A petition calling on the Irish Government to make February 1 – the Feast Day of St Brigid – a public holiday, is gaining momentum.
 
The petition which originally started on International Women’s Day in 2019 has amassed more than 6,000 signatures in the week leading up to today's celebrations and calls on the Irish Government to give our Matron Saint’s feast day the same recognition as St Patricks Day.

The petition also recommends that the Government use the feast day to celebrate the success of Irish women globally.

The petition says: “The time has come to write a new story of unity and equality, by celebrating Ireland’s matron Saint Brigid equally to St Patrick. Making Brigid’s Day a national holiday would be a true reflection on today’s Ireland, sending a strong egalitarian message to the world.”

To sign the petition visit:https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/make-brigid-s-day-a-national-holiday?bucket=&source=twitter-share-button&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=myuplift&utm_source=twitter&share=b2a17286-e76e-4ff4-a857-5018a32edcee

Also today Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in West Belfast’s Gaeltacht Quarter are continuing to deliver their programme of events online and will hold two Zoom workshops on the art of making a St Brigid’s Cross.

The Zoominars will take place at 12pm and 7pm today (1st February) and will be delivered by Cormac Ó Donnghaile. Participants will use rushes which they will have collected from the Cultúrlann prior to the class.
 


St Brigid, who is also known as Mary of the Gael, was born in County Louth in 450AD and established the first Irish monastery in County Kildare.
 
The story of the St Brigid’s Cross suggests that while she was in Kildare a pagan chieftain lay on his deathbed. His servants summoned Brigid in the hope that she could bring him peace. As she sat at his bedside, she began to weave a cross from some rushes and explained the meaning of it to the chieftain. As she wove, the chieftain found peace and asked to be converted to Christianity before passing away.
 
It has become customary on the eve of the Feast of St Brigid for Irish people to make a St Brigid’s Cross and place it inside their house over the door.
 

One girl who took part in the tradition was ten-year-old Cara Neeson from Finaghy. The St Anne's Primary Seven pupil cut her own rushes and made crosses for family and friends.

"I thought it was going to be really difficult but my auntie showed me what to do and it was easy enough," she said. "It only took me five minutes to make one."