Brigid

Brigid ( , ; meaning 'exalted one' from Old Irish),Campbell, Mik
Behind the Name.
See also Xavier Delamarre, ''brigantion / brigant-'', in ''Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise'' (Éditions Errance, 2003) pp. 87–88: "Le nom de la sainte irlandaise ''Brigit'' est un adjectif de forme *''brigenti''... 'l'Eminente'." Delamarre cites E. Campanile, in '' Langues indo-européennes'' ("The name of the Irish Saint Brigid is an adjective of the form *''brigenti''... 'the Eminent'"), edited by Françoise Bader (Paris, 1994), pp. 34–40, that Brigid is a continuation of the Indo-European goddess of the dawn like Aurora. Brigit or Bríg is a goddess of pre-Christian Ireland. She appears in Irish mythology as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the daughter of the Dagda and wife of Bres, with whom she had a son named Ruadán.

She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, blacksmithing and domesticated animals. ''Cormac's Glossary'', written in the 9th century by Christian monks, says that Brigid was "the goddess whom poets adored" and that she had two sisters: Brigid the healer and Brigid the smith.Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An encyclopaedia of the Irish folk tradition''. Prentice Hall Press, 1991. p.60Wright, Brian. ''Brigid: Goddess, Druidess and Saint''. The History Press, 2011. pp.26-27 This suggests she may have been a triple deity. She is also thought to have some relation to the British Celtic goddess Brigantia.

Saint Brigid shares many of the goddess's attributes and her feast day, 1 February, was originally a pagan festival (Imbolc) marking the beginning of spring. It has thus been argued that the saint is a Christianization of the goddess; a form of syncretism.

In early Irish literature

''Cormac's Glossary'', written by Christian scribes in the 9th century and based on earlier sources, says that Brigit was a goddess and daughter of the Dagda. It describes her as a "goddess of poets" and "woman of wisdom" or sage, who is also famous for her "protecting care". It says that Brigid has two sisters: Brigit the physician or "woman of healing", and Brigit the smith. It explains that from these, all goddesses in Ireland are called ''Brigit''; suggesting that it "may have been more of a title than a personal name".Koch, John. ''Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, 2006. pp.287-288

The ''Lebor Gabála Érenn'' also calls Brigit a poetess and daughter of the Dagda. It says she has two oxen, Fea and Femen, from whom are named Mag Fea (the plain of the River Barrow) and Mag Femin (the plain of the River Suir). Elsewhere, these are named as the two oxen of Dil, "radiant of beauty," which may be a byname for Brigid. It also says she possesses the "king of boars", Torc Triath (from whom the plain of Treithirne is named), and the "king of wethers", Cirb (from whom the plain of Cirb is named). The animals were said to cry out whenever plundering was committed in Ireland. This suggests Brigid was a guardian goddess of domesticated animals.

In ''Cath Maige Tuired'', Bríg is the wife of Bres and bears him a son, Ruadán. It says she began the custom of keening, a combination of wailing and singing, while mourning the death of Ruadán. She is credited in the same passage with inventing a whistle used for night travel.

In her English retellings of Irish myth, Lady Augusta Gregory describes Brigit as "a woman of poetry, and poets worshipped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing along with that, and a woman of smith's work, and it was she first made the whistle for calling one to another through the night."

Brigid and Saint Brigid

In the Middle Ages, some argue that the goddess Brigid was syncretized with the Christian saint of the same name. According to medievalist Pamela Berger, Christian monks “took the ancient figure of the mother goddess and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart," St. Brigid of Kildare.

St. Brigid is associated with perpetual, sacred flames, such as the one maintained by 19 nuns at her sanctuary in Kildare, Ireland. The sacred flame at Kildare was said by Giraldus Cambrensis and other chroniclers to have been surrounded by a hedge, which no man could cross. Men who attempted to cross the hedge were said to have been cursed to go insane, die or be crippled.

The tradition of female priestesses tending sacred, naturally occurring ''eternal flames'' is a feature of ancient Indo-European pre-Christian spirituality. Other examples include the Roman goddess Vesta, and other hearth-goddesses, such as Hestia.

Both the goddess and saint are associated with holy wells, at Kildare and many other sites in the Celtic lands. Well dressing, the tying of rags, (called clooties in Scotland), to the trees next to healing wells, and other methods of petitioning or honoring Brigid still take place in some of the British Isles and the diaspora.Healy, Elizabeth (2002) ''In Search of Ireland's Holy Wells''. Dublin, Wolfhound Press pp. 12–19, 27, 56–7, 66, 69, 81.Logan, Patrick (1980) ''The Holy Wells of Ireland''. Buckinghamshire, Colin Smythe Limited. . pp. 22–3, 95.

Brigid is considered the patroness of poetry, smithing, medicine, arts and crafts, cattle and other livestock, sacred wells, serpents (in Scotland) and the arrival of early spring.Carmichael, Alexander (1900) ''Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, Ortha Nan Gaidheal, Volume I'', p. 16
The Sacred Texts Archive
/ref> In the Christian era, nineteen nuns at Kildare tended a perpetual flame for the Saint, which is widely believed to be a continuation of a pre-Christian practice of women tending a flame in her honour. Her festival day, Imbolc is traditionally a time for weather prognostication:

Festivals

Saint Brigid's feast day is on 1 February celebrated as St Brigid's Day in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and by the Anglican Communion. The Gaelic festival coincides with Imbolc the first day of Spring in Irish tradition, and because St Brigid has been theorised as linked to the goddess Brigid, some associate the festival of Imbolc with the goddess Brigid.

Neo-Pagan revival

Brigid is an important figure for some modern pagans, who emphasize her triple aspect. She is sometimes worshipped in conjunction with Lugh or Cernunnos.

Name

Old Irish ''Brigit'' came to be spelled ''Briġid'' and ''Brighid'' by the early modern Irish period. Since the spelling reform of 1948, this has been spelled ''Bríd'' . The earlier form gave rise to various forms in the languages of Europe, starting from the Medieval Latin ''Brigit'' , and from there to English ''Bridget'', French ''Brigitte,'' Swedish ''Birgitta,'' Italian ''Brigida'' and Finnish ''Piritta.''

The name is derived from Proto-Celtic ''*Brigantī'' and means "the high one" or "the exalted one". It is cognate with the name of the ancient British goddess Brigantia, with whom Brigid is thought to have some relation. It is also cognate with the Old High German personal name ''Burgunt,'' and the Sanskrit word ''Bṛhatī'' (बृहती) "high", an epithet of the Hindu dawn goddess Ushas. The ultimate source is Proto-Indo-European ''*bʰr̥ǵʰéntih₂'' (feminine form of ''*bʰérǵʰonts'', "high"), derived from the root ''*bʰerǵʰ-'' ("to rise").Mallory, J. P. and Adams, Douglas Q. (eds.), Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 269 Xavier Delamarre, citing E. Campanile, suggests that Brigid could be a continuation of the Indo-European dawn goddess.

Possibly related names in Celtdom are:

* Brìghde/Brìde (Scotland)
* Ffraid (Wales), also Braint, alt. Breint, the name of a river in Anglesey. Because of Welsh pronunciation mutations and accompanying devoicing after "t" in ''Sant,'' the original mutated form of her name, ''*Fraid'' (< *Braid), changes to ''Ffraid'' in some place names such as ''Llansanffraid'' = '' Saint Bride's Village'' and Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain.
* Breo Saighead - supposedly meaning ''the fiery arrow'', a folk etymology found in ''Sanas Cormaic'', but considered very unlikely by etymologists.

See also

* Brigid's cross
* List of Irish-language given names
* Saraswati
* Maman Brigitte
* Perchta
*Athena

Footnotes

Notes

References

*Bitel, Lisa M. 2001
''St. Brigit of Ireland: From Virgin Saint to Fertility Goddess''
*MacKillop, James. 1998. ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology''. (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
*The Slaney Press. 1994. ''Lady Gregory's Complete Irish Mythology''. (London: The Slaney Press)

Further reading

* Catháin, Séamas Ó. “Hearth-Prayers and Other Traditions of Brigit: Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman.” The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 122, 1992, pp. 12–34. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25509020. Accessed 7 May 2020.

External links

Brighid: What do we really know? by Francine Nicholson // broken linkBrighid Goddess and Saint

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigid
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