Lets not loose our past!
St. Brigid's Cross
Well, just because of the day that's in it, I thought I'd post on something that is a little less stressful than currency trading.
St. Brigid's Day
Today is February 1st, and in Ireland it is the feast of Saint Brigid for the Roman Catholic church. Traditionally, the night before on January 31st, crosses were made from rushes and brought to church the following day to be blessed.
Rushes grow in wet ground.
They were then taken home and usually placed over the mantle piece of the open fire, behind a picture. And it was likely to be a picture of the Sacred Heart or the Blessed Virgin Mary, or during a time it may even have been John F Kennedy 😄. Another cross would be placed in the byre or shed where the cows would be milked or housed for the winter. The St. Brigid's Cross was supposed to bring safety to the occupants of the house and the animals in the byre.
The freshly made and blessed cross replaced the old dried up cross from the previous year. Rather than just throw away the old cross it was supposed to be burned in the open fire of the house.
Old dried up cross from last year
Art and Craft Traditions
Old traditions are fading rapidly in the modern world. Many kids in Ireland now, don't even know what a St. Brigids' Cross is, never mind know how to go about making one. Well, I continue to do my bit every year to maintain this old custom. My daughter and I sat up last night in the time honored tradition, and made St. Brigid's Crosses. She has proudly taken it to school today to show the others. It will be the only one there, and she will certainly be the only child there to have made one!
It is more the art and craft of the tradition that I don't want to see lost, than for any particular religious reason. I'm sure many old traditions are dying out all over the world. I have a thing about tradition, especially a tradition with an art or craft attached to it. I do not want to see these skills lost. We should preserve them for future generations.
I would be eager to read of any fading traditions in your homeland. Particularly a custom that produces an art or craft that is rapidly fading. Lets not loose our past!
Happy St. Brigid's Day!
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It is nice to know your daughter shows interest to the craft and actually felt proud to bring it to school to show others. You must be feeling very proud. Anyway it is my first time heard of this tradition. Thanks for sharing this.
It was WONDERFUL to be in the PYPT group today and hear everyone's posts. I'm glad that I read this one!!!
It's lovely that you did this with your daughter and that she can display it at school. You might have a few of her schoolmates coming back with her to learn!!!! Girls always love those kinds of things :)
I think you should post a video on here - showing how you make it! You might have a bigger reach that way! That's a good way to preserve this tradition :)
Thanks for sharing today!
Yep @dreemsteem, PYPT is a great way to turn strangers into friends. You are very clued in girl, as one of my daughter's teachers asked if she would make her one for tomorrow!
And guess what? There is a video in production!! We started yesterday, but it gets dark so early that we ran out of natural light and had to abandon. She had a great time helping with the video production. We plan to finish it over the weekend as my daughter had dancing this evening after school :).
Sorry I missed you on PYPT earlier but sure there is always next week. Just do it, do it, do it .......... ;). Thank you.
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Reminds of when I was a boy. On Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter), we would make crosses made from palm leaves. They would be saved until the following year where they would be burned and the ashes used for the annointing and blessings performed on Ash Wednesday (the day after Shrove Tuesday or some say Mardis Gras).
Thanks for sharing.
Yes @sgt-dan the palm is burned here too for Ash Wednesday. I'll be honest, I'm not that religious but I love working with natural produce and in nature. Strange thing to say for a forex trader, but I guess it's the relaxation I get from it. Thank you.
This is brilliant! I remember all of the class making St. Bridget's crosses when I was in primary, I suppose that shows ya how old I am! :P. I think it's great that you're keeping that tradition alive! I'm not that religious myself but I am a big fan of traditions. They are our link from the past, through the present and on into the future. We are the one's who have to keep these traditions alive or they will definitely die out, which would be a terrible shame!
I've just been to your blog. Gr8 intro ;)
Thanks. :)
This is such a wonderful tradition!
I can imagine it being from Scotland that it's quite old.
It's also very interesting how they've implemented crafts into it.
Bless you for upholding it.
Awh thank you @lordnigel93 I'm so glad you liked it. I'm due to do a video on how to make the cross tomorrow, so that it will be embedded in the blockchain for all time :). Thanks again.