Two years ago, I learned about the Celtic Festival of Brewing, which fell on January 13th. As detailed in the post, Happy “Brewing!” the ancient Celts considered that day the longest and coldest of the winter.
A glass of Chateau Zeiger Dooryard Birch ’13 for a cold winter’s day (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
I’ve always been attracted to Celtic traditions and practices, not only because much of my mixed heritage comes from the Celts, but because they live in latitudes close to ours. It just so happens that, according to a recent editorial in our local newspaper, January 14th is the day when our part of the earth begins to warm up again. That would mean that, here too, January 13th would be, if not the coldest day, then at least the last cold day before the warmth begins to return.
This information offers faint hope. Our springs are often long in coming, and late January to mid-February tend to be very cold, and very snowy at times. We are not out of the woods yet (as it were).
Even so, I’m lifting a glass of homemade wine on this Festival of Brewing to my Celtic ancestors, and to the return of the warmth. Then I’m going to get another couple batches of wine going!
