Very good work. You might consider highlighting key words (particularly old Irish words) on the screen with text so the listener can see them and read them. It would help with absorption
Thanks for posting, this was very interesting and informative. I especially liked the musical lilt of the voices of the old people, that music has gone out of us completely.
We still do this today, on a Sunday after mass many folk go to a sacred well or tree and make an offering. Christianity is fairly skin deep in Ireland.
Hi Molly. Conas atá tú? I get your point of course. But for me the beauty of it is that these wonderful old pre Christian traditions sit so comfortably with, and alongside, Christianity. They are not mutually exclusive. And one does not negate, or deny the power of the other. They are all part of the same thing. The prayer attributed to St Patrick goes: "I arise today, through The strength of heaven, The light of the sun, The radiance of the moon, The splendour of fire, The speed of lightning, The swiftness of wind, The depth of the sea, The stability of the earth, The firmness of rock." My Mother and all the wonderful irish women in my family saw no conflict with going to mass and venerating the divine in nature. They believed that the Divine was in all things. All the best, slan.
My Dad, born in 1936 Galway says he and his brothers and sister would go around and ask for pennies on St Brigit's day carrying a Brigit's Cross ( he says it was rare to go out on St Brigit's day even in his time and the old folks liked it so you'd get a few more pennies) and St Steven's day carrying a wren made of "wax, feathers and what have you " and on St Stephen's day there was a poem they would say but I don't remember it
St Brigid has given me the symbol and traditions i need as a woman, esp as an Irish woman. No church or steeple for me. Just the history and traditions of strong women. Thank you so much for this video, it made my day.
My mum used to talk a bout "The Wren Boys" visiting houses in County Claire, dressed in Frightening costumes. Is this tradition similar or another name for the same thing?
Hi Anne-Marie, the Wren Boys your mother spoke of would call from house to house in disguise on St. Stephen's Day (26 December) with a dead wren (or effigy thereof) which they tied to a bush. They would entreat the occupants of the house to give them a few pence 'to bury the wren' and would bless the house on their departure. The wren has long been held in tradition as a treacherous bird - St. Stephen became the first Christian martyr after the wren gave his whereabouts away to Roman soldiers. Before that, in classical paganism we learn from Aesop that the wren was crowned the 'king of the birds' having slyly tucked himself away beneath the eagle's wing as they took flight in competition against one another. So the Wren Boys, while part of a similar tradition of guising and house-visiting, are a different lot to the Biddy Boys.
All the honour and Love all the deepest of my heart and my soul for Her My Greatest MOTHER AND GODDESS. I will go to Kildare like I have promised to , My Dearest Goddess Brighid. 😘😚💖🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪👍☘☘☘
@Never Unprepared I feel really glad and very gratefull and blessed to have been in Ireland. The people I met there were very kind and friendly with me.😘❤🇮🇪👍☘☘☘🙏🙏🙏
I agree that tradition should be kept. But I do not agree against endless progress and nihilism. Nihilism is just what you reach when you realize the ultimate truths in life. But the lesser peoples still need their traditions to guide them, and they serve as good pillows to rest upon on our way to godhood.
I was named Brigid, after my Grandmother Bridget I believe, and what an honor it is.Thank you for posting this - I did not know as much as I do now, even with a strong heritage. Many thanks.
Just finished this week's "Blúiríní Béaloidis 18 - Brigid In Folk Tradition". It was truly a wonderful broadcast. I'll make a note that in Vedic tradition one of the most important sages is Bhrigu, who forms a tribe known as the Bhrigus or the Bhargavans. The etymology of Bhrigu meaning 'to shine' is related to the English word "Bright", appropriate for Brigid as a goddess of the Dawn. Thanks again for all your work.
Good morning from RIO de janeiro, Brazil. Thank you so much for this valuabes information. Her Saint or Goddess Brighid bless you very much everyday in your life.
I have read the work of Waddell who postulates that the early Gaels were intermarried with the red haired Hebiru tribe of Dan and called the Tuatha de Danaan, come to the British Isles via the Phoenicians in two large immigration waves and that much of the language is Vedic in origin.
