The Day of Bride

On the first day of February, my father would gather the family together in the
kitchen of our thatched cottage in Balgarva, South Uist, and he would recite ove
r us the genealogy of Holy Bride, invoking her aid and protection for the coming
year:
Neither shall Christ leave me in forgetfulness.
No fire, no sun, no moon shall burn me,
no lake, no water, no sea shall drown me,
no arrow of fairy nor dart of fay shall wound me
and I under the protection of my Holy Mary
and my gentle foster mother is my beloved Bride. (1)
One was exposed to the elements and one needed the protection of all our friends
in heaven.
Bride was comely with golden curly hair and her beauty is lauded in our ancient
poetry, and her white palms would firmly bring healing to man and beast. Many of
our strongest prayers of petition would end with an invocation to Michael, Mary
and Bride, safe in the encompassing of her protection.
Who was Bride? Certainly there were many Brigits or Brigid in pre-Christian myth
ology and the Celtic goddess Dana was sometimes known as Brigit. She was the god
dess of the elements and she ensured the health of soil, crops and animals and t
he people throughout the year.
With the advent of Christianity the people had no problem in recognising the cre
ating, redeeming, loving God who created all to live with Him in the hereafter i
n complete bliss and happiness. A God who protected them in their daily toil was
a God they had always known, a God who caused the rhythm of spring or life unti
l the slumber of winter would give rest to the soil was familiar to them. They h
astened to give the attributes of their ancient gods and enshrine them in people
they could identify in their Christian lives.
So it was that in 452 AD a child was born, the daughter of a slave who was a Chr
istian, though her father Dubhthach was a pagan. Her name was Brigit or Bride an
d she was returned to her father when she grew into a beautiful woman. Eventuall
y she took seven companions to establish a convent and it is related that Bishop
Mel in error consecrated her a bishop! Hence the Crozier seen in her hand! The
King of Leinster gave her the land which became known as Cill (church) dara (oak
) - Kildare. Here she established an unconventional monastery because the commun
ity, instead of being cloistered, went out to work in the community. Bride herse
lf was obviously skilled with animals and was in demand when problems occurred i
n the animal kingdom.
The oak may well have been a pre-Christian sacred tree and the sacred fire of th
e monastery of Kildare may well have also been a pre-Christian fire, because in
early Christian days it was the custom to build the monasteries on the sites of
pre-Christian foundations. (For example, see St. Blane's in the Isle of Bute). I
t would have been an easy step to see the fire now as a symbol of the faith.

Against this backdrop one can see how the early Christians gave all the attribut
es of the pre-Christian Brigit to St. Bride. Very soon we find Bride awakening t
he soil on the 1st February (the pre-Christian festival called Imbolc):
Bride put her finger in
and away went the
and she bathed her palms in
and away went the

the river on the festival of Bride

hatching mother of the cold;
the river on the feast of St. Patrick
conception mother of the cold
or again:
Bride put her palm in it, Mary put her foot in it,
Patrick put the cold stone in it (2)

So Bride had a great hand in the rebirth of the land and spring sunshine, the co
ws grazing the new grass soon giving health giving milk. Bride was the patroness
of cowherds and the cattle were safe under her mantle. In ancient Europe the co
w was a great goddess.
Soon we find Bride in tradition taking an active part in Christ child's birth an
d after care, so Mary of the Gael was an appropriate new title. As we find her l
eading the procession with a lit candle when the Christ child was presented in t
he temple. She appears everywhere in the story of Christ's early years, giving t
he Celtic people an intimate part in the beginnings of Christianity.
The girls of the community would carry an effigy of Bride made with a sheaf of c
orn from the new season's harvest from door to door on her feast day, knocking t
he door and asking: "Is the bed ready for Holy Bride?" whereupon the lady of the
house would proclaim: "The bed is ready, let Holy Bride enter."
So Bride is at the very centre of Christian life in the tradition of the Celtic
people, ever awake and keeping a protecting eye on the rhythm of the seasons and
the rhythm of life and death to eternity. Little wonder that we were put under
her loving care at the very beginning of life each year.
Notes:
(1) The original Gaelic runs as follows:
Cha mhu dh' fhagas Criosd an dearmad mi.
Cha loisg teine, grian, no gealach mi,
Cha bhath luin, li, no sala mi,
Cha reub saighid sithich, no sibhich mi,
Is mi fo chomaraig mo Naomh Muire
Is i mo chaomh mhuime Bride.
(Carmina Gadelica vol 1 175)
(2)Chuir Bride miar 's an abhuinn L na Feill Bride
Is dh' fhalbh mathair ghuir an fhuachd;
Is nigh i basan anns an abhuinn L na Feill Padruig
Is dh' fhalbh mathair ghin an fhuachd.
Chuir Brighid a bas ann, chuir Moire a cas ann,
Chuir Padruig a chlach fhuar ann.
(Carmina Gadelica vol. 1 172)
Copyright: 1996 Canon Angus MacQueen
[First published in Dalriada magazine, February 1996]