St Brigid’s Day: Six ways to celebrate Ireland’s only woman patron saint

Saint, goddess, bishop, beer drinker, bodily autonomy advocate – St Brigid was badass. Ireland’s only woman patron saint fought against forced marriage, sex slavery, and unwanted pregnancy, her biographers say. She held abusers to account. And now a new public holiday in her name? She is the saint that just keeps giving. Here’s how to celebrate Brigid.

Ask for blessing and protection

Lá Fhéile Bríde on February 1st was one of the most important days of the year for our rural ancestors, says the National Museum of Ireland.

With its origins in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the day marked the beginning of spring. February 1st was one of four “quarter days” marking the transition from one season to the next. It signalled an end to darkness and ushered brighter days.

If you want some protection or blessing, now is the time to ask. Irish festivals were always celebrated on the eve of the day itself because this was considered a very liminal time when the otherworld was very close, so your appeal will be extra effective on Thursday night.

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Make a meal of it

You cannot celebrate Brigid without food. The traditional meal at St Brigid’s Day was a supper of potatoes and freshly churned butter, according to the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar. Add a bit of chopped cabbage to make colcannon. Follow with apple cakes or barmbrack and a cup of tea.

Get cross

St Brigid travels through the land on the eve of her feast day, giving blessings and protection to homes and farms where crosses are hung in her honour, our ancestors believed.

Families would recite prayers, bless rushes or straw and make the St Brigid’s crosses. The National Museum of Ireland Country Life YouTube video How to make a four-armed St Brigid’s cross with rushes will show you how to make one.

Hang your cross over the door to welcome St Brigid. Know someone who has moved house or got married? It was common to gift them a St Brigid’s cross to offer protection and wish the couple well in starting a family, say National Museum folklorists.

Tie a ribbon

If you cannot master a cross, or rushes are in short supply in your area, a small piece of cloth or ribbon will do the job. Leave this “Brat Bríde” or “Ribín Bríde” on your windowsill. As St Brigid crosses through the country on the eve of her feast, she will touch it, endowing it with special curative properties to ward off illness and pain in you and your animals.

This piece of cloth was usually kept safe throughout the year and used for healing or incorporated into clothing to offer protection to the wearer, says the National Museum.

Girdle your loins

This bit involves passing a girdle over your head, so it will not be for everyone, but protection from illness for a year is the potential pay-off.

In the west of Ireland, the biddy boys – that is bands of men dressed in straw who roamed from house to house – would carry a large straw belt called a “crios Bríde” or St Brigid’s girdle. People would step through the girdle and pass it over their bodies while saying a prayer to St Brigid in the hope of gaining her protection, according to the National Museum. Good luck.

Take me to the water

If there is a holy well in your area, pay a visit. Leave a ribbon or votive offering so that your intention will be remembered. Water collected from the holy well at this time was believed to be particularly blessed.