CILL DARA - KILDARE

Round Tower at St Brigid's Cathedral

We awoke on Monday morning to a bright blue, sun filled sky and I felt this was a sign to rid ourselves of the cabin fever which we had both been aware of for sometime. 

"Kildare is calling us” I said to Lady H.

"Which way shall we go ?” said Lady H.

"We will take the stress free route and take the old road towards Dublin.” 

So we did, for the old roads are a pleasure to drive on these days and relatively free of traffic for most people use the motorways.

Kildare in Irish it is Cill Dara meaning the Church of the Oak, made famous by St Brigid who had her monastery there complete with a perpetual fire which was kept burning until the 15th century.

On our arrival Lady H hopped out of the car and went off to take photos and on her return said we'd visit the Parish Church next. 

“Hang on a minute" I replied “just behind us is the Cathedral with St Brigid’s Fire pit and the round tower, it’s important that I go there first.”

The first and last time I was at the Cathedral was in 1993 when I took a few friends to visit Kildare.We spent most of our time sitting in St. Brigid's Fire Pit chatting and when we decided to leave, we found ourselves locked in after the caretaker had chained the entrance gates together. 

We tried to attract attention to our plight by shouting but to no avail.

The youngest member of the group, a lad by the name of Tolly, climbed over the gate and went to the nearby pub for help, but not until he had tried to

con us all out of money. We were not so easily fooled and understood that if he was in funds he’d be in the pub for hours whilst we’d be still behind bars! 

After twenty minutes or so the landlord came across with a tray of free drinks and passed glasses of Guinness

through the gate to us. Tolly was dismayed after being told he was underage and about thirty minutes later the key holder arrived to let us out us out.

St Brigid's Fire Pit

On arriving at the cathedral we found the building locked, not that it bothered me for I have no love for church buildings.

www.chooseireland.com/kildare/st-brigids-cathedral

Lady H was keen to move on to the Parish Church which has doors decorated with Brigid’s Crosses and bronze hands. 

I explained it was just across the hill as I’d noticed a spire as we drove into town.

Over the hill we went and arrived a large church. There were doors but no bronze hands were to be seen, however we entered, lit a candle as requested for by a friend and left. 

Lady H disappeared (again!) and I was left alone to my own devices. This time I noticed two signs one said White Abbey Church and the other Carmelite Convent 

In my mind I said ‘Whoops I have erred! This isn’t the right church at all.”

Never the less during Lady H’s absence I went for a wander as you never know what may be discovered. 

Find something I did, something that I can best describe as a breasted tree with a ring seat around the trunk

'the breasted tree'

www.carmelites.ie/whiteabbeykildare.html

Finally returning to the car Lady H produced a map and she was right, the Parish Church was elsewhere. We drove down to the correct church, parked outside

and herself took off to take photos of the bronze hands, while I contented myself with a pipe of baccy. 

Our next stop was St Brigid’s Well and I spotted the sign easily so was able to direct my driver on her return.

St. Brigid's Well is in the countryside and it is in 'Nature' where I think you can best connect to any deity and by whatever name you care to use.

The Trip to Scotland

Our journey to Scotland started at 7a.m. We avoided motorways as far as possible making our journey northwards to Belfast swift and uneventful and so fast that we were able to catch an earlier ferry to Stranraer than the one we had booked to travel on. The Stena Voyager is a catamaran in design with four powerful pumps that push it through the water at a superb pace. The interior to my mind is plush to say the least and we always find ourselves some seating in the quiet area away from the noise of piped entertainment. Up for'ard you get good visibility of the sea, plus a small coffee bar with sticky buns and sandwiches as there is nothing like a snack to pass the time away. Except this time because I wasn't driving, only being the navigator, I took myself to the bar on the mezzanine for a couple of pints of Bass ale and they slid down like nectar.

The Stena Voyager

Disembarking was smooth and we were soon on the A75 heading towards the village, a short journey which took 1 hour 10 minutes and into the welcoming arms of our hostess.

The next day we hit the shops in Castle Gregory, The Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright all of us picking up some great bargains; mine were a leather coat and trousers plus a denim cap. Refreshments were needed after shopping & a hotel provided me with a pint of McEwans Export ale revitalizing my tired parts.

The Grey Mare's Tail

The following day saw us heading into the Craigdews of the Galloway Hills, to a place special for our hostess. Our first stop was at "The Grey Mares Tail", a waterfall where three of our members were visited by a familiar in the shape of an Tawny Owl. From there we made our way to a place of high energy where we celebrated Bealtaine in a forest glade close to a fast flowing river and we arrived back to our holiday home with sufficient time to visit The Cream O Galloway; My first visit was two years ago and the taste of their wonderful ice cream cannot be beaten and I have sampled lots of different brands over the years. We are now planning a return visit sometime next year.

www.creamogalloway.co.uk/ice-cream

During the rest of of our stay we visited beaches and bays along the shoreline, explored, relaxed and sampled the haggis.

St Andrew's Kirk at Kirk

The pebbled porch floor of the kirk

An island off the beach entices the mind to create dreams !

Silver wavelets come ashore at Brighouse Bay.

(Brig refers to the goddess Brigit, she is everywhere)

Ross Bay

(In the far distance the hills of northern England are visible as smoky smudges)

A Heron with Attitude

(I could not resist taking this pic !)

Stena's MV Caledonian

Our ferry to Belfast on the MV Caledonian the journey was 3 hours long this time as opposed to 2 hours on the outward voyage. We returned to our home in the Irish midlands both tired exhilarated.

IMBOLC

A painting of Brigit by Jane Brideson



Some years ago I was invited by a magazine to write an article on Brigit/Imbolc and I groaned inwardly for the most that I have ever seen written about this festival was half a page in any of a number of books. According to Ronald Hutton, the first mention of Imbolc is contained in one of the early medieval, "Ulster cycle stories concerning the wooing of Emer by Cu Chulainn in this tale Emer refers to Imbolc, when the ewes are milked at spring's beginning".

The name Imbolc or an older name Oimlec may originally have meant "ewes or goats milk " and it is a time of quickening. Here and there new shoots can be found protruding from the earth along with snowdrops, natures' first hint that deep within the earth womb there is regeneration of new life.
Daylight is lengthening, though it can still be cold, and there may be flurries of snow, along with a hard frost. With the occasional sunny day at this time of year it brings us joy and the hope of a good summer.

In Ireland traditionally the 1st of February is known as the “first day of spring” and it is also the Goddess Brigit’s Day. These days however we celebrate Imbolc/Oimlec as one of the four fire festivals and pitch the date midway between Winter Solstice & Spring Equinox making the date Feb 3rd or 4th, according to movements of the Sun. This may be the closest we can get to the original date prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.

The Goddess Brigit herself is hidden by the mists of time. In legend she is associated with poetry, healing, metal-working, learning and prophesy. She was also a goddess of battle as the patroness of the armies of Leinster. Brigit may have originally been a local goddess of that province as her cult centre was at Kildare.
The Goddess Brigit, possibly a daughter of The Dagda, is seen today as a fire goddess because of her association with metal-working and to some a goddess of the sun.
Historically she may have been a single goddess or a triple goddess, we do not know for certain, although we still associate her with inspiration, herb lore and healing.
The name Brigit derives from the Celtic word BRIG meaning 'high or exalted one' and it is probable that Brigit is a title rather than an actual name.

The Celtic cult of the Goddess Brigit, I feel, operated within the Druid pantheon. Her priestesses, as druids, may well have fulfilled all of the various roles including advisors, law makers, bards, healers etc. The cult of the goddess Brigid spread throughout the Celtic countries. In Germany she was Birgit, in Scotland Bride, in England Brigantu, and her name was borne by a tribe in that country, the Brigantes. She was also known as Brigandu and Brid. Her cult could be found in Brittany, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, Spain and Wales.

When sifting through information regarding Brigit it is often difficult to separate the attributes of the goddess, from those of the saint of the same name.
The early christian chroniclers were as proficient as todays' spin doctors in exaggerating the qualities of their saints and incorporating the gifts of the goddess for use in their propaganda.

Imbolc Today
Imbolc today is celebrated in diverse ways, from the festival of Brigit at Kildare, organised by the Brigadine Sisters to the many pagan circles held across various countries in Europe.
In Cornwall on 31st January, followers of the goddess Bride celebrate with a torchlight procession to ancient wells and moorland springs where they place a circle of candles. A ritual is performed which consists of dressing the wells with ribbons and wild flowers, singing, blessing with water and giving thanks to their ancient goddess.
In Glastonbury, England, her followers assemble at Chalice Well and process through the town carrying Brigid's crosses and Bridie dolls to Bride's Mound at nearby Beckery. Here they perform a ceremony to honour the Goddess, sharing ewes milk and honeyed barley cakes as part of their Imbolc festival.

Here at our home I gather the Reeds in silence, keeping them hidden until the women arrive a day later to sit and make Brigit Cross's of which there are 5 or more designs. A few days afterwards we celebrate the arrival Brigit in ritual toasting her with Goats milk.