12/02/2026
Today is the feast day of St Gobnait, in Ireland. The patron saint of bees and beekeeping.
As we come into Spring and the returning of light, the earth stirs from its winter slumber, the hard frosts thaw, and the first green buds and shoots appear, bringing with them the promise of transformation. I love that in Ireland, there is a patron saint of bees - Saint Gobnait.
She was an early medieval female Irish saint whose church was Móin Mór, later Bairnech, in the village Baile Bhuirne, in the Cork Gaeltacht. She was born in County Clare in the fifth or sixth Century.
Celtic lore held bees in high esteem, believing the soul left the body as a bee or a butterfly. That interests me because I have often heard how people dream about butterflies when someone close to them passes away.
Gobnait is said to have added beekeeping to her life's work, developing a lifelong affinity with them. Bees have influenced us and our way of life for centuries.
This painting is a sketch of a cave painting from prehistory - found in a cave in Spain. A woman keeping bees.
Wishing you all a happy St Gobnait day.
Grá mór, Eileen x
www.teallach.com
Sketch - 'woman gathering honey' - watercolor copy of a painting in Cueva de la Arana Spain sketched by F Benitez Mellado0 8 (2): 272.
Ireland
