Today, St Brigid's Day, was once a widely observed feast-day, when hand-woven crosses were hung in homes
ONCE A common sight in homes throughout Ireland, the traditional St Brigid's cross is gradually disappearing. Today though, a community group will sell the ancient Irish symbol on the streets of Kilkenny in an effort to keep the tradition alive.
Today is St Brigid's Day (Lá Fhéile Bhríde), formerly a widely observed feast-day, when crosses hand-woven from rushes (reeds) were hung in homes - usually over a door - to protect the household from fire and disease.
The ritual involved first burning the previous year's cross and saying a short prayer to invoke the saint's blessing.
In rural areas, crosses were often also placed in outbuildings housing farm animals, especially in cowsheds "to keep the milk flowing".
As long ago as 1945, the journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland noted that "in some parts of the country the custom is unknown and in others it has died out and is remembered only by a few old people".
Margaret McGrath (71), a retired primary school teacher who lives at Boherkyle, outside the north Co Kilkenny town of Castlecomer, is determined to maintain the custom.
For the past week, she and a group of fellow parishioners have been making thousands of St Brigid's crosses for sale by volunteers to raise funds to pay for repairs to their local church.
It took her "about five minutes" to weave a cross from rushes collected by a local farmer who, she said, "it would be better not to name as he'd hate people to think his land was boggy".
"Every Irish family has a Brigid," she said, and the cross "is a great Irish tradition and part of what we are". She was "really sorry" that RTÉ television had dropped the image of St Brigid's cross, once used as the signature logo or "ident" by the national broadcaster.
The Castlecomer group has received requests from overseas for the crosses and Ms McGrath had "just posted one" to her son Fionán in Montreal.
Anna McDonald (49), originally from Co Louth, said St Brigid was reputedly born at Faughart near Dundalk in 453 AD but settled in Kildare, where she asked the king of Leinster for land to establish a monastery.
The king offered her as much land as her cloak would cover and when St Brigid laid the garment on the ground, it miraculously spread to cover the entire Curragh.
This gave rise to a tradition, now almost extinct, of "hanging a sheet or cloth from the window of a house on St Brigid's Eve".
According to folklore, the origin of St Brigid's cross derives from the saint's visit to the home of a pagan chieftain in Kildare who was on his death-bed.
She wove a cross from rushes on the floor and explained its significance which persuaded the dying man to convert to Christianity.St Bridget, like St Patrick and St Colmcille, is one of the traditional patron saints of Ireland.
Volunteers will make and sell St Brigid's crosses throughout Kilkenny city today for €3.