I visited Ireland to celebrate its new St Brigid's bank holiday and Celtic goddess - with empowering events featuring Laura Whitmore, Una Healy and Lyra

St. Brigid's Day is another Irish celebration but one that isn’t well-known in the UK. It is the Irish celebration of another one of their patron saints. It is celebrated on 1st February and honours the patroness saint of Ireland St Brigid, as well as celebrating the beginning of Spring.

Before the trip I didn’t know much at all about the patroness saint Brigid - but I left more fascinated than ever by her and the stories, and differing opinions Irish people have on her. In 2023, a new February bank holiday was introduced to mark the feast of St Brigid, which takes place on February 1 each year.

It now means that the first Monday in February becomes the 10th Irish public holiday, and the first additional public holiday since “May Day” was introduced in 1994. But, it isn’t all about the joys of Ireland getting another bank holiday and day off. The new bank holiday marks the true importance of Brigid in the Irish culture and it seems the patroness saint is now being given the recognition many people feel she has so long and so richly deserved.

St Brigid lived approximately 100 years after St Patrick had brought Christianity to Irish shores. She was the first Irish-born Roman Catholic saint, and a number of miracles have become associated with Brigid. One of these was turning of water into beer, presumably a skill that was highly-valued in the dark days of the Dark Ages.

During my time in Ireland over the bank holiday, I of course visited Kildare as Brigid founded an important monastic community in Kildare in the 5th century. Kildare boasts St Brigid’s Cathedral and Solas Bhríde Centre and Hermitages.

I also visited Boyle’s pub in Kildare, run by by two sisters Susan and Judith, whose family has been in pubs and beer for five generations. The sister’s produce a beer called Brigid’s Ale as part of Two Sisters Brewing - and I must say it is delicious as it is made sweet with the honey from her beekeeper dad’s hives.

They told me how Brigid had believed that if she brewed a lake of beer, it would solve the problems of the world and so they thought the patroness saint really ought to have a beer made after her. According to the sisters, Brigid made dirty water into beer and managed to share a single pot of ale with her entire parish of 18 churches. They were fascinated by her, her legacy and power - adding that she even founded the first European monastery for men and women in the arbour of an oak tree.

Across the road from Boyle’s pub is Kildare’s Heritage Centre with a virtual reality adventure where you pull on a VR headset to meet Brigid, the pagan goddess of fire. Through the headset you are flown through 1,500 years of history on the wing of a peregrine falcon. Centre manager Tom McCutcheon that the experience has proved very popular with tourists, with people from across the globe coming to the Heritage Centre to learn more about Brigid.

He told me that the Irish name for Kildare is Cill Dara and the cathedral stands where St Brigid built her first monastery. After my chat with Tom I ventured over to St Brigid’s Cathedral which stands proud and tall in the centre of Kildare Town. According to tradition, Brigid came here in AD480 and made her monastery co-ed – teaching both men and women.

It became clear from talking to various people that there is differing views on Brigid. Was she a Catholic saint? Pagan goddess? Mythical brewer? But, everyone knew about her and her importance. There is even a spiritual centre known as Solas Bhride which celebrates Brigid and hosts meditation sessions and historical lectures. It also hosts cross-weaving workshops. Brigid's cross weaving is a traditional Irish custom of weaving crosses from rushes, reeds, or straw. The crosses are hung above doors to protect homes from evil, fire, and hunger.

There were many events I enjoyed over the weekend that were launched to celebrate St Brigid’s Day and honour female power and the patroness saint. One included a ‘Nothing Compares’ concert in a nearby town called Naas that was a celebration of Irish female musical talent. It was hosted by Laura Whitmore and featured popular musical Irish talent including Una Healy from the Saturday’s, Imelda May and Maria Doyle Kennedy.

A free event was also held at The Curragh racecourse in Kildare called ‘The Brigid’s Day Gathering’ which was another night of lively and fun entertainment. The Curragh in Ireland has a connection to St. Brigid, including a church, a stone, and a racecourse event.

According to legend, Brigid met the King of Leinster and a band of horsemen returning from a hunt, she approached the king and told him she needed land. He asked her how much she needed, and Brigid replied that all she asked for was the amount her cloak would cover. The King agreed, and she laid her cloak on the ground. To his amazement, the cloak grew and spread until it covered the rich, green acres we know today as The Curragh of Kildare.

The free event saw another set of vital and amazing female Irish artists including Lyra including Sharon Shannon, Lyra, and Irish Women In Harmony. Visiting Ireland and learning more about their female patroness saint was interesting and empowering as she was a goddess, saint and a woman who stood for helping others. She was for men and women - a woman ahead of her time and who made beer for all.

The trip was provided by Ireland.com. Kildare is a 45-minute drive or 30-minute train ride from Dublin. Flights from London to Dublin cost from £28 with Ryanair and rooms at the Lawlors of Naas are from £158 a night. https://www.lawlors.ie/