Saint Brigid - Print the legend

PDX HIBERNIAN INDEPENDENT SPECIAL EDITION 

1 FEB. 2026 - SAINT BRIGID'S DAY (Lá Fhéile Bríde)                         

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A chara.

We have her to thank for our newest public holiday, St Brigid’s Day, but her reemergence is down to more than just a day off work, she’s cropped up in discussions around feminism, Irish identity, sustainability, food heritage, spirituality, the arts and activism. Author Kim Curran - Brigid - A woman born to be a saint. A goddess destined to rise.

For the millions around the world who are today celebrating Saint Brigid - “the most famous woman in Irish history” - the great mystery about who she was won’t matter.  

What matters is the idea of Saint Brigid. She was a Mother Superior with superpowers and status to match that of men. There was also Brigit the pagan goddess who couldn’t be held back from doing good. Saint Brigid is historical. Celtic Brigit is mythical. At least that’s what some people think. It’s very complicated, even for an Irish story. (Brigid and Brigit are interchangeable. Writer's Rules.) So, print the legend. More on that shortly. 

But first, the local celebration 

The folks at Irish Network Portland deserve a ton of credit for bringing a righteous St. Brigid's Day (Lá Fhéile Bríde) celebration to Greater Portland. As you can see above, this year it’s happening at T.C. O’Leary’s at NE 29th and Alberta. SPECIAL GUEST. Visiting today's festivities from the Irish Consulate in San Francisco will be Vice Consul Naoise Kenny. He’s the son of former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny. His dad  famously told President Trump in the Oval Office on March 17, 2017, "St.Patrick was an immigrant,"

 Meanwhile in Dublin 

Starting at 7:30 A.M. PST, today the Brigit Parade returns to Dublin for 2026. Since 2021 there’s been an annual festival in the capital called Brigit: Dublin City Celebrating Women. And what a parade. “At the forefront is Brigit Rising, a stilt walker embodying the goddess herself. The parade’s energy will be amplified by 50 First Skates, a collective of roller skaters.” 

Taking tomorrow off 

Businesses in Ireland are paying their workers a higher minimum wage this year ($16.75/hour) and facing higher costs for worker’s pensions. So, some aren’t wild about this tenth national holiday. “Now, on top of that, business owners face an extra public holiday and the costs that come with it,”said businesswoman Leeanne Connolly.

"Bringing the spirit of Brigid, the goddess and saint, vividly to life" 

Why can't she be both? If Saint Brigid’s dual identity is intriguing, there’s plenty that’s been written and said about it. As the man said in a John Ford movie, "This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

If you want just one reliable written source, try the Dictionary of Irish Biography entry on Brigid. To show how much more she is celebrated and venerated these days, here is what the contributor wrote in October 2009, “Brigit is no longer a popular model for young women, parents do not name their daughters after her in such numbers and the folk tradition is dying out.” 

Really? Tell that to the crowd at T.C. O’Leary’s this afternoon or to the parade goers in Dublin waving to Luna, a fully animated puppet standing 15 feet tall, inspired by ancient female divinities. Seventeen years after that dictionary entry was written, Ireland's first native Saint matters again.

But wait, there’s more

Kim Curran, the author of Brigid - A woman born to be a saint. A goddess destined to rise, told the Irish Examner, “She's quite a petty bitch at times. A leper she heals isn’t grateful enough, so she gives him his leprosy back.”...the deeper she dug into ancient texts and medieval manuscripts, the more the author realised Brigid deserved a radical reimagining. “There was this complexity to her,” says Curran. “She wasn’t this perfect, saintly woman.” 

Fin Dwyer, who produces the Irish History Podcast, went all in on the Mystery of Saint Brigid and came down on the side of the Saint being real and the goddess being made up. 

This exploration/explanation was published yesterday on the RTE website featuring Catherine Healy, Historian in Residence at EPIC (Irish Emigration Museum),  discussing the history, myths, miracles, and traditions associated with Ireland's female patron saint.  

BRIGID'S SYMBOL

There's nothing new about the status of Saint Brigid in Ireland. Brigid Crosses are ubiquitous. From 1961 to 1966 the national broadcaster RTE incorporated Brigid's Cross into its logo.