The Irish standard., 1918-02-09
QUAINT CUSTOMS CONNECTED
WITH FESTIVAL OF
ST. BRIDGET, FEB. 1

WITH FESTIVAL OF
ST. BRIDGET, FEB. 1.
Next to st. Patrick In the Hearts of
the Irish PeopIe-Bridgid Is the Cor
rect Name, but 1t Has Been Modi-
fled in Several Countries-Patroness
of ireland, "the Mary of the Gael"
OF all the saints whom the Irish
honor, st. Patrick is first and FORE
most in their affections, but there is
another that is held in fond esteem
and generation, st. Bridget whose
festival falls on the first of February.
The name is also written Brigid, and
in some places she is honored on the
9th of February instead Of on the
first. Her death occurred in the year
528. She is called the Patroness of
Ireland.
Old customs are rapidly vanishing
in Ireland. Yet still the colleen, on
the first of February, rises very early
in the morning, and churns before the
sun climbs in glory over the eastern
hill; and If she has finished her work
by that time, and hears the lark sing,
then folk say that she will have sue
cess in all her doings for the year.
For the lark is the bird of st. Bridget,
ever since it was wont to awaken her
in good time for Mathis. To all who
on the morning of her festival, hear
it's strains, it is good omen for the
year, also sign of fine weather.
Most of the oldtime customs asso-
ciated with "Biddy's Day"-for so the
Irish, with that apparently over-fam-
iliar, yet deeply reverent and reticent
trait of theirs, term the festival-are
fast dying; but in remote places little
girls still carry round a "bredogue,"
"a large doll resembling the "Mo-
rena" of the Hungarian children, and
supposed to represent st. Bridget or
Bride
In far-lying countrysides the folk
usually place before their doors a mat
made out of peeled rushes, in order
that the saint may come and kneel
there to pray for the family. This
they also do if there is illness in the
dwelling. Irish girls born in February
were formerly almost invariably NAM
ed after the saint. But today the
name is no longer in such great favor,
and some young women on whom the
name has been bestowed have chang
ed it into Bidelia. In the North Of
Ireland, as in Scotland, Bride is
NJ %1,0 In
homely contraction of Getty" takes
the place of "Biddy" or "Bridgie' of
the other parts of the island.
On the eve of St. Brigid silken
riband is still occasionally placed on
the windowsill in honor of the saint;
and is left out all night, during which
time it is popularity supposed to grow
longer. 1t is afterwards kept as a
panacea for headaches, the cure being
worked thus: the riband is drawn
thrice round the patients head, the
following words being repeated at
each round, "In the name of the Faith
err and Of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, Amen!" and then the silk is
knotted round the patients head.
These are a few Of the customs
in honor of st. Bride, or Bridget, that
still linger in the Green Isle, where
many kindly folk still put out a plate
full of victuals on All Hallow Eve, for
the wandering spirits of the dead and
all the strange host of beings so real
to the Irish peasant. If the griddle.
cake and bowlful of milk, and the bit
n I'll
by the morning into the nav of some
hungry beggar or even cat or dog, the
donors are the better Of it, and no
one is the worse.-Ave Maria.