Brigid

Brigit, Bríd

Celtic

Fire Healing Poetry Crafts Spring

Saint Bride by John Duncan
Saint Bride John Duncan, 1913 National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh Angels carry the young St Bride (Brigid) over the sea to Bethlehem, in a Scottish legend that made her Christ's foster-mother. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Irish goddess of poetry, whose sisters (also named Brigit) were a healer and a smith. February 1, Imbolc, is the feast of St Brigid.

Cormac's Glossary (around 900) names Brigit, a poetess and daughter of the Dagda, worshipped by poets; her sisters, also called Brigit, were a healer and a smith. In Cath Maige Tuired she keens for her son Ruadán, the first keening heard in Ireland. Her traditions blend with those of St Brigid of Kildare, where Gerald of Wales (around 1187) describes a fire tended in turn by nineteen nuns, with Brigit herself keeping the twentieth night. Crosses woven from rushes are still made on February 1.

Symbols

Flame Brigid's cross Holy wells

In the ancient sources
Medieval Irish texts
Brigit banfile
“Brigit the poetess” Cormac's Glossary
  • Cormac's Glossary, 'Brigit' Brigit the poetess, daughter of the Dagda, is a goddess worshipped by poets; her sisters are Brigit the healer and Brigit the smith.
  • Cath Maige Tuired §125 When her son Ruadán is killed, Brig keens over him, the first crying and shrieking ever heard in Ireland.
  • Gerald of Wales, Topography of Ireland At Kildare, nineteen nuns take turns tending St Brigit's fire, which never leaves ash; on the twentieth night Brigit keeps it herself.

The glossary describes three sisters who share one name, not one goddess with three aspects. No medieval text links the goddess herself to Imbolc; February 1 is the feast of St Brigid.

Cross-checked against these texts and records, in public-domain or freely available versions where they exist. Line, section and chapter numbers follow the standard editions, so a particular translation may differ slightly.

Correspondences Explore all
Element
Fire and water
Colors
White, Red
Plants
Rushes, Rowan
Animals
Cow

These mix ancient attributes with modern associations from contemporary pagan and magical practice; the modern ones weren't part of her original worship.

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