Brigid of the People - Part II
Brigid of the People – Part II
"Oiche Fhéile Bhríde" (the eve of St.Brigid's Day). (January 31st)
The greatest Celebration to honor Brigid was "Oiche Fhéile Bhríde" or ‘the eve of St.Brigid's Day.’ Listed here are some of the traditions and customs used to mark her special day.
The Biddy Boys:
A favorite element of this fire festival was the "biddy boys," young men dressed in disguise going door to door, performing and passing the hat or accepting food was a tradition that continued in parts of Ireland well into the twentieth century. This usually occurred on the Eve of the festival "Oiche Fhéile Bhríde" (the eve of St.Brigid's Day). The leader of the group was often a girl dressed as the saint and carrying a 'brideog' (little Brigid) or "biddy," (Brigid doll), usually home made and carried in a basket.
Taking care of the Poor:
We see many Christmas-like customs cropping up around this feast. The more well-to-do farmers tended to donate butter and other supplies to the poorer households since it was considered poor form for any house to be without a full table on the feast of this saint.
Setting an Extra Place at Table:
Much as on Christmas Eve, an extra place might be set at the table in her honor. Those foods that might sustain her as she made her journey across the countryside were often left on the windowsill for her in hopes that she might bless them.
Leaving Out Food for Brigid’s Blessing:
On February 1st, these foods were taken back indoors and given to those thought to be most in need of them. They usually went to the sick, since they were thought to have curative powers, or those less well off in the community.
Leaving Out Cloth for Brigid’s Blessing & Protection:
Instead of leaving out food, a piece of cloth was often left outside, again in hopes that Bridgit would bless it. The cloth would later be sewn into the clothing of children, particularly the girls, in order to protect them from ill health and all harm.
Brigid’s Cross (“Cros Bhríde")
The truly unique ritual of this Feast day was the making of the Brigid’s Cross ('Cros Bhríde'). They were made from rushes gathered from a local stream or river. The four sides are equidistant and often though to be more representative of the four elements or the four directions, unlike the Christian cross, which is longer in length on one side and signifies sacrifice. In Sligo seven rushes are used for each side of the cross so that there are 28 stalks in all (one for each day of the month of February). There are several variants on the cross for various parts of the country, or depending on how the cross is to be used. (sometimes they are placed in barns and used for the protection of livestock). The cakes baked on this day were also often made in the shape of a cross. Many were fed to the Biddy Boys in exchange for their entertainment.
“Mary of the Gael.”
The early Christians believed that Brigid was present at the birth of Christ and acted as midwife. Indeed, she's often refereed to as "Mary of the Gael." Women saw her as a guardian of sorts around all matters of midwifery. Her symbol is that of the triple spiral and represents the three aspects of womanhood, maiden, mother and crone.
When I learned about Saint Brigid in school, it was of an almost mythological figure. In fact the stories fit in to classic mythological categories and probably belong more appropriately to the goddess with whose identity hers overlap. She was the goddess of all creative things, arts and crafts, healing, smithwork and poetry.
And yet the Brigid who people set a place for at the table and believed looked after their livestock; who women felt close to and somehow shared their everyday concerns and touched the things in their lives which occupied them from dawn until dusk, seems just as powerful and compassionate a figure, as strongly imbued with the divine feminine.
Brigid was everywhere and not just on Bridget's day. Her wells could be found in almost every town land, her crosses in every household and every night, her blessing was invoked as the woman of the house 'smoored' the fire while reciting one of her many charms. (Smooring the fire: putting the ashes over the embers to keep them alight until the fire was needed again in the morning)
When you look at these lovely traditions, woven into the fabric of ordinary everyday lives, divorced from the grandure of fine architecture, 'creative things' and finer aspects in life, it is probably this very thing that made is special and 'present.' It was ironically the forbidding of the practice of religion that led to an everyday contemplative practice, wherein the ordinary practice of baking a cake, sewing a piece of rag, collecting rushes from the river and lighting the fire was transformed from the everyday into the sacred.
These everyday practices were never closer to the people than through the simple rituals associated with Bridget, the Mary of the Gael, their own divine feminine; the woman who passed by the back of the house on January 31st and looked after the cows and the lambs, and while you might never get to Jerusalem, you could visit her holy well down the road, and you could make your own cross for her by visiting your own stream. Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist, said that all land is Holy Land. And no one made the land more holy that Bridget. And never was she more appreciated that in the depths of harsh winter when reminders of Spring were sorely needed.
La Feile Bride to you and yours! Happy St. Brigidt's Day....