Make a St Brigid's Cross with the National Museum in Co Mayo

The National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park is hosting an afternoon of workshops exploring the popular tradition of crafting St Brigid's Crosses, on Saturday, 25 January.

There are two workshop sessions available at 2pm and 3.30pm on the afternoon. The workshops take place ahead of Lá Fhéile Bríde or St Brigid’s Day - which is coming up on February 1 to mark the start of spring in the Irish folk calendar.

Members of the Museum's curatorial and education teams will be on-hand on the afternoon to help people make their own cross and participate in an enduring tradition handed down through generations. 

Admission is free but booking is required. Email BookingsCountryLife@museum.ie or telephone the Bookings Office on (094) 90 31751.

With its origins in the older Celtic festival of Imbolc, St Brigid's Day was an important seasonal marker for our rural ancestors - signifying the start of spring, new life, fertility and growth. There are many traditions and customs associated with the feast-day. 

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Clodagh Doyle is the Keeper of the Irish Folklife Collection with a special interest in traditional calendar customs. She explained more about the ways in which people in Ireland marked Lá Fhéile Bríde.

"Irish festivals were always celebrated on the eve of the day itself because this was considered a very liminal time – a time when the otherworld was close to this one, so appeals for protection and blessing were extra effective.

"People believed St Brigid crossed through the land on the eve of her feast day and gave blessings and protection to homes and farms where crosses were hung in her honour.

“There were many regional styles and variations throughout Ireland with different materials used. Families would recite prayers, bless the rushes or straw with holy water and then each make the crosses. They would hang them over the door and around the home to welcome St Brigid.

"Leftover material from making crosses might be sprinkled on the land or incorporated into spancels and bedding for animals. Last year’s dried crosses might also be crushed and sprinkled on the land. Crosses were hung in the byre as well as the home, so St Brigid would provide protection for animals as she passed.

"Some households would leave out a small piece of cloth or a ribbon on the windowsill, called a Brat Bríde or Ribín Bríde. As St Brigid crossed through the country on the eve of her feast, she would touch the Brat Bríde, endowing it with special curative properties to ward off illness and pain in both humans and animals. It was kept safe throughout the year and used for healing or incorporated into clothing to offer protection to the wearer."

The Museum has an ongoing display that explores St Brigid's Day customs as well as a special temporary display of St Brigid's Crosses, to demonstrate the regional styles and variations throughout Ireland and the different materials used.

There will also be free guided tours of the Irish Folklife Collection at 2pm and 3pm on the day.  

Visit www.museum.ie for further information. View an online gallery of St Brigid's Crosses from the Irish Folklife Collection available here - St Brigid's Crosses | National Museum of Ireland.