School: Dooroc, Drumlish (roll number 13438)

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1. Saint Bridget (continued)

   

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   the freshly-pulled rushes in over the threshold after a formal invitation has been extended. When the crosses have been made supper - tea and pancakes - is partaken of, and finally, the crosses are hung from the rafters inside the house and in the outhouses.

   The "Girdle of St Brigid is made of straw and rushes, plaited trebly with three crosses worked in. It is still made in some homes, but the ceremony that formerly ensued is now extinct. In each townland a chosen one carried the girdle aloft from house to house, and while repeating in Irish:-

   "The girdle of St. Brigid of the Crosses,
   The girdle by which Christ was conceived;
   Arise, mistress of the house,
   And get out three times. "

   At this utterance, all the members of each came out-of-doors and had the girdle thrice hung about them in turn.

   In Connemara they used to make "Brideogs" - images of the saint fashioned out of wood or turf. These were employed by maidens with to marriage as a likely of eliciting a husband.
   
   Strangely enough, all the Manx and Scottish customs connected with this feast are baced on a legend, and are consequently mawkish, coming from hard-headed Highlanders.

   According to the tradition Brigid's father was an innkeeper in Bethlehem! Faced with ruin owing to a phenomenal drought he set out for a distant land where water was plentiful, leaving his daughter in charge. Some days after his departure

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. agents (~1)
      1. supernatural and legendary beings (~14,864)
         1. saints
            1. Brigid (~124)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Liam Mac Geehan

   Gender

   Male