Brigid's Worlds Conference 2024, Kildare, Ireland

 

"Registration now open on Eventbrite for Brigid's Worlds, a conference exploring the life & times of St Brigid & her Church of Kildare (5th to the 9th centuries)! Sept 13th & 14th. We've an incredible couple of days planned! In person only. Loads of hospitality, tour of Kildare town/Cathedral, extra treats. Excited to welcome you all to Maynooth University. €10 per day but free public lecture by Prof. Catherine McKenna (Harvard), Ogham exhibition & reception Fri night. Full provisional programme, speakers and titles available on the Eventbrite page. You have to register for each day separately. Enquiries to niamh.wycherley@mu.ie” 

Niamh Wycherley

 

Register here with Eventbrite.

Image: Brigid's cross surrounded by text including “Brigid’s Worlds" and "Brigid 1500.”

Call for Submissions: Lady of the Forge: Stories and Art Dedicated to the Goddess Brigid

 

 

Girl God Books is accepting submissions for Lady of the Forge: Stories and Art Dedicated to the Goddess Brigid.

Edited by Isca Johnson, Pat Daly and Trista Hendren

Preface by Dr. Karen Ward

Cover Art by Barbara O'Meara 

Scheduled publication: Imbolc 2025

Submission Guidelines:

Please send your finished piece in a Word document. 2,500 word limit. Calibri size 12 font is preferred. Please do not use any fancy formatting or fonts as it creates more work on our end. Make sure to spell check before you submit. Art should be sent in high resolution as a JPG. You may submit more than one piece for consideration, but due to the volume of submissions, please only send your best work and keep it on topic.  

 

Please note that this anthology will be about Goddess Brigid. We will not be exploring Her later role as Saint in this collection. 

 

We do not accept work created with Artificial Intelligence. 

PLEASE SEND YOUR SUBMISSIONS TO SUBMISSIONS@GIRLGOD.ORG BY JULY 31, 2024 with the book title in your subject line. Please note that we cannot accommodate any late submissions or corrections.

 

Please also include a bio in the third person under 150 words.

Accepted contributors will receive a contributor's copy of the book and the option to order as many copies of the book as they'd like at cost during the pre-order period to sell or gift as they wish.

Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to be the first to receive our Calls for Submissions.

You can find our other anthologies here.

Pre-order your copy here.
 

Note from Mael Brigde: although they don't specify it, poetry, prayers, essays, et cetera are all welcome.

 

Image: painting of red haired woman against a black background. Flames are shooting out of side of her head.

 

 

‘Brigit’s Living Traditions,’ Talk by Séamas Ó Cathain

 

Séamas Ó Cathain was invited by Woman Spirit Ireland to speak about Brigit at their symposium, Brigit of Ireland - An Icon for Today, and to launch the updated and extended second edition of his 1995 book, Festival of Brigit - Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman.* The talk was held on 28th January 2023.

Click here to read more about it and buy from the publisher, and here for his talk. 

Image: Photo of front cover of book, showing four children bundled in winter clothes, holding Brigit’s crosses and standing near a shrine.

* the original edition of the book is available on archive.org.

"St Brigid: Goddess or Saint?" from Treasure Ireland, Irish Dominicans

 

A Catholic perspective on Saint Brigit, “St Brigid: Goddess or Saint?”

“It's become common to say that St Brigid was an imagined figure, an unhistorical ‘saint’ modelled on an earlier pagan goddess. We visited St Brigid’s Well in Faughart, Co. Louth to delve into the evidence for the historical Brigid.”

Artwork: FRIZ (thisisfriz.com) 

Video: Patrick Grant 

Presenter: Conor McDonough OP

Brigit’s Butter, Right Over There in Ontari-ari-o!

 

I was thrilled to find this butter in my local store. I suspect it is only in Canada. Read more about it on their site.

"It'll somehow make you love butter more.

A commitment to the regeneration of our soils, the health of our communities, and animal welfare, drive our effort to produce this delicious butter.

 

"We are churning a better future for generations to come.

"Buy our Butters By The Case

(Ontario & Montreal Only)

 

"Buy from our Select Stockists

(Coast to Coast)"

"Discussion of St. Brigid’s Cross as a Complex Symbol,” a Paper by Junhan Zhang

Available as a free download from Francis Academic Press [1], “Discussion of St. Brigid’s Cross as a Complex Symbol,” by Junhan Zhang [2]:

“The discussion of St. Brigid’s cross as a complex symbol intends to illustrate the rich cultural implication of St. Brigid’s Cross. Beginning with St. Brigid and St. Brigid’s Day, the essay firstly introduces the importance of this day. Then it continues to demonstrate the strictly regulated process of making one proper St. Brigid’s cross, with some variations included. The straw, the main material to make crosses, has the implication of securing fertility, which is also noted in the essay. Types of cross are generally introduced with pictures for reference. At last, the cross’s cultural implications – to protect and to ensure fertility are addressed in detail.”

[1] Francis Academic Press is one of the world’s largest publishers of peer-reviewed, fully Open Access journals. Built on an ethos of openness, we are passionate about working with the global academic community to promote open scholarly research to the world. With the help of our academic Editors, based in institutions around the globe, we are able to focus on serving our authors while preserving robust publishing standards and editorial integrity.

[2] Published in International Journal of Frontiers in Sociology (2023), Vol. 5, Issue 6: 1-4.

Image: Display of types of St. Brigit’s crosses, Solas Bhríde. Photo by Mael Brigde.

"Brigid: A Woman, A Life, A Legacy” (a four part lecture series)

Mount St Anne’s in collaboration with Solas Bhride Centre, Kildare offer a Spring Online Course — 

“Brigid: A Woman, A Life, A Legacy”

This 4-week online course takes place each Wednesday evening for 7pm – 9pm (Irish time)

6th March: ST BRIGID AND HER FEAST DAY IN IRISH TRADITION (Bairbre Ní Fhloinn)
Dr Bairbre Ní Fhloinn, is recently retired as Associate Professor of Irish Folklore and Ethnology at UCD. She was Director of the MA in Irish Folklore and Ethnology in UCD, a programme she established. She has written widely on many aspects of Folklore and Ethnology.

13th March: THE SPIRIT OF ST. BRIGID IN OUR CONTEMPORARY WORLD (Rita Minehan)
Sr. Rita Minehan is a Brigidine Sister and founding member of Solas Bhride Spirituality Centre in Kildare. She is the author of Rekindling the Flame, a Pilgrimage in the footsteps of Brigid of Kildare.

20th March: DECODING ST. BRIGID (Eoghan Corry)
Eoghan Corry is the lead travel commentator in Ireland, as well as being a historian, author and broadcaster. Eoghan will draw on his historical background and his travel experience to present a picture of St. Brigid as a saint and demonstrate how her influence and relevance still echoes today.

27th March: ST BRIGID: THRESHOLD WOMAN TO JUSTICE AND COMPASSION (Doris Testa)
Dr Doris Testa is a Brigidine Sister located in Melbourne, Australia. Having a fifty year background in education and social work, she has taught at first and third levels, worked in Child Protection and Community Development. She has held positions of leadership within the Brigidine Victorian Province.

Cost:  Full Course €50

To book a place, please email secretary@mountstannes.com or phone 057-8626153

 

Last night I came home from my trip to Ireland, where I had important time with friends and Brigit, and presented devotional poetry, song, and meditation at the Brigid of Faughart Festival as part of Brigid 1500. It was for me a profound and nourishing trip. I didn’t go out into the yard last night and I was busy inside till I went out just now to cut my month old fingernails. And this is what I saw.

Brigit’s Surprise