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Many blessings of Bríd, and best wishes for Imbolc to everyone, wherever you may be.
Lá Fhéile Bríde shona dhaoibh!
Beannachtaí!
/|\Imbolc blessings on all.
May you find the first signs of the coming spring.Peace and Harmony
Dave the DruidAwens to All:
I have Great News from Megalithic Portal.com!
It Goes:
“The Irish Government has decided that next year a national public holiday (equivalent to that given to St Patrick) will be accorded to Brigid, saint, goddess, matron of poetry, healing, and smithwork.”
To be held on the nearest Monday to February 1st, (feast of St Brigid and traditional date of Brigid’s festival of Imbolc), next year it will be on February 6th.
Why choose Brigid, saint or goddess, to be an icon for women, and why now?” More at
http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/why-the-time-is-right-to-choose-brigid-saint-or-goddess-to-be-an-icon-for-women-1.4789132?3X3
““Brigid of Kildare, a patron saint of Ireland, and the goddess Brigid, a powerful deity, are fitting figures which deserve to be celebrated. They represent strong Irish women and have links to both our Celtic and Christian traditions and the Gaelic feast day of Imbolc on 1 February celebrates the start of spring.” More at
https://www.finegael.ie/permanent-public-holiday-to-celebrate-la-fheile-bride-from-2023-is-historic-and-welcome-heydon/Also see the latter half of this piece on Brigid and her Fire Temple
Hi Dave I can go with Brigid the saint but not the Goddess. Personally I don’t follow any Godesses. I worked in a healing centre where the Goddess was worshipped mainly at Glastonbury and it left me cold. Goddess worship seems to attract tough women who make statements such as ‘Sister stand in your power’. None of us has any power we are at the mercy of God or Great spirit, which has no gender and is universal. Islam says that Allah has 99 names. God is just a label. Goddess is an invention for women’s rights so I believe and usually anti church women.
As well Dave I’ve noticed that your posts and habits of posting have changed perceptibly over a course of a few weeks. If you don’t succeed in one area try another.
Brigid is very interesting.
Brigid the pre-Christian deity, daughter of the Dagda, was, according to Cormac, one of three sisters – all called Brigid. The name itself means “high one” or “exalted one”, and this suggests that Brigid may have been more of an epithet or title than an actual name. There may or may not be a link to the ancient British deity Brigantia – the protectress of the Brigantes. Interestingly enough, there was also a tribe called the Brigantes in Leinster, so there may be some connection between Brigid and Brigantia – in a sense.
When it comes to Saint Brigid of Kildare, it’s certainly quite difficult to separate the pre-Christian from the Christian in her hagiography. The fact that there were a total of ten different Brigids and twelve Brigs, amongst others, known during the Mediaeval period at least points to the popularity of the name (see Ronald Hutton: The Pagan Religions of the British Isles, p.153). There are a number of different theories with regard to the Irish saint, the one I feel is most plausible is that an Irish abbess by the name of Brigid – a popular name anyway – came to be venerated and have the old attributes of the pre-Christian deity or deities ascribed to her.
Bennathow
/|\To Angela:
Change is a Natural Part of Nature and I had some things to share with BDO as well as Imbolc Celebrations.
Happy Imbolc!
3X3
Good answer there Dowrgi, that tells me several things about Brigid which I did not know before, and I have studied her and I have studied the Tuatha De. Thank you Dowrgi
Good answer there Dowrgi, that tells me several things about Brigid which I did not know before, and I have studied her and I have studied the Tuatha De. Thank you Dowrgi
Thanks David. The wonderful thing about British/Welsh and Irish mythologies is the layers and layers of meaning, the overlaps, the influences and the differences, yet at the same time, you can – at least I can – always seem to discern the same ‘spirit’ running through things.
To some there is Bríd, to others there is Saint Brigid, to yet others Brigantia, but to me it doesn’t really matter so much because the same ‘spirit’ is always there, if you follow me?
Bennathow
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