All posts tagged St Brigid

  • St Brigid’s Well & Exit 13

    Just off the M7 (the primary road between Dublin and Limerick/Cork), lies St Brigid’s Well. This is a very active site associated with one of the most prominent Irish saints. While Feb 1st is the main day to visit the well, it receives pilgrims throughout the year.

    The well is only a few minutes from Exit 13 on the motorway, a junction more associated with the adjacent Kildare Village Outlet Centre. This position presents a geographical juxtaposition between the modern, flowing motorway and the stationary, sedate well. Two aspects of Irish social and cultural life overlap here. The new roadway designed to seamlessly connect major urban areas, with the purpose built retail centre, boasting world-famous brands, is a newer ‘Celtic Tiger’ Ireland. While, St Brigid’s Well, a site off heritage and spiritual/religious activities, seems to be of an older, vernacular Ireland. However, there isn’t a tension, more of a co-existence. People visit either, both, and neither. Perhaps, approaching Exit 13, you might consider this and what you will do.

    St Brigid's Well, enclosed by a low circular stone wall.

    St Brigid’s Well, enclosed by a low circular stone wall.

    A rag tree by the well, with a selection of fabrics, tokens, and other items hanging off a branch.

    A rag tree by the well, with a selection of fabrics, tokens, and other items hanging off a branch.

    A statue of the saint by a modern structuring housing votive offerings.

    A statue of the saint by a modern structuring housing votive offerings.

  • Votive Offerings at St Brigid’s Well

    Whenever I’m in the Burren or the north-western part of Clare, I try to call by St Brigid’s Well near Liscannor. It is a wonderful site complete with a marvelous collection of votive offerings, for which it is known, in the grotto leading to the well.

    The vast collection of offerings which fill the grotto leading to the well.

    The vast collection of offerings which fill the grotto leading to the well.

    Votive offerings are beautiful objects each of which as an intention behind it. It has been left there for a particular reason by a person who firmly believes in the power of the place and the saint and the benefit of partaking in this custom. While some of the intentions may appear obvious, others relating to seemingly odd items are shrouded from everyone except the believer and the saint.

    The grotto spaces is crammed full of offerings, with every conceivable space being used to leave and insert items.

    The grotto spaces is crammed full of offerings, with every conceivable space being used to leave and insert items.

    Initial fascination with these objects, is replaced by curiosity, concern and speculation on their intentions. This is a rich material-based cultural practice, linked both to Catholicism and folk customs, but it is also people’s lives. Dreams, despairs, anxieties, losses and a host of deeply personal motives are materialised. Accordingly, regardless of your beliefs they and the place should be treated with respect.

    A small bible (wettened from the exposed spae above the well), with rosary beads inside, sits next to a whiskey bottle filled with some of the (presumably) well water.  The rest bwetween a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a cushion.

    A small bible (damp from the exposed space above the well), with rosary beads inside, sits next to a whiskey bottle filled with some of the (presumably) well water. The rest between a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and a cushion.

    A collection of offerings hanging from the ceiling, including rosary beds, miraculous medals and a feather.

    A collection of offerings hanging from the ceiling, including rosary beds, miraculous medals and a feather.

    The rag tree which is over the well, with a selection of rags tied to the branches.

    The rag tree which is over the well, with a selection of rags tied to the branches.

  • ‘Doing the Rounds’: Video

    ‘Doing the Rounds’: Pattern Days at Holy Wells

    This is a collection of short clips of pilgrims completing the rounds at different holy wells. It captures some of the movements and circumambulations that occur as part of the annual Pattern Day at these places. The completion of the practices continues established traditions in honour of a patron saint, while also ensuring that the site remains an active devotional space.

    Featured in the video: St Gobnait’s Well Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, 11th Feb 2013; (2.01) St Fanahan’s Well, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, 25th Nov 2012; (2.34) ‘The City’, or Cathair Crobh Dearg, Shrone, Co. Kerry 1st May 2013; (5.29) St Brigid’s Well, Liscannor, Co Clare, 1st Feb 2013.

  • St Brigid’s Crosses

    St Brigid’s Crosses are small hand-crafted crosses made from reeds or rushes (or sometimes straw) which are put up in houses on 1st February to mark the beginning of Spring. They have a distinct design with a woven square centre and four radials. Similar to many Irish religious-cultural traditions, they are a mix of Christian and Pagan, with St Brigid’s feast day coinciding with the Celtic feast of Imbolc and the design seeming to blend the Christian cross with Celtic themes. The cross is put over the door or in a place of significance in a house or farm shed. It is supposed to bring protection and is particularly associated with preventing fires.

    A St Brigid's Cross placed in the shrine at St Brigid's Well, Liscannor, Clare

    A St Brigid’s Cross placed in the shrine at St Brigid’s Well, Liscannor, Clare

    These crosses are very simple, yet beautiful objects. They are handmade every year – part of the tradition requires that the cross is replace annually, with the old ones being burned – in a continuing tradition, the result of centuries of belief and lore. They bring together the natural world, spiritual-religious beliefs, vernacular culture and the importance of the homestead.

    For more:

    Further reading of St Birgid’s Cross: St Brigid.ie orKildare.ie

    How to make your own: iCatholic (video) or Irish Peatland Conservation Council

    My own posts on St Brigid’s Well, Liscannor, Co. Clare