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Brigid's cross or Brigit's cross (, ''Crosóg Bhríde'' or ''Bogha Bhríde'') is a small variant of the
Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...
often woven from straw or rushes. It appears in many different shapes; the earliest designs were simple Christian Latin or Greek crosses, but the most popular modern iteration features a woven diamond or lozenge in the centre. The cross is named for the
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...
Brigid of Kildare Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ...
. Brigid's cross is typically woven on 1 February, her
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
, as well as the festival of
Imbolc Imbolc or Imbolg (), also called Saint Brigid's Day (; ; ), is a Gaels, Gaelic traditional festival on 1 February. It marks the beginning of Spring (season), spring, and in Christianity, it is the calendar of saints, feast day of Brigid of Kild ...
in pre-Christian Ireland. Hanging Brigid's cross from the rafters of one's house was believed to bring the blessing and protection of the saint for the remainder of the year. The practice of crafting Brigid's crosses is first attested in the 17th century and seems to have been in decline by the 20th century, in part due to house renovations that made hanging them difficult. In addition to the
shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...
and Celtic harp, Brigid's cross is a national symbol of Ireland. From 1962 to 1995, it was incorporated into the Raidió Teilifís Éireann logo. A collection of Brigid's crosses collected by the
Irish Folklore Commission The Irish Folklore Commission () was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. History Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy) founded ''An Cumann le Béaloideas Éir ...
is on display at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life.


Design

Brigid's crosses broadly refer to a type of cross woven out of straw or rushes. They are defined by building material more than appearance, and the exact shape of a Brigid's cross varies greatly. The
National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has three branches in Dublin, the arch ...
has identified seven basic categories of cross: diamond, which is subdivided into single or multiple; "
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...
" type, with four or three arms; wheel type; interlaced type; traditional Latin crosses made from straw or rush; bare wooden crosses in the Latin or
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
style which are bound with straw; and a final "miscellaneous" category. The most popular of these is the diamond or lozenge cross, the dominant variant throughout
Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
and
Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
. Two sticks are crossed over one another to provide a wooden framework for this cross, and at its centre, straw is woven into the shape of a diamond. Sometimes, additional woven diamonds are added to the four arms of the cross. Some historians have compared the lozenge shape at the centre of the diamond cross to that of the Mexican god's eye or the Eurasian "magic square". Another popular variant is the "swastika" cross. Rather than being set parallel to one another like a traditional cross, the arms of the swastika cross are set at right angles from a lozenge or diamond at the centre. These offset angles evoke the image of a wheel in motion and may have originally represented the sun, or "the great wheel in the sky". In certain regions of
Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
, this wheel spinning in a circle imagery is evoked with a three-armed woven cross. This three-armed variant has been compared to the triskelion, a popular motif in Celtic imagery. In rare cases, Brigid's cross may be set fully inside a circle; this is known as a "wheel cross" or "St. Brigid's Bow". Unlike other Brigid's crosses, which were typically made of straw, the interlaced cross is often made of rushes. Unlike other forms of the cross which contain a woven shape in the centre, the interlaced cross consists only of rush or straw strands woven into a Christian cross shape. While straw is the more popular weaving material for most variants of Brigid's cross, the interlaced cross is more frequently made from rushes. An even simpler variant is the bare cross, which consists either of two bound plaits of straw or of two planks of wood bound together in the centre by straw. Occasionally, no straw is used at all: the Sheaf-Cross, located in eastern
County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...
and
County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...
, involves two small sheathes of unthreshed corn are bound together by a split
thatching Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
branch.


Folklore

Brigid's cross is named for
Brigid of Kildare Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland (; Classical Irish: ''Brighid''; ; ) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish ...
, the only female
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of Ireland, who was born in
Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
. Unlike her contemporary,
Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...
, Brigid left no historical record, and most information about her life and work derives from a
hagiography A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian ...
written by the monk Cogitosus some 200 years after her birth. The prevailing Christian folklore surrounding Brigid's cross involves the
deathbed conversion A deathbed conversion is the adoption of a particular religious faith shortly before dying. Making a Religious conversion, conversion on one's :wikt:deathbed, deathbed may reflect an immediate change of belief, a desire to formalize longer-ter ...
of an Irish
pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
chieftain, in some stories her father. While telling the pagan about the
Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...
, Brigid collected rushes from the ground and wove them into a cross, after which the chieftain requested a Christian
baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
. In another story, Brigid was given a poisoned drink by a woman of ill intent, and she wove the cross to neutralise the toxins.


Ritual use

One of the customs associated with Brigid of Kildare's feast day was to hang Brigid's crosses in the rafters or over entryways of buildings, thus invoking the saint's blessing and protection for the remainder of the year. Families would gather rushes on 31 January, the eve of Brigid's feast day. After an evening feast, the head of household would supervise the rest of the family as they wove crosses from the collected material. These crosses were left out overnight to receive Brigid's blessing, and on 1 February, crosses would be mounted in the main dwelling place, outhouses, and
stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...
s. While the direction in which the crosses were hung remains unknown, that the centre shape is frequently described as a lozenge rather than a square suggests that Brigid's cross is properly displayed in a
saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a Heraldry, heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French , Medieval Latin ("stirrup"). From its use as field sign, the saltire cam ...
style rather than that of the Latin cross. Crosses were either taken down annually and replaced, or they accumulated between feasts. If they were discarded, they were burned or buried, with the latter preferred due to Brigid's associations with agriculture. The weaving of Brigid's crosses was popular throughout Ireland, particularly in the north and midland, but its popularity dwindled during the 20th century. Some families attributed the decline of Brigid's crosses to house renovations that inhibited the ability to hang them appropriately. Outside of Ireland, Brigid's crosses are also customarily hung in
Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...
, England, in accordance with a local legend that says Brigid of Kildare visited the town in 488 CE. Families may also send woven crosses to their friends and relatives who live abroad, or they will carry a cross with them when they leave Ireland. The weaving of crosses was not restricted to Brigid's feast day: friends would often gift crosses to incur blessings and strengthen their bond, while newlywed couples would often receive "womb crosses" to hang above their door, as Brigid was also a patron of
fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...
. Although they take place at different points of the season, the weaving of Brigid's cross is associated with other rituals in which the last sheaf of that year's harvest is woven into intricate shape. In
County Armagh County Armagh ( ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It is located in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and adjoins the southern shore of Lough Neagh. It borders t ...
, for instance, the harvest season involves the weaving of Harvest Knots and Harvest Stars, the former of which involves a lozenge shape similar to that of Brigid's cross. These "last sheaf" celebrations are collectively known as the ''Cailleach''.


As a national symbol

Shortly after the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...
gained its independence in 1922, Brigid's cross became one of several nationalist symbols, alongside such other motifs as the
shamrock A shamrock is a type of clover, used as a symbol of Ireland. The name ''shamrock'' comes from Irish (), which is the diminutive of the Irish word and simply means "young clover". At most times'', Shamrock'' refers to either the species ...
and Celtic harp, used by Irish artists in order to create a national cultural identity separate from that of Britain. In the 1950s, Brigid's cross was incorporated into the logo of the Irish
Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their o ...
, and as of 2024, the cross remained a part of the logo of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, who frequently incorporate Brigid into their imagery for her associations with midwifery. Brigid's cross was selected as the first
station identification Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper (broadcasting), bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand na ...
marker for Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in 1962, with Alice Curtayne writing that the cross was selected to evoke "the image of quiet, serene places in the springtime of our history, of rush-bordered rivers in a serene arcadian landscape". The RTÉ logo underwent nine redesigns between 1962 and 1987, with the cross taking varying levels of prominence compared to the station name. It was removed from the RTÉ logo in 1995 in favour of "a clean striking piece of modern design", a decision which Carol Coulter of ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' opined, "Saint Brigid's cross has lost its place as a symbol of our national identity, well at least as far as our national broadcasting station is concerned." In 1942, the
Irish Folklore Commission The Irish Folklore Commission () was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland. History Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy) founded ''An Cumann le Béaloideas Éir ...
created a questionnaire regarding the Feast of Saint Brigid, during which they collected several hundred Brigid's crosses. In 2022, the Commission selected a sample of 21 of these crosses to be displayed at the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in
Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...
. The display coincided with an announcement from the Irish government that 1 February would be declared a national holiday.


See also

*
Celtic cross upright 0.75 , A Celtic cross symbol The Celtic cross is a form of ringed cross, a Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring, that emerged in the British Isles and Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages. It became widespread through its u ...
* Corn dolly


References


Citations


Sources

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External links


Brigid's crosses at the National Museum of Ireland

Make a St Brigid's Cross
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brigid's Cross Culture of Ireland National symbols of Ireland Cross symbols Straw art