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Here we are exploring the world of Brighid, where the lines between ancient Goddess and Christian saint blur. Morgan Daimler’s insightful article unravels the complex tapestry of Irish and Scottish folklore, shedding light on the origins and evolution of Brighid, Saint Brigit, and Bride.
Discover the singular myth, the divine attributes, and the enduring legacy of this revered figure, as we journey through history to discern what we truly know about Brighid.
✨A Guest Post by Morgan Daimler
It may surprise you to learn that much of what we ‘know’ about the goddess Brighid today is actually a blend of Irish & Scottish, pagan & Christian folklore.
All of these tangled sources have been woven together over the years to create the figure that many people are familiar with today, but for the curious among you I wanted to untangle all those threads and offer some clarity on what we’re getting from where.
Brighid the Goddess
There is only one surviving myth of Brighid as a goddess, found in the Cath Maige Tuired [get translation here] where she appears after her son Ruadan’s death to caoin (keen, lament) for him.
From this source and two others which mention her – the Lebor Gabala Erenn and the Sanas Cormaic – we know that she is a daughter of the Dagda. Her mother is never mentioned in any existing sources.
The Lebor Gabala Erenn tells us that she is a poet who possessed several important animals, each of whom are kings of their species, who would cry out when outrages were committed in Ireland.
The Sanas Cormaic, a 14th century glossary, gives us the most detailed info, claiming that the Dagda had three daughters all named Brighid, one who was a goddess of poets and source of inspiration, another connected to healers, and the third to blacksmiths.
There is also a note in the Acallamh na Senórach which says she is a Goddess of poets and also that she was the mother of the three sons of Tuireann.
Saint Brigit
The saint’s is named Dubhthach, and the druid whose house she was raised in is named Maithghean, while her mother’s name is Broicsech, all according to the Bethu Brigte.
It is said in that same source that Brigit was born in a doorway, a liminal space, and would only drink milk from a white cow as an infant, and in one story as an infant the house she was in caught fire but she and the house were miraculously unharmed.
When she was older she was serving in a woman’s house and when she cooked the food never ran short, and in another story she fed bacon she was cooking to a stray dog, only to have her father count and find that all the bacon he’d given her remained whole.
In various stories she performs miracles like causing a healing well to spring forth from the ground, or stretching out her cloak to cover a huge swath of land to claim territory for her church.
The Irish saint Brigit was said, by Gerald of Cambrenius in the 12th century, to have a church where a perpetual flame was kept lit in her honour, tended by her nuns.
This flame would later be extinguished, but a perpetual flame was lit in the late 20th century by the Brigidine nuns. Flame tending as a devotional practice was started by NeoPagans in more recent times.
Saint Brigit is believed in both Irish and Scottish folklore to be the midwife to Mary and the foster-mother of Jesus.
In both cultures she is associated with 1st February, Brighid’s Day or Imbolc. In both cultures we also find poems allegedly written by the saint related to brewing and to a desire to offer beer to God.
Bride in Scotland
In Scottish belief Brighid or Brigit is called Bride. She is a prominent figure in folk belief, usually framed as a saint although in some stories she appears in a more divine form.
In Scotland we find the idea that the Cailleach Bheur [blue hag] imprisons Bride in the winter, usually from Samhain to either Imbolc or the spring equinox. She is either freed by her lover Aengus (notably her brother in Irish myth) or the Cailleach transforms into Bride after drinking from a magical waterfall, ushering in spring.
This seasonal rulership & related story comes from MacKenzie’s 1917 book ‘Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend’ and is not found in prior sources… but has gained enormous modern popularity.
A great deal of information about Bride is found in Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica.
There Bride is connected to snakes through folklore around Imbolc or Bride’s Day, and with swans through a single line reference ‘the fairy swan of Bride of the flocks’ in volume 1.
We also find charms calling on her during childbirth to help a labouring person deliver their baby. This source also discusses some divination practices connected to her and her feast day.
Brighid, Brigit, or Bride?
Each of these single, divergent set of beliefs has come to influence the modern understanding of Brighid as a Goddess.
The NeoPagan idea of her as a healer has become more specific with many people explicitly considering her a Goddess of childbirth, something that comes to us from Christian belief.
Although historically we have no overt references to Brighid being associated with Imbolc, the timing of the holiday and saint Brigit’s day and the seemingly Pagan nature of many of the folk practices associated with the festival have created a strong and indelible connection between them.
[Find out more about Imbolc here!]
In the same way the Goddess has come to be connected to other Christian beliefs and practices around the saint, like connecting her to holy wells or flame tending in her honour.
The Contemporary Pagan Goddess Brighid today is more than the being we find hints of in the mythology, she is a powerful and enduring force that moves within people’s lives and who incorporates various beliefs into a single syncretic whole.
🔥Learn More About Brighid, Goddess and Saint…
>>> Click Here.
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