Book Review: The Festival of Brigit

This is a book I found during my last trip to the library, and it made me all kinds of excited because I never even knew it existed, and I found it completely by accident. Serendipity. Off I skipped to the check out desk and brought it home for my reading pleasure, and given the season I wanted to get it read and reviewed before the big day next week, just in case there was something Very Important nestling in those shiny pages.

There was, as it happens. I realised I recognised one of the Brigit's crosses from my childhood, and showing the pictures to Mr Seren, he did too. According to this picture (from E Estyn Evans' Irish Folk Ways), it's number six. My nan (and my husband's nan) used to make them around Easter, though, although I don't remember them being called anything in particular. I remember making them out of wool or string and lollipop sticks, and I was never very good at it, really, but my sister used to make loads. It's odd, sometimes, the things that come back to you. I might have a go at making some with the kids at some point.


The Festival of Brigit: Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman
Séamas Ó Catháin

This is the same author who wrote The Festival of Brigit the Holy Woman (link to pdf) in the Celtica journal, which is full of lots of good stuff on Là Fhèill Brìghde. I also recently got hold of another article of his, which I did a mini-review of a month or two ago, Hearth-Prayers and other Traditions of Brigit: Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman in JRSAI Volume 122. Seeing as I'd been impressed by his previous work, then, I figured that theme would continue with the book.

The book is a fairly slim volume, consisting of five chapters with copious amounts of notes and references. Notes and references are always good in my book, so that always inspires confidence, and I sat down to read with enthusiasm.

After the introduction, I got to chapter one (naturally), and things began to look strangely familiar...Yup, it was familiar, because it's the article from the Celtica journal. Fair enough - still a good read, and full to the brim of all the folkloric kind of stuff that I'm interested in.

Chapter two takes a slightly odd tangent (I thought), in exploring Nordic and Finno-Ugrian connections with bears, and evidence of Irish hangovers of similar sorts of lore. Ó Catháin brings in the issue of the serpent ritual that Carmichael wrote about, drawing comparison to the symbolism of the bear waking up in spring, and the rite recognising the fact that the 'serpent' (i.e. maybe possibly a bear) is now becoming active as well. Generally the chapter left me scratching my head a little, but there was some interesting stuff on Norse/Irish parallels in inviting the spring season in (Ó Catháin gave Icelandic and Swedish examples, that bear a remarkable resemblance to the practice of inviting Bride in) that could've done with exploring a little more in detail, I thought - are the similarities indicative of a common Indo-European origin, or later influence from Norse settlers in Scotland and (to a lesser extent) Ireland? All in all, I was left a little confused here.

Moving on swiftly to chapter three, then, things started looking very familiar again. Yup...This chapter is the JRSAI article. In some ways this article is even more oddly tangential than the last, but there's still good reading to be had here. For the most part, though, a large part of it is only loosely to do with Là Fhèill Brìghde, but still relevant in a looser sense. Again, Ó Catháin draws comparison with Norse and Finno-Ugrian evidence, and brings up some interesting parallels, but in some ways it's lacking in anything conclusive or analytical.

Chapters four and five are a little more focused than chapter three, but are less relevant to the festival itself, really. Chapter four concentrates on tale types found in Ireland that bear similarities with Norse tales (of women being kidnapped from booleys, mainly), while chapter five concentrates on Brigit's associations with livestock (as well as other saints, like Columba and Brendan). There's a little bit about the brat Bride here, but overall, nothing that really grabbed me or kept me particularly enthused.

In the end, I was left feeling that there is something distinctly lacking here. This is a book that's really a collection of articles, whereas what it really needs to be (or what I wanted) is something much more cohesive. It would have been nice to have the first chapter expanded on, and the material dealt with in far more depth, and while the comparative material eventually made its point, I ended up wishing that he'd get to the point without so much waffle about things that didn't immediately appear relevant.

I just couldn't help but feel that the title of the book was more than a little misleading. Yes, it's a good read, for the most part - even if I didn't agree with some of the interpretations that were made - but I guess the title had me expecting something more focused on the subject matter it purported to be concentrating on. Having said that, I think it will certainly appeal to anyone with an interest in Brigit. Looking at copies of it that are available to buy, however, I'm not sure that the £200 price tag is really worth it.

OK, it's really not worth dropping £200 on, but then I'm not sure any book is, not really. I would say that if you can't get hold of the book from a library, there's still plenty to be getting on with if you start with the articles mentioned above.

Another update

It turns out that the last article was the first in a set...

I touched on some genealogical bits and pieces in the last article, so it got me thinking about maybe expanding on it, just to get a different perspective. I've stuck to a very narrow view, as it were, and concentrated on the earliest periods that I can, for the most part. Here:

Gods as ancestors

And yes, there are some awe-inspiring and amazing illustrations again...

Planning

Là Fhèill Brìghde approaches and so does the Spring; the trees and bushes are in bud, the rhododendrons have flower buds on them, the lawn needs a good trim...

So my thoughts are turning to what I'll be doing next week as part of my celebrations. Last year worked out pretty well, and there were a few things I thought I should've done with the kids and so on that I think I'll try - making a birds nest with them, for our spring picture (or sculpture this time), for one, and churning some butter with them again.

I have some supplies for the dealbh Bride, which I might try making with Rosie and Tom (if I can persuade him to make a doll - I'm not sure that's really his thing, but then again, kids don't need much excuse to play with glue...). And I have a vague idea of weaving a basket, somehow, but I'm not sure quite how yet. I might actually weave it with strips of clay, so I can paint and decorate it, or else I might do it properly if I can find a basket weaving kit, or something like that. Something simple, that even a child could manage...

One of the biggest things I've decided I want to do is tie in the sowing I'm planning on doing for this year with my celebrations. My efforts with the veg last year was a moderate success (in terms of carrots, radish, onions and leeks - not much else unless tiny buds of broccoli and cauliflower count. Oh, a pepper! I got one whole red pepper, too...), and I want to try and solidify it all a little. So it makes sense to consecrate the seed on the day of Là Fhèill Brìghde, and then get sowing on the Friday, to maximise the auspiciousness, as it were.

Last year I was far too ambitious, so I'm keeping it simple, I think, and sticking with onions, carrots and leeks for the most part. Maybe a few turnips again, too. The strawberries are springing back to life but I'm not sure if the other fruits I've got in the garden have survived; only time will tell on that.

Aside from that, it's business as usual, I think.

*Oink oink*

What else is there to do when you have swine flu than...do another article? This time, illustrated!

The swine flu (suspected, I should say) hasn't been so bad, but not a joyous occasion either - especially when the whole household comes down with it at pretty much the same time. Aaaand, I finally managed to get hold of Nagy's Wisdom of the Outlaw, only to have it recalled for another user. Aside from a quick skim I haven't managed to even get started reading it yet. So close, yet so far...Luckily my husband managed to leave his phone in a bookshop in Glasgow while he was working there yesterday, so he'll be able to drop the book off while he's in the city today and save me a flu-ridden train ride myself. Not that I'd complain about having to go to the library. I could do with a day to myself.

Anyway. As usual I started reading up on one thing and got completely sidetracked into writing about something else, probably because this one was easier to tackle in some ways. It started with me finding an article called Bendacht dee agus andee fort (i.e. Blessings of the gods and ungods on you) and ended with me thinking about how the gods are so closely tied to the land (every day's a party in my brain, I can tell you), and wondering what that would look like on paper. Well, 'puter. If anything, I thought it might be interesting from the perspective of looking at possible ancestral deities.

This resulted in me scribbling down a map and charting the places that the gods are said to inhabit (or have died, or created etc), which - with the aid of a hastily downloaded open source image editor - spawned:

Gods of Landscape and Lore

I'm sure there's a helluva lot more that could be added, but space constraints and Google maps limits me somewhat. So mainly I've concentrated on places and mountains, rather than the smaller features like plains that are harder to locate.

Other than that, I've been having some festive thoughts, and thoughts about getting back into the garden and so on, but that will have to wait for another exciting installment here on the Days of Seren's Life...

And in other news...

 Hacker translates DUP website into Irish:

A language activist has hacked into three DUP websites, temporarily translating their homepages into Irish.

On one, Peter Robinson was shown introducing himself in the language.

"Is mise Peadar Robinson agus tugaim tacaiocht don Acht na Gaelige" is translated as "I am Peter Robinson and I support an Irish Language Act".

The (alleged) hacker's twitter is here.