St Brigid’s Day customs and traditions in Co. Kildare in the 1930s

Statue of Saint Brigid in Kildare.
Statue of St Brigid in Market Square, Kildare (© Andreas F. Borchert, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE; edited IHN).

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In the late 1930s, schoolchildren from Co. Kildare vividly described various St Brigid’s Day practices, such as making crosses and brídógs, visiting holy wells dedicated to the saint and other festivities.

To celebrate St Brigid’s Day (Lá Fhéile Bríde), we’re focusing our attention on the customs and traditions that were observed on the saint’s annual feastday, 1 February, in the late 1930s in Co. Kildare – the region most intimately connected with her story.

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St Brigid’s Day customs in Kildare

All the accounts featured here are drawn from the Schools’ Collection and were compiled by primary school pupils in Kildare between 1937 and 1938. The children’s accounts rely mainly on information supplied by their older relatives and neighbours. You can find all of these accounts and more on dúchas.ie.

St Brigid’s crosses

The Schools’ Collection contains many accounts of the tradition of making St Brigid’s crosses. In some parts of Kildare, these small crosses were made of woven or plaited rushes, while in other parts, they were made from straw. They were typically made either on St Brigid’s Eve (31 January) or St Brigid’s Day (1 February).

St Brigid’s cross made from woven rushes.
St Brigid’s cross (© Culnacreann, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0; edited IHN).

In the Kilcullen area, the accounts indicate that the crosses were usually made from rushes on the eve of St Brigid’s Day, either in school or at home. Mona Christie, Kilcullen Convent, explained:

“The following is a custom which I have heard of, the youngest child in a house gathers the rushes and brings them home. Then she stays outside until someone inside tells her to come in and then they commence making the crosses.”

“They can be made any size but they usually measure one foot square … They are made from rushes which are plaited together. When the rushes are plaited firmly they are secured at the ends with pieces of ribbon or cord.”

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In Clongorey, schoolgirl Una McLoughlin offered a different method for making the cross:

“They got a stick and shaped it into the form of a cross and wound the rushes around it.”

Kilcullen’s Mona Christie explained the inspiration behind making these crosses:

“… once St Brigid visited the house of a dying man. The latter had no crucifix and he desired to have one before he died. St Brigid went outside and gathering rushes made a cross for him.”

Various accounts in the Schools’ Collection for Co. Kildare reveal that once the St Brigid’s crosses were made, they were blessed by the priest and then hung in homes, stables and cowhouses, while spare crosses were handed out to priests and elderly members of the local community. An account from the school in Allenwood mentions that crosses made from straw “were stuck up in the thatch on St Brigid’s Eve”.

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Seán deFréins from Kilcullen stated that St Brigid’s crosses protect the home “from all dangers”, while Maithiú Ó Céallaigh, also Kilcullen, maintained that they “keep poison away”. Another Kilcullen pupil, Matthew Kelly, quoting from Myles Toumey from Milemill, confirmed: “If you have a cross in your house it is said that nobody in that house can die of poisoning or fire”. There was also a local tradition of hanging St Brigid’s crosses in cowhouses “to bring good luck, and blessing, on the cattle”.

In addition, on St Brigid’s Day, some Kilcullen natives would bring their St Brigid’s crosses to the local holy well, which was dedicated to the saint.

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Brídógs

The Schools’ Collection often mentions the tradition of the Brídóg (meaning young or little Brigid). Most commonly, the term “brídóg” was applied to figures, dolls or effigies representing St Brigid, which were typically made from straw or rushes on the eve of the saint’s feastday. They vary enormously in size, form and materials across different regions of Ireland, but some resemble small anthropomorphic crosses.

Brídóg made from rushes.
A brídóg made from rushes.

Sometimes, larger brídógs were made using items such as churn-staffs for the body and turnips or potatoes for the head, and they were often clothed.

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It was very common in Ireland for feastday celebrations to begin the night before, and St Brigid’s feastday is no different in this regard. In addition to referring to effigies of the saint, the term “brídóg” can refer more broadly to the social activities carried out on St Brigid’s Eve.

Those engaging in St Brigid’s Eve festivities were commonly called “Biddy boys” in Co. Kerry and in other parts of the west of Ireland, and these activities were akin to those of the wren boys on St Stephen’s Day. However, the name “Biddy boys” was not widely used in Kildare, where the term “brídóg” was preferred. In certain parts of Kildare, brídóg-type customs had largely fallen out of use by the late 1930s, and the following reports rely heavily on the memories of older people, such as this account provided by Michael Conway, from Blackchurch and a pupil of the school in Kill, who is quoting his grandmother, Mrs Butler:

“It was then the custom & still is in parts of Kildare for men to dress up in straw & other strange costumes on St Brigid’s Night & go from house to house playing music & carrying a straw cross. This is called the Bridogue.”

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Clongorey schoolgirl Una McLoughlin tells us:

“The Brideóg is one of the old customs in Clongorey handed down from very ancient days. I have never seen it carried out myself but my daddy was telling me about it.

On St Brigid’s Eve all the boys and girls of the district gathered together and one of them would bring a churn dash. This they dressed up in clothes and they had a face painted for the head. This figure represented St Brigid.

Then a couple of them carried it round from house to house and the rest followed after. They left it on the floor and danced around it.”

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A pupil of the school in Twomilehouse, Esther Leonard from Johnstown, described the festivities that took place in her locality:

“On St Bridgid’s night the young people start what is called the Breedog. The boys and girls dress up at night in old clothes and disguise their faces with vizards and go to some neighbours house and take the people out to dance and have great fun all the night. Then they go to some other house the next night and so on until Shrove Tuesday. They are always very welcome.”

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St Brigid’s ribbons (ribín Bríde)

It was believed that on the eve of her feastday, St Brigid travelled throughout the land overnight, bestowing blessings and protection wherever she went. Mary F. Kennedy from Allenwood recorded yet another custom carried out on the night before the feast of St Brigid:

“Some people put out a ribbon on St Brigid’s night and this is supposed to cure a headache. It is called a Saint Brigid’s ribbon.”

Elsewhere in the collection, the Kildare pupils specified that the ribbons were blue and were sometimes hung on hedges. Twomilehouse schoolgirl Esther Leonard stated that St Brigid blessed the ribbon on St Brigid’s Eve “when she is passing over Kildare. It is said she flies over Kildare on that night”.

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This resembles the Brat Bríde tradition, popular in other regions of Ireland, where pieces of cloth or rags were hung on bushes or tied to gates or cows’ tails on the night before St Brigid’s feast. After a visit from the saint that night, the cloths and rags were believed to be endowed with special curative properties by the saint, serving to ward off illness and pain, and were sometimes incorporated into clothing.

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Hay at the doorstep

The mother of 12-year-old Allenwood pupil Pat Dowling described another related custom:

“People used to put a bit of hay at the door for St Brigid to wipe her feet [when] passing by [the] door on St Brigid’s eve.”

Visiting holy wells

Several holy wells are linked to the cult of St Brigid in Co. Kildare. For example, tradition has it that St Brigid drank from the well in Kilcullen and consequently, its water possesses healing properties for colds.

St Brigid’s Holy Well, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare.
St Brigid’s Well (also known as St Moling’s Well), Kilcullen, Co. Kildare (courtesy of Archaeology Plan, Dublin).

In the 1930s, the local nuns, schoolchildren and other people from the area would make a pilgrimage to this holy well on St Brigid’s Day. Kilcullen schoolboy Pádraig de Núinnseáin tells us:

“Near the church there is a well called St Brigids well which is visited by all the nuns and people of Kilcullen on St Brigids feast day … On the 1st of February every year crosses are made of rushes and blessed and some are left at the well.”

Another Kilcullen schoolboy, Diarmuid Ó Ceallaigh, added: “Every year on the 1st February hymns are sung over the well and prayers are recited”. His classmate Maithiú Ó Céallaigh specified that the “The Prayer of St Brigid” and the Rosary were said at the well, but Mona Christie mentioned the Rosary only. She added:

“During inclement weather they usually only say a decade of the Rosary. It is customary also to bring some water from the well and bless all things with it on St Brigid’s Day.”

If you or your family hail from Co. Kildare, please share your St Brigid Day customs and traditions with us in the comment section below.

Beannacht na Féile Bríde oraibh go léir!

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