The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #30219   Message #388356
Posted By: hesperis
02-Feb-01 - 12:36 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: songs about St. Brigid
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: St. Brigid In Song- got any?
No, St Brigid of Kildare is not the "fleshly incarnation" of the Goddesss, as far as I know :) but the woman shares a remarkable similarity to the ancient Goddess, particularly in the healing arts, and many people, when saying that they are the same, forget that a Goddess is immanent in everything, by definition, and Brigid of Kildare was a living, breathing person. (Maybe God incarnated in Jesus, and Goddess incarnated in Brigid.... there is no way to know.)

The fact remains that the Goddess Brighid (or Bride or other spelling variations caused by an orally-based society changing to a literate one) had the qualities of poetry, healing (especially midwifery), and learning, and that Brigid the person had those same qualities.

From the Brittanica "Brigit was taken over by Christianity as St. Brigit, but she retained strong pastoral associations."

The above quote does not make it clear that Brigid of Kildare was an actual historical person. it would be more accurate to say that the "worship" of the Saint Brigid might have become so popular partly because of the previous "worship" of the Goddess. The unlatined country folk would probably have considered her the incarnation of the Goddess, and taken it as a good sign that even she was a Christian.

This is all speculation, of course.

I am curious as to what in my original post led you to believe that pagans believe Brigid of Kildare and the Goddess Brighid are the exact same person? As far as I know, they don't. They do believe that the Achetype of the Goddess Brighid (Bride, etc.) became invested in the person of Brigid of Kildare.

Since it was obvious you were looking for songs about the Saint, I merely posted in order to bring the thread back to the top, and I am quite confused as to your response to that.