Prepare for a four-holiday weekend beginning February 1st

Saint Brigid Hard to believe, Wintertyders, that mid-January is upon us! This eventuality focusses attention on the serendipitous blowout weekend at the end of the month. Remarkably, we really have a FIVE day blowout as Super Bowl weekend really, for all intents and purposes, starts Friday January 30th leading into Super Bowl Sunday, February 1st. February 1st is also "Imbolc," or Celtic "midwinter" the advent of agricultural Spring. Saint Brigit's Day also falls on the 1st. She is one of the patron saints of Ireland with a huge list of accomplishments (She was a blacksmith among other roles.) However, as a woman she has been marginalized throughout history with most of the acclaim going to the well-known Saint Patrick. Let's give her her due. Ironically, Brigit was Irish whereas Patrick was in fact English (!). Read about her below. The spelling of her name varies, and we have decided upon "Brigit," as it is a name with which Americans are familiar. In truth, her name is pronounced "breet," but "brigit" is how she'll be called in general. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid

Super Bowl Buffalo wings courtesy www.goldkist.com

Now then, back to the FIVE day blowout. Super Bowl really gets celebrated the entire weekend, Brigit's day is the first (this means even more beer with a tasty Irish stew before all the pizza and Buffalo wings.) February 2nd is both Candlemas (Light a grouping of 3 candles that symbolize the sun's getting brighter each day.) AND Ground Hog Day (Serve buckwheat pancakes and pork sausage, after all, the latter is "ground hog." Whoa! Look at this array of foods from pizza to pancakes, stew and brew (beer, of course, colored green). Like I said, a FIVE day blowout that is welcome after dreary January.

Candlemas array

Saint Brigit's cross. This goes on your Wintertyde wreaths and tree