Make a Brigid’s Cross
While the Brigid's cross is widely believed to be a Christian symbol its origin lies in much older traditions that celebrate the life-giving goddess, Brigid of the Tuatha de Danann. She is known by many names: Bride, Bridey, Brighid, Brigit, Briggidda, Brigantia,and Breet. She is the traditional patroness of healing, poetry, and smithcraft. She is a female solar deity associated with rivers and wells. She is known as The Mistress of the Mantle representing the sister, or virgin aspect of the Great Goddess. She is the Goddess of physicians and healing, of divination and prophecy, and in an older incarnation she was Breo-saighead, or fiery arrow, with the attributes of punishment and divine justice. In modern Britain, she is known as the warrior-maiden, Brigantia, and venerated not only as justice and authority, but also as the personification of Britain symbolizing the nation for 2,000 years, whose image is routinely mistaken for Boudica, Queen Victoria, and even Margaret Thatcher. There are three rivers named for her, the Brigit, the Braint, and the Brent in Ireland, Wales, and England respectively.
Brigid is the daughter of the Earth God, Dagda. She was born with the sunrise and was nourished on the milk of a sacred cow. She survived Christendom by becoming a saint, the patron saint of smiths, poets and healers. Sir James Frazer wrote of St. Brigid in the Golden Bough, “An old heathen goddess of fertility, disguised in a threadbare Christian cloak.”
The Brigit's cross is a Celtic Sun Wheel woven from rushes or reeds. They are oftem made at Imbolc and hung at the entrance of the home as a blessing and for protection. To make one you will need You will need 16 reeds, rushes, or pieces of straw. Click here for instructions