Up: [[Imbolc]] Created: 2022-02-08 The Christian Brigid was Brigid of Kildare. There are two hagiographies (biography of a saint) written about her. You have to be careful about believing a hagiography because they were often written to prove one church was better than another, and this was done by exaggerating the miracles performed by a saint. But here’s what the hagiographies said about Brigid: - If she existed at all, it looks like she was born in 452 and died in either 524, 526 or 528. - She was the abbess of Kildare, a community centred around a big oak tree, which gave it its name. - As abbess, Brigid was responsible for the spiritual guidance of the nuns, and also for the day to day running of the monastery. She and her nuns did a lot of work in the local community and beyond. They also taught people in the local community without requiring them to become Christians. - There’s lots of fire imagery associated with Saint Brigid. At her abbey there was said to be a sacred perpetual fire that was tended by the nuns and never went out and never accumulated any ash. - There are several pagan references in Brigid’s early hagiographies, not a surprise since there would have been a huge pagan influence at the time the texts were being written. - Pagan references include: a couple of associations to druids; Brigid being born on a threshold, a [[Liminal Space]] where worlds collide; miracles associated with food and field, such as being able to feed the poor while still having all of the butter and milk expected by the owner of the cows (fertility is associated with Irish goddesses); affinity with the natural world, such as holding off rain when the fields are being harvested > [!user] [[Sharon Blackie]]