All lights are extinguished until relit by a central bonfire. Bridget's Day, which marks the first day of Spring and the middle of the dark half, the time for the reemergence of green things. This marks the first flowing of milk in the udders of the ewes. The first day of the light part of the year. Cattle are driven through great bonfires to protect them and ensure fertility.
Young couples jump through the fire also.
Ciaran, founder of Clonmacnoise, seat of learning on the Shannon which lasted 1,000 years. Mass. Cahill, Thomas, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Doubleday, New York, New York Allchin, A.M. and de Waal, Esther, editors Daily Readings from Prayers and Praises in the Celtic Tradition, Templegate Publishers, Springfield, Illinois. An Irish Anthology Poems of the Dispossessed 1600-1900, The University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia D'Arcy, Mary Ryan, The Saints of Ireland, Irish American Cultural Institute, St. Paul, Minnesota. Mass. McCormick, Malachi, Columcille, The Stone Street Press, Staten Island, New York. Malachi makes beautiful hand-made books.