New bank holiday welcomed in Brigid’s birthplace

The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar confirmed that from next year there will be a new permanent public holiday established in celebration of Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day.

"This will be the first Irish public holiday named after a woman,” he said. “It marks the half-way point between the winter solstice and the equinox, the beginning of spring and the Celtic New Year.”

The bank holiday will be the first Monday in every February, except where St. Brigid’s Day happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday February 1st  will be a public holiday.

St Brigid’s Day has long been celebrated in Louth and surrounding areas by people visiting the Shrine at Faughart, the nearby stream with its penitential stations and the Holy Well in the old graveyard at the top of the hill, said to be the birthplace of the saint.

Traditionally a candle lit procession also took place in the evening as pilgrims made their to Shrine.

In recent years, the Brigid of Faughart Festival has celebrated Brigid both as Christian saint and Celtic godness.

The designation of St Brigid’s Day as a bank holiday has been welcomed by Dolores Whelan, one of the festival organisers.

"The introduction of St Brigid’s Day as a bank holiday is a significant step in the recognition of the feminine energy that Brigid represents and its importance in creating a balanced, more humane and equitable society and we in the Brigid of Faughart Festival are delighted with this.”

As part of this year’s festival, the annual pilgrimage walk from Sally Cox’s house on Mount Avenue Dundalk to Faughart Shrine will take place at 11am on Sunday January 30th. The pilgrimage walk passes through Fatima, Toberona and on to Faughart.

A guided tour of the sacred sites of Faughart Shrine also  takes place on Sunday at 2.30pm.

Booking on wwwbrigidoffaughart.ie

The new bank holiday has also been welcomed by Cllr Erin McGreehan, who described Saint Brigid as ‘”a formidable woman who ran her own church in Kildare, she is an inspiring lady."

”I am very proud and delighted that the entire country will now celebrate the life of a spiritual and inspiring woman.”

The move has also been praised by Cllr Maeve Yore, who commented “We in Louth know how strong, inspiring, healing and independent St Brigid is. Imagine it’s the first bank holiday named after a woman in Ireland.”