#Naas Antiques & Vintage Fair, Osprey Hotel, 12pm-5:30pm, this Sunday 8th March!

Admission €2.50 with this flyer (full price €3.50). Under-16s free but must be supervised.

Eircode: W91 X40K #Kildare #VintageIreland

Being a first-time TD: Aidan Farrelly' Kildare North’s newest Social Democrats TD https://jrnl.ie/6962830 #mastodaoine #speirghorm #iepol #kildare

Being a first-time TD: 'Ivan Y...

Being a first-time TD: Aidan Farrelly' Kildare North’s newest Social Democrats TD https://jrnl.ie/6962830 #mastodaoine #speirghorm #iepol #kildare

https://www.fogolf.com/1164821/kildare-golf-club-to-begin-major-clubhouse-renovations-2/ Kildare golf club to begin major clubhouse renovations #CastlewardenGC #Golf #GolfNews #Kildare #Kill #Naas

https://www.fogolf.com/1163808/kildare-golf-club-to-begin-major-clubhouse-renovations/ Kildare golf club to begin major clubhouse renovations #CastlewardenGC #Golf #GolfNews #Kildare #Kill #Naas

3 Feb 1537: 'Silken' Thomas Fitzgerald, 10th Earl of #Kildare & his five uncles executed at Tyburn #otd for their recent rebellion. From this point on, for almost two centuries, English government in Ireland will be led by the #English born viceroys with the odd exception.

Imbolg, St Brigid, and the Quickening of the Year

It is 1st February 2026, which means that today is Imbolc (or Imbolg in modern Irish), an ancient Gaelic festival marking the point halfway between the winter solstice and vernal equinox.  In the old pagan calendar, this day is regarded as the first day of spring, as it is roughly the time when the first spring lambs are born, daffodils etc start to appear, and the days get noticeably longer.  The name Imbolg may be derived from “i mbolg” meaning “in the belly”, referring to the pregnancy of ewes. This time corresponds to the Welsh Gŵyl Fair y Canhwyllau and is also sometimes called, rather beautifully, The Quickening of the Year.  It’s a time for rebirth and renewal after the darkness of winter.

Incidentally, in spoken Irish it is common to place an unstressed vowel sound – often schwa – between certain pairs of consonants, e.g. the name “Colm” is pronounced “Collum”. This extends to Hiberno-English: e.g. many Irish people say “fillum” for “film”. Imbolg is therefore pronounced something like “Imbollig”. In phonology this is called  anaptyxis.

In Ireland Imbolc is usually often referred to a Lá Fhéile Bríde,  St Brigid’s Day, after St Brigid of Kildare, whose feast day is today 1st February. There are events going on in Maynooth, which is in Couny Kildare, but I am not in Maynooth today so I don’t know what is going on. Incidentally, the Celts counted each day starting from sunset, so the Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day celebrations in County Kildare started last night, 31st January, but I didn’t see any of them either.

In the Northern hemisphere, in astronomical terms, the solar year is defined by the two solstices (summer, around June 21st, and winter, around December 21st) and the equinoxes (spring, around March 21st, and Autumn, around September 21st). These four events divide the year into four roughly equal parts of about 13 weeks each.

If you divide each of these intervals in two you divide the year into eight pieces of six and a bit weeks each. The dates midway between the astronomical events mentioned above are the cross-quarter days, of which Imbolc is one. They are:

• 1st February: Imbolc (Candlemas)
• 1st May: Beltane (Mayday)
• 1st August: Lughnasadh (Lammas)
• 1st November: Samhain (All Saints Day)

The names I’ve added in italics are taken from the Celtic/neo-Pagan and, in parenthesis the Christian terms, for the cross-quarter days. These timings are rough because the dates of the equinoxes and solstices vary from year to year. Imbolc is often taken to be the 2nd of February (Groundhog Day) and Samhain is sometimes taken to be October 31st, Halloween but hopefully you get the point that although the Pagan festivals have been appropriated by the Christian church, they have much older origins. The status of St Brigid herself is particular obscure; it is not known for sure whether she was a real person or Christian appropriation of a Celtic deity, or some amalgamation of those.

Until recently there was an anomaly in that the first of these was the only one not associated with a Bank Holiday. That was changed in 2022 and tomorrow, Monday 2nd February, will be the St Brigid’s Day holiday. It would have been the first of teaching in Semester 2 had it not been a holiday; we return to teaching on Tuesday. As you may have surmised, I’ve taken the opportunity of the long weekend for a bit of a break and a trip elsewhere.

P.S. As it also happens, today is also the 8th anniversary of the very first lecture I gave in Maynooth, on Computational Physics, on 1st February 2018. I”ll be giving pretty much the same lecture again on Thursday 5th February.

#Imbolc #Imbolg #Kildare #StBrigidSDay #TheQuickeningOfTheYear

Today 1Feb is #Imbolc, the start of Spring & celebration of #Brigid - celtic goddess & Irish saint It's a magical coming together of folk traditions from making crosses, Biddy Boys & the placing of a brat bhríde This is her #holywell in #Kildare, said to be her hometown Happy #StBrigidsDay x

Today marks Lá Fhéile Bríde (#StBrigidsDay), celebrating one of Ireland's patron saints and the traditional arrival of Spring. Associated with the ancient festival of #Imbolc, this day honors Brigid’s legacy of compassion, craftsmanship, and learning in #Kildare. Explore her history and the unique traditions of the St. Brigid's cross on Vicipéid.

🔗 GA: https://ga.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bríd_Chill_Dara
🔗 EN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigid_of_Kildare

#IrishHistory #Vicipéid

Is anyone in south Kildare, or near the Laois/Kildare border, experimenting with Meshtastic?

Considering buying some kit, but there's no real point unless there are people around to play with.

#Meshtastic
#Kildare
#Laois
#MastoDaoine

@clickhere

#Kildare here - but the boggers end, not the posh bit that's really greater Dublin.

@iredave @mastodonie

7 Jan 1630: Richard Boyle Earl of #Cork seizes a #Jesuit-run chapel at #Kildare Hall in #Dublin city #otd He later gave the property to Trinity College #Dublin

2 Jan 1685: d. Theophilus Jones Scoutmaster of the Irish army at Osbertstown #Kildare #otd Jones was son of Bishop Lewis Jones & Mabel Ussher (daughter of Archbishop Ussher).
Theophilus saw the execution of Charles I in 1649 and in 1653 took Cloughoughter Castle in Cavan

20 Dec 1537: The #Irish Parliament ends #otd having attainted the Earl of #Kildare & passed the legislation for Henry VIII's break with Rome, thus establishing the Church of Ireland - a packed programme.

15 Dec 1678: d. Ambrose Jones, Church of #Ireland bishop of #Kildare #otd

Excellent, @tog ! Thanks for all you do!

#SolarPunkSunday #RepairCafe #Kildare #CirculatEconomy

Our last Repair Café of 2025 at Leixlip Library was a busy one.

Across the morning, we logged 39 items: lamps, tape players, baby monitor, paper shredder, outdoor socket, clothes, shoes, backpacks, Christmas decorations, an air fryer and even a bear with an electronic problem.

Big thanks as well to Leixlip Library and the Kildare County Council Climate Action Office for backing the event.

https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/repair-cafe-at-leixlip-library-2025

#RepairCafe #Leixlip #Kildare #ClimateAction #CircularEconomy