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The Rites of Brigid: Goddess and Saint
"February 1st was the feast of Imbolg in the old Celtic year and it marked the beginning of Spring. It was Christianised eventually and adapted as the Feast of St. Brigid. A large variety of customs and traditions are still associated with the feast till this day, many of which date back to the pagan Celtic days." In this book, Sean O. Duinn collects these rites and rituals, describes them and shows their relevance at various stages in history and today. He also identifies the places and areas associated with particular customs and traditions.
260 pages, Paperback
First published July 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 16, 2020
One of the two books about Brigit I recommend people read first. The other is Morgan Daimler's Pagan Portals: Brigid - Meeting The Celtic Goddess Of Poetry, Forge, And Healing Well. One is written by a Catholic monk, the other by an Irish Polytheist Pagan. And there is a great meeting of the minds between the two of them.
June 14, 2023
This is an incredibly detailed book. If you're not familiar with the geography of Ireland, it may help to keep a map nearby. Occasionally the author goes on a bit of a tangent without a clear transition, but I was always able to understand the connection in the end. Read if you have patience, a little experience reading academic texts, and want all the particulars. This is what to read about Brigid after exhausting the overviews.
February 7, 2015
How many ways is this book terrible? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS.
1) The editing was TERRIBLE.
2) The use of sources was abominable. There was not a single thing from the decade the book was published, and most of it was super-outdated.
3) The organization was non-existent.
Brother Sean here hit his stride when he put aside his convoluted efforts at analysis and just told stories. He quoted quite a lot of oral history at length, putting together really colorful pictures of the rituals associated with St. Brigid in different parts of Ireland, and he included great stories about both saints' lives and about Celtic gods. Then he would try to link those stories to something in the Rig Veda, Roman accounts of Celtic religion and 1920s Catholic practice all at once and it all just fell apart.
In the introduction he claimed that his goal was to show how Brigid's rituals came out of the mix of Catholicism and Celtic practices along with the agricultural society of Ireland. But he tried to cover the whole of Irish history as well as linking Brigid to grand global myths that he doesn't really have any evidence for and it ends up being a mess.
1) The editing was TERRIBLE.
2) The use of sources was abominable. There was not a single thing from the decade the book was published, and most of it was super-outdated.
3) The organization was non-existent.
Brother Sean here hit his stride when he put aside his convoluted efforts at analysis and just told stories. He quoted quite a lot of oral history at length, putting together really colorful pictures of the rituals associated with St. Brigid in different parts of Ireland, and he included great stories about both saints' lives and about Celtic gods. Then he would try to link those stories to something in the Rig Veda, Roman accounts of Celtic religion and 1920s Catholic practice all at once and it all just fell apart.
In the introduction he claimed that his goal was to show how Brigid's rituals came out of the mix of Catholicism and Celtic practices along with the agricultural society of Ireland. But he tried to cover the whole of Irish history as well as linking Brigid to grand global myths that he doesn't really have any evidence for and it ends up being a mess.
September 16, 2012
An interesting and mostly unbiased account of the practices involving Brigid both in modern and older times, he looks at the evolution of some practices and the variation around the country.
It's well researched and largely free of bias, the portions that reference what little is known about Brigid as Goddess are fairly free of condemnation of delusion or anything like that that you would expect from a Catholic Cleric writing about paganism. I also found it an engaging read and one that didn't get too bogged down in detail but still packed with interesting facts.
It's well researched and largely free of bias, the portions that reference what little is known about Brigid as Goddess are fairly free of condemnation of delusion or anything like that that you would expect from a Catholic Cleric writing about paganism. I also found it an engaging read and one that didn't get too bogged down in detail but still packed with interesting facts.
March 3, 2010
Amazing comparisons and stories...Love the inclusion of Gaelic with English translations
September 2, 2010
Well written but mainly focuses on the Saint aspect of Brigid~
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May 29, 2014Fine history and writing. Just not something I need to read a whole book about.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews