Finding Brigid in Kildare

Kildare is the site where Brigid built her church. The current one is likely on or near the original spot. The area was already sacred, however. It was the site of an ancient sacred oak. Druids often worshipped beneath an oak. She built her church very near a fire that the local women tended for the gods and where Brigid joined them, worshipping her God.

Fire is associated with St. Brigid. Below is from the book, The Rites of Brigid, Goddess and Saint by Sean O Duinn.

The fire element in Brigid is shown in her connection with the Feast of Candlemas (Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary/Presentation in the Temple) which takes place on the second of February, the day after that of Brigid. According to tradition, St. Brigid, put a ring of lighted candles on her head and led the Virgin Mary into the temple in Jerusalem.

This was also a time that people brought their candles to church to be blessed. And apparently some brought their Brigid’s crosses too.

There are a lot of traditions in Ireland regarding Brigid. This is a wonderful book to read if you want to know about them all. You may want to look for it in a library, however. Right now used copies on Amazon are seriously overpriced.

A short distance from the cathedral, which we were blessed to get a personal tour of in the off season, is St. Brigid’s well. There are thousands of holy wells across Ireland and many are dedicated to St. Brigid. This one we accessed by walking down a short, damp, grassy lane.

There is a well, a stream, a modern statue, a wishing tree or rag tree, and many offerings left by visitors. It’s a well groomed little park but it has been a sacred spot since before Christianity came to Ireland. Another representation of Brigid taking what was already sacred and worshipping her God there.

When we visited there were a few others besides our tour group there. One woman had come to take water from the well, a common practice. She couldn’t reach the water, however, so Tom did it for her. He turned down her offer to drink some of it for a blessing.

This well is a lovely place to visit, so simply yet beautiful.