Now spring is coming...
She was born on 1 February. The experts are united on that fact. But whether it was the year 451 or 452 is debatable. To this day, however, on the eve of this day, people hang scarves on trees and clotheslines, believing that if Saint Brigid touches them, they'll have curative powers, especially against sore throats.
Some 1,400 years after Brigid was born, the poet Anton Ó Raftery (1779 — 1835) remembered her in his beautiful Cill Aodáin, which begins:
Anois teacht an Earraigh beidh an lá dul chun síneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.
Is tar eis na féil Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.
"Now that spring is coming, the day will be getting longer / And after Brigid's feast day I'll raise up my sail." Let's go!
