An Chraobh Airgid

God or goddess

Brigid

Bríd · Old Irish Brigit

Say it: breedj Bríd /bʲɾʲiːdʲ/

Saint, and perhaps goddess, of 1 February.

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1 February is the feast of St Brigid, recorded by her biographer Cogitosus in the late seventh century. Cormac’s Glossary, of about 900, names a goddess Brigit, a daughter of the Dagda and the goddess of the poets, with two sisters of the same name, a physician and a smith. Many see that goddess behind the saint, but no early text says the saint took her place, so that remains an inference. See Imbolc.

See also

  • The Dagda “The good god”: father, druid and king of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
  • Imbolc The start of spring. Brigid’s day, and the first stirring of the lambs.

Sources

Medieval manuscript. Written down by Irish scholars between the eighth and seventeenth centuries.

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