Song: Chronilus “Brigid”

About a year ago the band Chronilus played Seattle's Pocket Theater, with the belly-dancing troupe Rags Nocturna. Here is their song “Brigid”, written by Caera Aislingeach.



You can download the song (and hear the words more clearly) at the band's CD Baby page.

Cure for Headache...

This was actually number 13. in the list of headache cures on the page

Old Cures

from Firoda National School in Castlecomer, between Portlaoise and Kilkenny.

1. Wrap “Brat Bride” around the forehead. This is a scarf placed on the outer door handle on the eve of St. Bridgid to be blessed by the saint as she passes around Ireland.

From blindness to childblains to "a child with wind", you will find the cure for what ails you here.

Remember, though, not all headaches look alike. If it's a migraine you're plagued with, these are the tried and tested cures:

MIGRAINE Lie down in a dark room. Put a wet towel on your head. Drink the tea made from the leaves of the feverfew plant. Take two teaspoons of walnut shells steeped in water. Find a tree whose trunk has the same circumference as the person’s head. Leave a rag on the tree; don’t speak to anyone on the way home.

Image: by Mael Brigde (2006)

Story Archaeologists Revisit Brigit

Sculpture by Annette McCormack

Last July I posted about Chris Thompson and Isolde Carmody and the Brigit-related entries on their excellent site, Story Archaeology . The site combines well-informed and good-natured podcasts, blog entries, and images. This link will take you to my original posting, and through that to their original postings. But they have recently revisited Brigit and her world, and I want to share those new links with you as well. I very much enjoyed the new podcast (as Facebook has no doubt noticed, since I posted links to it in every group I belong to). Here is a link to it, and to the blog postings.

Revisiting Mythical Women 05: The Search for Brigid

Brig and Rúadán

The Story of Rúadán from Cath Maige Tuired

Lassair and Her Well

Fochard Bríde

Brigid Links

They provide downloadable files of all their podcasts (mp3s), or you may subscribe to them through iTunes. (Hint: I have found with iTunes in this particular case that I need to download the podcasts one at a time. Can't just click on them all and walk away.)

The clip below (which looks like video but is actually audio stuck on a picture of Saint Brigit's Well at Faughart) is from the original podcast.



Hear also (of course!) the podcast on Brig's husband Bres in the Cath Maige Tuired, and read the associated blog postings.

Bres by Jim Fitzpatrick

"My Story" by Peter O'Leary

Cover Art by Jack Yeats, brother of W.B. Yeats

Canon O'Leary's "Mo Scéal Fein" (My Story) was first published in 1915, but did not see print in English until 1970. At that time, the addition of generous notes and appendices allowed a context for his memories, giving those of us with a weak grasp on Irish history and issues of moment a better understanding of what he is describing.

This highly readable autobiography offers glimpses of the Great Hunger, the launching of efforts to rescue Irish from extinction, and the successful resistance of farmers against landlords at a time when rent was insisted upon despite the lack of harvest and funds. From a poor background himself, Father O'Leary worked tirelessly to bring education to the boys and young men of rural Ireland, gathering books from The Poets and Poetry of Munster to Shakespeare and Milton, and teaching Irish, Latin, and Ancient Greek in exchange for their commitment to abstain from drink, the destructiveness of which raised him to a passion. He witnessed and frequently participated in much more besides, including the Easter Rising and the War of Independence, about which he had firm opinions—as he did about every other thing.

Though he only mentions her a few times, Canon O'Leary was deeply devoted to Saint Brigit, and his trust in her was complete. Whether we see things from his viewpoint or not is unimportant; that we are given the opportunity to see her, and their shared world, through his eyes is the wonderful thing.

"We put the entire business, ourselves and the library, under the protection of St. Brigid."