As a Brighid kid, Imbolc tends to be a big deal for me. It’s the most important day of the year tied only with Samhain. When planning for Imbolc, we started with the most important aspect of any festival: the food.

I call my at-home practice Devotional Hearthcraft and it very much is informed by various flavors of kitchen witchery, home and hearth tending, and my relationship to Brighid. Cooking is a way for me to express love for myself and my family: time to step away from screens and spend time turning raw ingredients into something delicious and nourishing. We knew we wanted to learn more about Irish and Scottish cuisine, both to celebrate Brighid’s feast day and also to acknowledge our shared ancestry from that part of the world. I’ve really enjoyed reading through My Irish Table by Cathal Armstrong and am adapting the Irish lamb stew recipe for Imbolc dinner. In the past we’ve made corned beef for Imbolc so I’m excited to try something new. We have lamb very rarely and so it’s a special treat that feels appropriate for a holiday.

Alongside the stew we’re making colcannon and soda bread. We’ve made colcannon several times in the past and it’s absolutely delicious. Mash potatoes, add plenty of butter, and mix with some sort of brassica (most recipes I see call for cabbage or kale) and you’ve got it made. Since there are potatoes in colcannon, we’re going to experiment with other root vegetables in the stew that we haven’t used before, like turnips. (I’m trying to pitch the dish as Irish stew with lamb and a root vegetable medley, but that’s just because I’ve been watching too much Iron Chef lately.) Soda bread is not something I’ve made before but I enjoy baking and want to set aside time to do it.

I’m also adding a piece of my own family’s Scottish history and making my grandmother’s oatcakes. Until I started doing some research on Scottish foods, I thought oatcakes were just something my grandmother made up. I’d never met anyone else who knew what they were, much less shared their own recipe. She died several years ago and I was glad to finally shake down the recipe from my dad.

We’re also getting Irish butter (Kerrygold) and Irish booze (exact type pending). Part of me wants to plan to make scones, but I think a single baking adventure might be enough for one fire festival.