bride's morn
The serpent shall come from the hole
I will not molest the serpent
Nor will the serpent molest me.
--Trad. saying
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Date: 2005-02-02 10:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 10:45 pm (UTC)