North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

St. Brigid's Day

The rain is falling and the turloughs are filling. Today is St. Brigid’s Day, the first day of spring. It is one of the four ancient Gaelic festivals that once divided the year – Samhain (Halloween), St. Brigid’s Day, Bealtaine (May Day) and Lúnasa (1st August). In fact, the first of February used to be known as Imbolc, which celebrated the arrival of spring and the beginning of the lambing season.

St. Brigid is now revered as a Christian saint, second only in importance to St. Patrick. She is reputed to have set up an abbey in Kildare, but to be honest, most of her life and deeds are probably myths, an amalgam of early Christian and even earlier pagan stories. Most children in national schools are taught how to make a St. Brigid’s cross, a simple cross made from reeds – usually used to clatter the lad sitting in front of you, as I recall.