Brigid

by Brian Wright

Brigid of Kildare, Ireland, is uniquely venerated as both a goddess and a saint throughout Ireland, Europe and the USA. Often referred to as Mary of the Gael and considered the second most important saint in Ireland after St Patrick, her widespread popularity has led to the creation of more traditional activities than any other saint; some of which survive to this day. As a result of original historical and archaeological research Brian Wright provides a fascinating insight into this unique and mysterious figure. This book uncovers for the first time when and by whom the goddess was 'conceived' and evidence that St Brigid was a real person. It also explains how she 'became' a saint, her historical links with the unification of Ireland under a High King in the first century and discusses in depth her first documented visit to England in AD 488.

Today, Brigid remains strongly connected with the fertility of crops, animals and humans and is celebrated throughout the world via the continuation of customs, ceremonies and relics with origins dating back to pre-Christian times. Using a combination of early Celtic history, archaeology, tradition and folklore from Ireland, Britain and other countries, this comprehensive study unravels the mystery of a goddess and saint previously complicated by the passage of time.

• ISBN10: 1322534179
• ISBN13: 9781322534176
• Publish Date: 1 January 2011 (first published 7 September 2009)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 9 June 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: History Press (SC)
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

FINALLY!!!

Deep Breath. I'm going to try not to channel my ranty sarky slightly sweary self too much.

It's not a badly written book, however it suffers badly from a few things,

ALTAR FFS not Alter. To Alter is to change, you don't set up a little alter (p236) you set up an Altar.

CITATION PLEASE, pretty please, with sugar on top? This book made me want to stamp it all over with this (and now I understand the people on Wikipedia who do this to articles), "it is thought" and "there are some theories" should have citations. Seriously, the author is supposed to be a fecking lecturer, this is shoddy work.

Use of the word Celtic and traditional made me quite ranty. Celtic covers a lot of ground and they are not all the same. There was no Greater Celtic Supernation.

The bibliography missed out on the Folklore commission information in the "further reading" section, so here: http://www.ucd.ie/irishfolklore/en/ add this to your store. He mentions it in the text, but no mention of how to get to it.

He doesn't get the séimhiú or h in the Irish language and how it works. It's not the Bhaírds, it's Baírds, and anyway you can use Bard, it's a legit translation. "An Claiḋeaṁ Soluis" is written in modern Irish as An Claidheamh Soluis, not Claideam, this is basic stuff that Irish folk (and to a large extent a quick internet check) will tell you!

I couldn't really put my finger on it, but this book rubbed me up the wrong way, it didn't ring right, or true, and it just made me want to have a long chat with the author, probably also with Sean O Duinn (whose book Rites of Brigid I would actually recommend over this one and that he doesn't include in his "further reading" section.

The thesis that Brigid is an import from fleeing British Druids is interesting and sounds like one that could do with a bit of research, but it needs proper reserch with CITATIONS!!!

Scores a Must Try Harder from me, and made me quite ranty while reading it. I read it in small bursts and nearly gave up several times, but resisted. When I finished it there would have been a happy dance if I hadn't been in work.

I failed not to channel snark and annoyance, oops.