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This ancient Celtic Goddess known as Brighid, (Brigit, Brid, Bride, etc...) is beloved to Ireland and the British Isles, as the keeper of the home`s hearth, patroness of healing, smith craft, fertility, poetry, and midwifery. Legend says that when she was born at sunrise, a tower of flame reached from the top of her head to the heavens. Her birth is said to have given the family house the appearance of being on fire. The household fire is sacred to Brighid, and each evening the woman of the house would smoor the fire, (cover it over to keep the fire overnight)` asking for the protection of Brighid on all its occupants. Brighid`s festival is Imbolc, or Candlemas and falls on February 2, and is the in between time after the winter solstice and before the spring equinox. It is the time the very first signs of impending spring become apparent, as the ewes and cows come into milk and prepare to give birth. This festival is usually celebrated by keeping a flame burning in the home, either in the fireplace or with candles to honor this fire Goddess, and invite her to bestow blessings upon the home. Traditional foods served during this time include dairy items such as milk and cheese. Many Irish households proudly display a Brighid`s Cross, an ornament made of rushes and hung in the home for protection, and to honor Brighid. She is one of the best historic examples of the survival of a Goddess in Christian records. During the time when Christianity moved into Celtic areas, her followers refused to give up their worship of Brighid, so the Church had no choice but to bring her into their fold by making her a saint. The most popular folk tale being that she was midwife to the Virgin Mary, and thus was always invoked and prayed to by woman in labor. There had been a shrine dedicated to the Goddess Brighid at Kildare, Ireland with a Perpetual Flame tended by 19 virgin priestesses called Daughters of the Flame. Their tradition was that each day a different Priestess was in charge of the Sacred Fire and on the 20th day of each cycle, the fire was miraculously tended by Brighid herself. When Catholicism took over Ireland, the Shrine became a convent and the virgin priestesses became nuns, but the same traditions held, and the Eternal Flame was kept burning. For over a thousand years, the Sacred Flame was tended by nuns, and no one knows how long before that it was kept by the priestesses. 11"x17" acrylic and Berol Prismacolor Pencils on Illustration board By Mickie Mueller.
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