There is much mythology about the historic Brigid but there is no doubt that alongside St Patrick and Columcille she is one of Ireland's most popular Patron Saints.
This Friday 1st February the revered Saint is celebrated for many reasons. Firstly, the legendary nature of Brigid is the fact that she shares her name with the pagan goddess Brigid. The word Brigid itself may also be based on the origins of the Irish word "Brigi" which means strength.
In Celtic folklore, she was the harbinger of Spring and symbol of the commencement of a new season and cycle of rebirth and renewal in nature as in the animal world. The first of February therefore represented the start of the working season for farmers when the ground can be prepared. Bonfires were lit in her honour and in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, it was commonly believed that she wandered throughout the countryside on the eve of her feast day, 31st January.
As the 1st February is viewed as a turning point in the pastoral year with a promise of spring, warmth and new grass for new born lambs many songs were also sung about Brigid as are many hundreds of place names named in her honour.
Her feast day, this Friday 1st February still retains its vitality as it remains the popular custom to weave a Saint Brigid's cross which takes many forms and is technically classed by folk crafts people as a corn dolly. Rushes are pulled, never cut on St Brigid's eve and are fashioned with great ingenuity into the most popular of crosses, the four legged cross in the shape of the Swastika, basically a Greek cross with the 4 legs representing the four cardinal points of the year. While not reported in writing until the seventeenth century the practice of making a cross is believed to have been carried over from pre Christian times. Other types of crosses take the form of lozenges or the 3 legged cross particularly associated with the fertility of cattle.
One custom that died out in Fermanagh in the early 1950's was the biddy boy processions in Brigid's honour. Central to the procession of young boys and girls going from neighbour to neighbour adorned with mummers masks was the holding aloft of a Brideog (little Brigid) an artistically interlaced straw doll image of Brigid dressed in pure white cloth. The straw doll was also decorated with bits of greenery and early flowers and sometimes shells. The straw doll effigy would be ceremoniously carried aloft into neighbours houses where a rhyme was then recited in Brigids honour, and food solicited. The spoils of all the food gathered took the form of an evening feast, aptly named a Biddy Feast. A typical Saint Brigid's rhyme from Newtownbutler went as follows:
"This is Saint Brigid dressed in white,
Give her something for the night,
She is deaf, she is dumb,
She cannot speak without a tongue,
A hole in her stocking,
A hole in her shoe,
Give her something
To mend the two"
Another custom of St Brigid was the leaving outside on St Brigid's eve a piece of cloth. Reputedly, Saint Brigid passed by and blessed the cloth which is tied around areas of the body suffering from pain.
Also made on St Brigid's eve was a strong straw girdle which had signs of the cross hanging from its circular base. Again, this was used for protection from sickness. In Irish, the garment was called Crios Bride as the Saint was also viewed as a healing goddess, governing child birth and birthing time.
Other straw items associated with Brigid was Brigid's cradle, an oblong tied shape of rushes as childbirth often took place on beds of rushes on floors. Many miracles are attributed to Saint Brigid but as important she was viewed as a peace maker amongst men with her monastery having been built on grounds of a previous Druidic shrine. All aspects of both Brigid the Celtic Goddess and the Christian Saint will be fully explored in depth this Friday evening at Aughakillymaude Mummers Centre at 8pm sharp, when Jonny Dillon of the De Largy centre of Irish Folklore of University College Dublin will deliver a fascinating insight into Brigid, the light bringer, the patroness of agriculture, arts and fertility. Before this, during St Brigids eve, Thursday 31st and during Friday 1st February local strawcraftworkers will demonstrate and teach the skill of weaving Brigid crosses and Biddy straw dolls to the general public and schools.
