February 1, St. Brigid’s Day, Imbolc in the Celtic calendar, and Ground Hog’s Day (Feb. 2) in the U.S., are associated with the arrival of spring. It certainly feels like spring where I am, although that might not last.
Traditionally, school children in Ireland weave a new St. Brigid’s Day cross on this day. The cross has an odd shape, at least to the non Irish. Some say it’s shaped like a wheel and indicates the four seasons.
St. Brigid is said to have woven these, and at the end of my novel she weaves one (but you’ll have to read it to find out why!)
In my book The Roots of Irish Wisdom, I talk a bit these crosses. “In some parts of Ireland children weave the crosses on the eve of the Feast of St. Brigid and distribute them to their neighbours. Each year a fresh cross is hung over the doors of homes and barns or placed in the rafters in remembrance of the story and to ask God’s blessing and protection. Historically, in some places the old crosses were destroyed or hung elsewhere in the house, but in many places they remained in the rafters and the age of the house could be determined by counting the crosses.”
I would love to hear your thoughts on St. Brigid’s Day. Today I’ll be making some more crosses to giveaway (straw ones) and baking some bread–brown bread or Irish soda bread, haven’t decided yet.
Here is a link to my St. Brigid post on the Irish Fireside. Here’s a video that demonstrates how to make the crosses. That last little bit at the end I had not been doing. I’m going to try that!
Also from The Roots of Irish Wisdom:
Sweet heaven’s smile
Gleamed o’er the Isle,
That gems the dreary sea,
One far gone day,
And flash’d its ray,
More than a thousand years away,
Pure Bridget, over thee.
~Rev. Abram J. Ryan, From St. Brigid, Patroness of Ireland, Translated by Joseph A. Knowles
