What is Saint Brigid's Day?
Saint Brigid's Day honours Brigid of Kildare, one of the three patron saints of Ireland alongside Patrick and Columba. Tradition describes her as a fifth- and early sixth-century abbess who founded a monastery at Kildare and who was remembered for her charity, hospitality and care for the poor. Many legends have grown around her, and she is also linked to an older Celtic goddess of the same name. The day is also associated with fire, wells and healing in older folk tradition. She is often described as Mary of the Gael.
The date, 1 February, coincides with Imbolc, an ancient Gaelic festival marking the beginning of spring and the start of the lambing season. Traditional customs include making Brigid's crosses from rushes, woven in a distinctive four-armed pattern and hung over the door or in the home for protection, and the placing of a cloth, the Brat Bríde, outside overnight to receive her blessing. Visitors to Kildare can see the Solas Bhríde centre, which carries on the saint's memory, and the day is also marked in other Irish communities abroad. Rural communities have kept the rush-cross custom alive for generations.
Why it is observed
The cult of Brigid is among the oldest in Ireland, and her feast on 1 February has long been observed. For centuries it was a day marking the beginning of spring and the agricultural year. Its status as a public holiday is recent. In 2022 the Irish government announced a new holiday to give workers a long weekend at the start of the year, and it chose Brigid, so that the holiday would be named for a woman for the first time. The holiday was first observed on Monday 6 February 2023, and each year it falls on the first Monday in February or on the Friday if 1 February is a Friday.
How the date is set
Saint Brigid's Day itself is 1 February, but the Irish public holiday is the first Monday in February, unless 1 February is a Friday, in which case the public holiday is that Friday.
How it is observed
Saint Brigid's Day is a public holiday in Ireland. Banks, public offices and schools are closed, and many shops and restaurants are open, though some close. Public transport runs on a holiday schedule, and there are events, including the Brigid festival in Kildare and Dublin, with talks, exhibitions and concerts that celebrate the saint and female creativity. In Northern Ireland the day is not a public holiday. Entitlements to pay or time off depend on the Irish public holiday rules, the employer and the contract. Visitors may find the weekend busy.
Ireland