Editing Brigid (section)

==Brigid and Saint Brigid==
Historians suggest that the goddess Brigid was [[Syncretism|syncretized]] with the Christian saint of the same name. According to medievalist Pamela Berger, Christian monks "took the ancient figure of the mother goddess and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart," [[Brigid of Kildare]].<ref name="The Goddess Obscured">{{harvnb|Berger|1985|p=}}</ref>

The goddess and saint have many of the same associations. Saint Brigid is considered a patroness of healers, poets, blacksmiths, livestock and dairy workers,<ref name="Farmer"/> as well as serpents (in Scotland) and the arrival of spring.<ref name="Carmina1">{{harvnb|Carmichael|1900|p=169}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Jones |first=Mary |title=Brigit |url=http://www.maryjones.us/jce/brigit.html |encyclopedia=Jones' Celtic Encyclopedia |access-date=14 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090428023346/http://www.maryjones.us/jce/brigit.html |archive-date=28 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The saint's [[Hagiography|hagiographies]] "are mainly anecdotes and miracle stories, some of which are deeply rooted in Irish pagan folklore".<ref name="Farmer">{{harvnb|Farmer|2011|pp=66–67, 467–470}}</ref> [[Dáithí Ó hÓgáin]] wrote that the melding of pagan goddess and Christian saint can be seen in some of the saint's miracles, where she multiplies food, bestows cattle and sheep, controls the weather, and is linked with fire or thermal springs.<ref name="ohogain"/>

This theory is contested, however, with many scholars including Elva Johnston arguing that the significance of the pagan goddess has been exaggerated at the historical figure's expense. Johnston has written "the argument for the priority of the goddess over the saint depends on three interrelated points: firstly, that Brigit is not real, secondly that her lives betray that they are an attempt to euhemerise a pagan deity and finally an underlying assumption that a goddess cult is more empowering for the women of ancient and, by analogy, contemporary Ireland".<ref>{{harvnb|Johnston|2024|p=}}</ref>

In the late 12th century, [[Gerald of Wales]] wrote that nineteen nuns took turns in keeping a [[perpetual fire]] burning at [[Kildare]] in honour of Saint Brigid, and that this fire was kept burning since Brigid's time. It has been suggested this fire originally belonged to a temple of Brigit the goddess.<ref name="Butler's Lives">{{harvnb|Burns|Farmer|1998|pp=1–4}}</ref> The Roman goddess [[Vesta (mythology)|Vesta]] and the Greek goddess [[Hestia]] had perpetual fires tended by priestesses.<ref>{{harvnb|Wright|2011|p=75}}</ref> According to Gerald, it was ringed by a hedge that no man was allowed to cross,<ref name="Farmer"/> lest he be cursed.<ref name="Cambrensis1">{{cite book|last=Cambrensis|first=Giraldus|title=The Topography of Ireland|url=http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/topography_ireland.pdf|publisher=[[York University]]|pages=54, 59|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="CillDara">{{cite web|title=Saint Brigid: St Brigid's Fire|url=http://kildare.ie/local-history/kildare/saint-brigid.htm|publisher=Cill Dara Historical Society|access-date=28 December 2012}}</ref>

The saint is associated with many [[holy well]]s and [[clootie well]]s in Ireland and Britain, where small strips of cloth or ribbons are left as part of a healing ritual.<ref name="Healy">{{harvnb|Healy|2001|pp=12–19, 27, 56–7, 66, 69, 81}}</ref><ref name="Logan">{{harvnb|Logan|1980|pp=22–23, 95}}</ref> Celtic healing goddesses, such as [[Sirona (goddess)|Sirona]] and [[Coventina]], were often associated with sacred springs.<ref>{{harvnb|Koch|2006|pp=1488–1491}}</ref>

[[Imbolc|Saint Brigid's Day]] is 1 February. It was originally ''[[Imbolc]]'', the first day of spring in Irish tradition. Because Saint Brigid has been linked to the goddess Brigid, the festival of Imbolc is commonly associated with the goddess.<ref name="Koch2006">{{harvnb|Koch|2006|p=287}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=On the trail of a Celtic goddess: the Irish town celebrating St Brigid|url=
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/jan/31/st-brigid-in-ireland-kildare-near-dublin|work=The Guardian|date=
31 January 2024|access-date=3 February 2024|last1=
Smith|first1=
Phoebe}}</ref>

Saint Brigid's Day or ''Imbolc'' is traditionally a time for weather prognostication:
{{verse translation|lang=gd|
Thig an nathair as an toll
Là donn Brìde,
Ged robh trì troighean dhen t-sneachd
Air leac an làir.
|
The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bríde,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground.<ref name="Carmina1"/>}}

A [[tholus]] on [[Venus]] was named after Brigit by the [[International Astronomical Union]] in 1985.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Séaghdha |first1=Darach Ó |title=The Irish For: Is Brigid the only saint in space? |url=https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/st-brigid-bank-holiday-6285792-Feb2024/ |work=[[TheJournal.ie]] |date=1 February 2024 }}</ref> As the [[planetary nomenclature]] rules prohibit the use of national figures and religious figures from contemporary religions, this is a reference to the goddess rather than the saint.