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Brigid's crosses are associated with [[Brigid of Kildare]], one of the patron [[saint]]s of Ireland. The crosses are traditionally made in Ireland on St Brigid's feast day, 1 February, which was formerly celebrated as a pagan festival ([[Imbolc]]) marking the beginning of spring. Many rituals are associated with the making of the crosses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/stbrigid/st_brigids_crosses.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701203511/http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/stbrigid/st_brigids_crosses.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-07-01|title=St. Brigid's Cross|website=www.unc.edu}}</ref> Traditionally they were set over doorways and windows to protect the home from any kind of harm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crosscrucifix.com/articlehome.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-12-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222140931/http://www.crosscrucifix.com/articlehome.htm |archive-date=22 December 2006 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
Brigid's crosses are associated with [[Brigid of Kildare]], one of the patron [[saint]]s of Ireland. The crosses are traditionally made in Ireland on St Brigid's feast day, 1 February, which was formerly celebrated as a pagan festival ([[Imbolc]]) marking the beginning of spring. Many rituals are associated with the making of the crosses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/stbrigid/st_brigids_crosses.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060701203511/http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/stbrigid/st_brigids_crosses.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2006-07-01|title=St. Brigid's Cross|website=www.unc.edu}}</ref> Traditionally they were set over doorways and windows to protect the home from any kind of harm.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crosscrucifix.com/articlehome.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-12-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061222140931/http://www.crosscrucifix.com/articlehome.htm |archive-date=22 December 2006 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== Design ==
[[File:St Brigids Cross.JPG|thumb|The arms of the "Swastika" cross are not parallel to one another, giving the impression of motion.]]
Brigid's crosses broadly refer to a group of [[Christian cross]]es woven out of straw or rushes. The exact shape varies greatly, but the [[National Museum of Ireland]] has identified eight basic shapes. The most popular of these is the diamond or [[lozenge]] cross, which is further subdivided into single and multiple diamond.{{sfn|O'Dowd|2015|p=55}} The lozenge cross has a wooden framework of two sticks crossed over one another, and a diamond of straw woven in the center. Sometimes, additional woven diamonds were added to the four arms of those crossed sticks.{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|pp=122–123}} Some historians have compared the lozenge shape to that of the Mexican [[god's eye]] or the Eurasian "magic square".{{sfn|O'Dowd|2015|p=59}}

Another popular variant is the "[[Swastika]]" cross. Rather than being set parallel to one another like a traditional cross,{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|p=121}} the arms of the Swastika cross are set at right angles from a lozenge or diamond at the center. These offset angles evoke the image of a wheel in motion and may have originally represented the sun, or "the great wheel in the sky".{{sfn|Kissane|2017|pp=258–259}} In certain regions of [[Ulster]], this spinning wheel imagery is evoked with a three-armed woven cross.{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|p=122}} This three-armed variant has been compared to the [[triskelion]], a popular motif in Celtic imagery.{{sfn|Mason|1945|pp=162-163}} In rare cases, Brigid's cross may be set fully inside a circle; this is known as a "wheel cross" or "St. Brigid's Bow".{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|p=125}}{{sfn|O'Dowd|2015|pp=55–56}}

Unlike other Brigid's crosses, which were typically made of straw, the interlaced cross is often made of rushes.{{sfn|O'Dowd|2015|p=55}} Unlike other forms of the cross which contain a woven shape in the center, the interlaced cross consists only of rush or straw strands woven into a Christian cross shape.{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|p=125}}{{sfn|O'Dowd|2015|pp=55–56}} Even simpler is the bare cross, which consists either of two bound plaits of straw or of two planks of wood bound together in the center by straw.{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|pp=125–126}} Occasionally, no straw is used at all: the Sehaf-Cross, located in eastern [[County Galway]] and [[County Roscommon]], involves two small sheathes of unthreshed corn are bound together by a split [[thatching]] branch.{{sfn|Ó Duinn|2005|p=126}}


== Folklore ==
== Folklore ==

Revision as of 23:12, 15 April 2022

Brigid's cross
Brigid's cross set over a doorway
A Brigid's cross symbol on a gravestone in Ireland
A three-armed Brigid's Cross

Brigid's cross or Brigit's cross (Irish: Cros Bríde, Crosóg Bríde or Bogha Bríde) is a small cross usually woven from rushes. Typically it has four arms tied at the ends and a woven square in the middle. Historically, there were also three-armed versions.[1][2]

Brigid's crosses are associated with Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. The crosses are traditionally made in Ireland on St Brigid's feast day, 1 February, which was formerly celebrated as a pagan festival (Imbolc) marking the beginning of spring. Many rituals are associated with the making of the crosses.[3] Traditionally they were set over doorways and windows to protect the home from any kind of harm.[4]

Design

The arms of the "Swastika" cross are not parallel to one another, giving the impression of motion.

Brigid's crosses broadly refer to a group of Christian crosses woven out of straw or rushes. The exact shape varies greatly, but the National Museum of Ireland has identified eight basic shapes. The most popular of these is the diamond or lozenge cross, which is further subdivided into single and multiple diamond.[5] The lozenge cross has a wooden framework of two sticks crossed over one another, and a diamond of straw woven in the center. Sometimes, additional woven diamonds were added to the four arms of those crossed sticks.[6] Some historians have compared the lozenge shape to that of the Mexican god's eye or the Eurasian "magic square".[7]

Another popular variant is the "Swastika" cross. Rather than being set parallel to one another like a traditional cross,[8] the arms of the Swastika cross are set at right angles from a lozenge or diamond at the center. These offset angles evoke the image of a wheel in motion and may have originally represented the sun, or "the great wheel in the sky".[9] In certain regions of Ulster, this spinning wheel imagery is evoked with a three-armed woven cross.[10] This three-armed variant has been compared to the triskelion, a popular motif in Celtic imagery.[11] In rare cases, Brigid's cross may be set fully inside a circle; this is known as a "wheel cross" or "St. Brigid's Bow".[12][13]

Unlike other Brigid's crosses, which were typically made of straw, the interlaced cross is often made of rushes.[5] Unlike other forms of the cross which contain a woven shape in the center, the interlaced cross consists only of rush or straw strands woven into a Christian cross shape.[12][13] Even simpler is the bare cross, which consists either of two bound plaits of straw or of two planks of wood bound together in the center by straw.[14] Occasionally, no straw is used at all: the Sehaf-Cross, located in eastern County Galway and County Roscommon, involves two small sheathes of unthreshed corn are bound together by a split thatching branch.[15]

Folklore

Brigid's cross is named for Brigid of Kildare, the only female patron saint of Ireland. Unlike her contemporary, Saint Patrick, Brigid left no historical record, and most information about her life and work derives from a hagiography written by the monk Cogitosus some 200 years after she was born.[16] The prevailing Christian folklore surrounding Brigid's cross involves the deathbed conversion of an Irish pagan chieftain, in some stories her father. While telling the pagan about the Crucifixion of Jesus, Brigid collected rushes from the ground and wove them into a cross, after which the chieftain requested a Christian baptism.[17] In another story, Brigid was bestowed a poisoned drink by a malicious woman, and she wove the cross to neutralize the toxins.[18]

Many of the folk attributes prescribed to Brigid of Kildare bear similarities to the pagan grain goddess Brigid, and it is likely that the legends and rituals attributed to the goddess were later mapped onto the saint.[19] In pre-Christian Ireland, 1 February, later Brigid of Kildare's feast day, was the date of the Imbolc festival, a holiday associated with agrarianism and the beginning of spring.[20] It is therefore possible that diamonds and lozenges were Celtic symbols associated with Imbolc, and that Christian forces added arms to evoke the shape of a cross, reappropriating these symbols with a Christian meaning and attributing them to the saint.[21]

Symbol

To some extent, the Brigid's cross has become one of the symbols of Ireland, along with the shamrock and harp.[22] The Brigid's cross featured in the idents used for RTÉ Television, the state broadcaster, from the original 1960 design until the 1990s.[23][24][25] It was formerly the symbol of the Department of Health,[26] and remains in the logo of An Bord Altranais, the Irish Nursing Board.[27]

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ Ó Duinn, Seán. The Rites of Brigid. Columba Press, 2005. p.121
  2. ^ Evans, Emyr Estyn. Irish Folk Ways, 1957. p.268
  3. ^ "St. Brigid's Cross". www.unc.edu. Archived from the original on 1 July 2006.
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 December 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ a b O'Dowd 2015, p. 55.
  6. ^ Ó Duinn 2005, pp. 122–123.
  7. ^ O'Dowd 2015, p. 59.
  8. ^ Ó Duinn 2005, p. 121.
  9. ^ Kissane 2017, pp. 258–259.
  10. ^ Ó Duinn 2005, p. 122.
  11. ^ Mason 1945, pp. 162–163.
  12. ^ a b Ó Duinn 2005, p. 125.
  13. ^ a b O'Dowd 2015, pp. 55–56.
  14. ^ Ó Duinn 2005, pp. 125–126.
  15. ^ Ó Duinn 2005, p. 126.
  16. ^ Bitel 2022.
  17. ^ Loughrey-Grant 2018.
  18. ^ Kissane 2017, pp. 259–260.
  19. ^ Berger 1985, p. 71.
  20. ^ Berger 1985, pp. 70–71.
  21. ^ Kissane 2017, p. 260.
  22. ^ Kennedy, Brian P. (Spring 1992). "The Failure of the Cultural Republic: Ireland 1922–39". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review. 81 (321). Irish Province of the Society of Jesus: 14–22: 17. JSTOR 30091646.
  23. ^ "Mailbag: New RTÉ Symbol Does Not Please All". RTÉ Archives. RTÉ.ie. 1987. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  24. ^ "History- at a glance" (PDF). RTÉ Facts and Figures. RTÉ. Retrieved 11 December 2015. 1960: RTÉ's logo, a St Brigid's cross, designed by Richard Butterworth is published.
  25. ^ Ryan, Vera (2003). Movers and Shapers: Irish Art Since 1960. Collins. p. 198. ISBN 9781903464380.
  26. ^ O'Riordan 1951, p.91
  27. ^ "Celebrating 50 Years Regulating Intellectual Disability Nursing". ABA News. 21 (4). Irish Nursing Board: 1, 3: 3. Winter 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015. St. Brigid, whose cross is the logo of An Bord Altranais

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cross of Saint Brigid.
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