St. Brigid’s Day – Lá Fhéile Bríde – celebrates Ireland’s only female patron saint on February 1 and most people will be familiar with the popular tradition of making crosses in St Brigid’s honour. With its origins in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, St Brigid’s Day was the festival of fertility and marked the beginning of spring in Ireland!
We all gathered in the Junior & Senior Infants classroom to create the most beautiful and well crafted crosses. Even our secretary got to learn how to make one!
People believed St Brigid crossed through the land on the eve of her feast day and gave blessings and protection to homes and farms where crosses were hung in her honour. They would hang them over the door and around the home to welcome St Brigid. Many households kept the cross each year in the under-thatch of the house and you could tell how old a house was or how long the family had lived there by the number of crosses in the roof!
Teaching children about traditions helps them appreciate the Irish cultural heritage and creates lasting memories. We had great fun making the crosses and the older kids were of great help with teaching the younger ones.
