Bríd was a goddess of the Tuatha Dé Danann and a daughter of the Great God, the Dagda and was known as a goddess of healers, poets, artists and craftsmen and women. She is also the goddess who brings inspiration to writers, artists and crafters of all kinds. Her name means ‘The Exalted One’ and she is a powerful source of artistic strength. Bríd and her followers were reputedly the keepers of the eternal fire that only the High King, across the valley in Royal Tara, could light and only on the night of the sacred feast of Beltine, the Festival of Fire, the Festival of Purification.
This sacred flame was, for Patrick, the focal point of his defiance of the pagan High King and part of his plan to get his attention and confront him with this new Christian religion.
He was well aware that it was strictly forbidden to light a fire anywhere until the High King had lit the first flame of Beltine so he must have been a fine talker to talk his way out of that -and convert the king and his entire court.
Later deified as a Christian saint by Saint Patrick, Bríd was one of about 300 Irish deities pronounced saints of the new Christian religion and Patrick, knowing his new flock well, knew better than to get rid of their pantheon of the older gods and simply absorbed them into the new belief system, thus ensuring mass conversion without a single loss of life though many were resistant for a long time.
Many more eventually came around and like my own pre-Gaelic ancestors, went from being worshippers of the Deer-Goddess Sadv to being ‘Devotees of the servant of God, Patrick’, hence the Gaelic version of FitzPatrick ‘Mac Giolla Padraig’ = ‘The Sons of those who serve Patrick’.
This was my tribe, previously known as the Osraighe, the People of the Deer, now Christianised. The Anglo-Norman ‘Fitz’ was added later by the one and only Henry the Eighth. I would need another week to explain that one.
The cult of the goddess Bríd was then absorbed into Christianity and the later, mythological saint, and then historical Saint Brigit and her nuns carried on the tradition of the sacred flame and the worship of a higher god, a Christian God.
Don’t worry I am not advocating that you all worship the goddess or the saint, that is a personal choice, all I want is to wish you all good health, please stay safe, healthy and pray that this dark pandemic shadow will lift and pass you and your loved ones.
-Jim