John O’Hanlon (Lageniensis); ‘In parts of Ireland – especially throughout the dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin – it was customary with the young people to assemble on the eve of St. Bridget’s festival, observed the first day of February, and to carry with them what had been denominated a Bride-oge, which means in English, The Virgin Brigid.
This was formed of a churn-dash, covered with stuff of materials, to fashion it, as near as possible, like a female figure. These materials were usually covered with white calico. A dress of some village belle covered the whole, with an elegant bonnet and fashionable cap surmounting the figure’s head. The Brideoge’s face, however, was round, and perfectly featureless. Frills, tuckers, necklace, and a handsome sash usually decorated this grotesque figure.
A piper and fiddler marched before, playing lively and popular airs; and especially when the crowd of accompanying idlers stopped at each door, in country places and villages, the Bride-oge always obtained an entrance for its bearer. Young children were often greatly frightened at the unexpected arrival of this unclouth visitant. A lad and lass were told off, footing it merrily to a jig or reel, and, after its conclusion, the director of such proceedings, – his hat decorated with boughs and ribbons – went round with a purse to collect offerings for the Bride-og. These were seldom or ever refused, and they were usually in keeping with the means of liberality of the householder.
Proceeds thus collected were expended on Bridget’s day, in getting up a rustic ball, where tea, cakes, and punch, were in requisition as refreshments. A dance and plays were also organized as part of the evening’s amusements. This festive celebration was probably derived from carrying St. Bridget’s shrine in procession, at some remote period. The later travesty, and disorders accompanying it, induced many of the Catholic clergy to discourage such odd practices, and we believe that at present they are almost entirely obsolete.’
O’Hanlon, John (Lageniensis). Irish Folk Lore: Traditions and Superstitions of the Country; with Humorous Tales. London, 1870.
* Caution should be taken when it is stated that a custom has become, or is becoming obsolete, accounts are often based on personal experience, and customs often decline only to be revived again.
The Brideoge tradition, described above, continued to be practiced widely throughout Ireland well into the twentieth-century by both adults and children of both sexes. Despite a significant decline in the tradition in the latter half of the twentieth the tradition is still observed in some areas of Ireland today.
The creation of Saint Brigid Crosses is traditionally a highly ritualistic endeavour; even the gathering of rushes to make the crosses has a number of particular features, for example, tradition maintained that the rushes should be pulled from the ground and never cut with a knife; the crosses should be weaved from left to right- in line with the sun. As with the gathering the presentation of the material for constructing the crosses also involved a certain amount of ceremony; traditionally, when the rushes are brought into the dwelling the bearer requests permission for Saint Bridget to enter. The eldest daughter is generally selected to represent Saint Bridget, however, there are many instances where either the woman or the man of the house fulfilled this role. In his 1915 autobiography Children of the Dead End, Patrick MacGill from the Glenties, County Donegal, recalled that during his childhood on Saint Bridget’s Eve his father stood on the threshold of their home, while calling out “Saint Bride sends her blessing to all within. Give her welcome.” To which his mother would reply, “Welcome she is,” once these words were uttered his father ‘would loosen the shoulder-knot and throw his burden on the floor.’ It was customary for the whole family to participate in the creation of these crosses, which were made on Saint Bridget’s Eve or on Saint Bridget’s day itself. Formerly, it was not usual for a household to create multiple crosses which would be dispersed around the house in a variety of locations including above the hearth, over doorways and beds, and on the shelves of dressers, while the three-legged cross was reserved for the byre. Many surviving accounts record the convivial rivalry between members of families, with competitions between the young and old, to make the best cross. The crosses themselves are supposed to act as a type of charm and are believed to provide the inhabitants of the household with protection against a number of dangers including fire, the evil eye, the fairies, and more generally, against bad luck during the coming year.
The Irish custom of constructing Brigid’s Crosses at the Feast of Saint Brigid has survived into our own times, and many will recall making these crosses in their family homes, or in school during their youth. Traditionally these crosses are made to celebrate the beginning of spring or to honour of Saint Brigid. Like many Irish traditions a blend of Christian and pagan beliefs have influenced the celebrations and observances that continue to accompany and welcome the Feast. The making of the crosses is traditionally done just before or just after Bridget’s supper – the main meal of Saint Bridget’s Day, or on the eve. Where the custom existed of making the crosses before supper the crosses were often employed as placemats, off which the family would eat their supper. In her 1913 book Ulster Folklore, Elizabeth Andrews noted that in Tobermore in County Derry pancakes were the favoured food, while sowans and flummery were the typical supper in previous times’, while an article by John C. O’Sullivan titled ‘St. Brigid’s Crosses’ quoted a correspondent from Conty Mayo who told the Irish Folklore Commission that ‘supper on Brighid’s Eve was usually tea and boxty in olden times, or perhaps oaten or rye bread.’ They continued by stating that ‘Latterly wheaten flour was used for bread.’ The John C. O’Sullivan, who wrote the article recalled the integral position of butter for the supper, noting that ‘the woman of the house for about a week or ten days before Bridget’s, was as they called it, ‘gathering a drop’, that is collecting milk for a churning on the eve of St. Bridget. Generally, milk was scarce at this season, but the housewife, if at all possible, put some by for a bit of butter for this particular night, as the feast was considered to be a poor one if butter was absent from the supper table.’
The making Brigid’s Crosses on Saint Brigid’s Eve or Saint Brigid’s Day seems to have been observed in most parts of Ireland. Strangely, County Kildare – which is called after the monastery that Saint Brigid founded seems to be one area of the country where there’s less evidence of the tradition being widespread. For example, the author of an article titled ‘Customs Peculiar to Certain Days, Previously Observed in County Kildare’ which appeared in the Journal of the Co. Kildare Archaeological Society and Surrounding Districts V (1906-1908), describes the Brigid’s Cross in the past tense: ‘What was known as “Brigid’s Cross” was woven out of straw, and stuck up inside the house until replaced by another on that night twelvemonths.’ Of course, there a small number of accounts from County Kildare that do confirm existence of the custom at this time. As has been often been noted here and elsewhere in order to confirm the decline of a tradition in a certain area to near obsolescence requires a significant amount of research; early folklorists and researchers often tended to describe certain traditions and customs as declining or dead – some of which continue into our own times. A search through the National Folklore Collection’s Schools’ Collection, 1938-1939, also seems to indicate that Brigid’s Crosses were rarer in County Kildare than most counties in Ireland. However, this, like the first example is negative research, and it’s possible that crosses were seen as such a basic item that their construction became habit rather than custom in the minds of previous generations.
Regional variation on the construction of these crosses is evident from historical accounts and surviving preserved specimens. Brigid Crosses are traditionally made from locally sourced materials including straw, rushes, or sprigs from willow trees, in recent decades a number of modern and manufactured substitutes have become popular for constructing these crosses including pipe-cleaners and newspapers. Today the archetypal type of Brigid’s Cross is the four-legged cross made from rushes or straw. This type of cross gradually gained national recognition as it was featured as part of Raidió Teilifís Éireann embalm from the broadcaster’s inception on New Year’s Eve, 1961 until it was eventually removed in 1995. Prior to the establishment of RTÉ, this cross which is sometimes referred to as the swastika type was only very common in the north of Ireland. According to The Year in Ireland by Irish folklorist Kevin Danaher, prior to the advent of Irish television, the ‘most usual type of cross was the diamond or lozenge of straw.’ A circled cross of reeds known as locally as a ‘Brigid’s Ring’ seems to have been largely restricted to parts of the southern Ireland, while the three-armed type seems to have been most popular in the northern half of the country.
Many folklorists maintain that the shapes of most Brigid Crosses indicate their pre-Christian origin, but if the origin is not Christian the intention, at least in recent centuries, and admittingly maybe only to a certain extent, often was. As many of these accounts recall having Bridget Crosses sprinkled with holy water or blessed by priests. In the early nineteenth century the Reverend James Hall remarked on how the tradition was widespread and that ‘Priests gain a good sum yearly by consecrating’ Brigid’s Crosses. The priests seem to have been ill-disposed to the three legged cross; Jeanne Cooper Foster commented in her book Ulster Folklore that this triskle shaped cross is never taken to the chapels, and upon questioning a Roman Catholic priest from County Armagh on the refusal, she was informed that ‘it was not a ‘true’ cross and so could have no place in the Church.’
The disposal of Brigid’s crosses from previous years seems to have varied both regionally and between one household and another; in some households, crosses from previous years were retained. In these households an old cross was moved out of the way to give the new cross pride of position in the house which was generally over the door, and usually above the interior of main entrance of the dwelling-house. When a cross was replaced with a new one the old one was often placed in the rafters, with crosses from previous years; there are claims that the age of some houses could be determined by the number of Brigid Crosses found in the rafters. In some households, old crosses were discarded, usually burned in the fire, once replacements had been created, however in other areas including parts of County Donegal the crosses were kept only until Saint John’s Eve, 23 June, at which time they were broken up and scattered over the fields to encourage fertility of the soil for the coming harvest.
Sources
Andrews, Elizabeth. Ulster Folklore. London 1913.
Crawford, Henry S. ‘Crosses of Straw and Twigs from County Roscommon.’ The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Fifth Series, Vol. 38, no.4 (December 1908), 394-396.
John Swift, Dundalk; ‘Among them (tombstones in graveyard at Saint Nicholas Church, Dundalk) was one that could have been considered relatively modern. That was the one erected over the grave of Robert Burn’s sister.* This monument, erected by the poet’s admirers in the town, stood prominently in the forefront of the cemetery, and through the railings on the low wall between the cemetery and the Church Street, was easily visible to passers by.
For a few years my father (Patrick Swift) and some of his Templar colleagues had, on the poet’s birthday, the 25th of January [circa 1900], made pilgrimage to the hardly substantial mecca in Church Street. Gathered at the railings near the grave, my father would start a recital of Burns’ poems.
Coming towards the end of the recital the reciter would turn in the direction of the Roden demesne gate declaiming from A Man’s a Man for a’ That, rendered, not in the Burns Doric but in the plainer English –
You see yon birkie, called a lord,
Who struts and stares an’ a’ that;
Tho’ hundreds worship at his word,
He’s but a coof for a’ that,
For an’ that, an’ a that,
His ribband star, an’ a’ that,
The man of independent mind,
He looks an’ laughs at a’ that.
A prince can make a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an’ a’ that;
But an honest mans above his might,
Good faith he needed for that,
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
Their dignities an’ a’ that,
The pith o’ sense an’ pride o’ worth,
Are higher rank than a’ that.
Then let us pray that come what may,
(As come it will for a’ that);
That sense and worth o’er all the earth,
Shall make the rank an’ a’ that,
For a’ that, an’ a’ that,
It’s coming yet for a’ that,
That man to man, the world o’er,
Shall brothers be for a’ that.’
Swift, John. Told in Toberona. Dublin, 2008.
*Agnes Burns, 1762-1834, was the sister of Robert Burns. In 1817, along with her husband, she moved near Knockbridge in County Louth, and was later buried in Saint Nicholas Graveyard in Dundalk.
John Swift 1896-1990 spent the formative years of his life in Dundalk, County Louth, before moving to Dublin in 1912.
Main photograph is of Burns Monument in the graveyard of Saint Nicholas Church, Dundalk, County Louth
Michael G. Crawford; ‘The fair at Greencastle was revived by Arthur Bagnal, under patent granted by James the First in 1613, when it was held on 12th January and 12th August. It was sometimes called ‘Ram Fair’ on account of a custom that prevailed for a great while of enthroning a great ram, high on the top of old Green Castle’s walls, when he presided over the greatest sheep fair in South Down, where thousands of his bleeting subjects from the surrounding mountains were penned in flocks beneath him, and jolly crowds of people at the Fair came to pay homage crying out ‘The King of the Benns’ for ever, and never did the Golden Ram of old receive greater homage from his worshippers, than did the Mourne Ram, from the jolly crowds that came to the Carnival at Greencastle.’
William Le Fanu, 1816-1894; ‘In the south and west of Ireland marriages amongst the peasantry, with rare exceptions, take place during Shrove-tide.* Many of the people think it would not be lucky to be married at any other time of the year; consequently the priest always, when it was possible, visited the island during Shrove for the purpose of solemnizing any weddings which had been arranged. It, however, sometimes happened that the weather was so stormy for weeks together that no boat could approach the island, so it had been arranged that, when this occurred, the engaged couples should at an appointed hour assemble on the east shore of the island, while the priest, standing on the shore of the mainland opposite to them, read the marriage ceremony across the water. As soon as the storm abated he went to the island and did whatever more was necessary to render the marriages valid in the eye of the law and of the Church.
I cannot vouch for the truth of this, though I heard it from a very trustworthy man. He said the young people were not considered really married till after the visit of the priest; but “that they liked to be, at all events, partly married before Shrove was over.”’
Seventy Years of Life in Ireland, 1893
Illustration by undiscovered artist.
*Traditionally the period between Christmas and Shrove Tuesday was known as Shrove-tide throughout Ireland. Generally, it was the most popular time to get married, as the Catholic Church refused to sanctify marriages during Lent and Advent, both of which were times of abstinence and devotion, while at other seasons the people were generally too busy with farm-work or fishing to contemplate marriage.
Incidentally William Le Fanu was the bother of the Irish Gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu.
The custom of lighting candles or rush-lights in honour of the Twelve Apostles is traditionally carried out by families on Twelfth Night, which is observed on the fifth or sixth of January.* The number of candles used in this ritual varied between one district and another, with some areas lighting twelve candles to represent the Twelve Apostles, while in other areas a thirteenth candle, usually larger and generally placed in the centre of the original twelve, was added to represent Jesus. Whilst the candles melted prayers and decades of the rosary were recited by those present. Traditionally each member of the family lit one candle, the flame of which was said to signify that person’s longevity. In this way the first candle to burn out was supposed to indicate the member of the household who was destined to be the first to die.
In the old days, when candlesticks were scarce, candles were stabilised in a bed of ashes, cow-dung, mud, or even graveyard clay, while sieves of oats were used, for the same purpose, at least in County Westmeath at the end of the seventeenth century. Once the candles had consumed themselves a ball would be made of what remained, if the candles were supported using cow-dung the ball was placed above the door of the cow-house to encourage an increase in the herd of cattle for the coming year, while if the ball was made of mud or clay it was often placed above the main entrance of the home, where it was believed to protect the inhabitants till the next Twelfth Night.
*In Ireland, and indeed internationally, there is some contention as to when Twelfth Night falls, with some observing Twelfth Night traditions on the eve of the Feast of the Epiphany, 5 January, while for others the Feast of the Epiphany, 6 January is believed to be the proper date.
Sources
Danaher, Kevin. The Year in Ireland. Dublin 1972.
Duncan, Leland L. ‘Further Notes from County Leitrim.’ Folklore 5, no. 3 (1894), pp. 177-211.
Mason, William Shaw. A Statistical Account or Parochial Survey of Ireland. Dublin, London and Edinburgh, 1814-19.
Piers, Sir Henry, A Chorographical Description of the County of West-Meath, 1682
Wilde, Lady Jane, Irish Cures, Mystic Charms & Superstitions, London 1890.
Hansel Monday – the first Monday of the year is so called as it is traditionally believed that anyone who received a hansel – a gift of money on this day, would never be short of money for the rest of the year. It was customary for farmers, employers, and parents to give a token gift of money to their respective labourers, workers, and children on Hansel Monday. The recipient of this gift would often keep the coin with them for the remainder of the year to bring them luck wherever they travelled. To be the recipient of anything on Hansel Monday was believed to be lucky be it a present, the birth of a child or an animal, or even to seal a favourable bargain.
While it was considered to be lucky to receive on Hansel Monday, it was also considered to be unlucky to pay for anything on this day as it was believed that any person who did so would-be paying bills every day for the rest of the year and would be likely to come to poverty. Similar taboos were connected with giving away milk and other household items. Many believed that even a person’s behaviour and mood on Hansel Monday was liable to continue throughout the following year. An 1881 article from the Folklore Record noted that on Hansel Monday ‘people salute one another with “My Hansel on you.”’ While, an account taken from the Schools’ Collection and provided by Mary Grehan from Rochfortbridge in County Westmeath noted that Hansel Monday ‘was looked upon by most people as a very particular day. If a person were in good humour that day, it was supposed to count for the rest of the year, and if possible everyone tried to wear a smile.’
In Ireland the first Monday of the year is referred to as both Handsel Monday and as Hansel Monday, however, at least historically, the day seems to have more often been referred to as “Hansel Monday.” The hanseling tradition appears to have come to Ireland from Scotland, where it seems to have been always known as Handsel Monday, and observed on the first Monday after the twelfth of January – old New Year’s Day. Up until the end of the nineteenth century Handsel Monday was a recognised holiday for Scotland’s farm labourers and workers.
Sources
Duncan, Leland L. ‘Further Notes from County Leitrim.’ Folklore 5, no. 3 (1894), pp. 177-211.
Haddon, A.C. ‘A Batch of Irish Folklore’ Folklore 4, no. 3 (1893), 349-364.
Hole, Christina. A Dictionary of British Folk Customs. London, 1978.
Kinahan, G.H. ‘Notes on Irish Folklore’. The Folk-Lore Record 4 (1881), pp. 96-125.
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