From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
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An inspiring programme of cultural events taking place across the National Cultural Institutions has been announced today in recognition of the first Bank Holiday for Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day. As the first Irish public holiday named after a woman, St Brigid’s Day provides a unique opportunity to acknowledge the critical role that women have played in Irish history, culture and society.
In Celtic mythology, Brigid was a triple goddess – of healing, fire, and of poetry – and the Christian saint who took her name, born in 450 AD, carried some of those same associations as the patron saint of poets and midwives. As such, this bank holiday carries a dual opportunity to recognise the role of women through our arts and cultural heritage.
Our National Cultural Institutions have organised an exciting programme of events over the long weekend in response. This includes exhibitions at IMMA and the National Museum celebrating the work of seminal Irish women artists and political pioneers. IMMA will open Irish Gothic, a major retrospective by renowned Irish artist Patricia Hurl at IMMA. This marks the first in a series of solo exhibitions at IMMA that will focus on Irish and international women artists throughout the year.
The National Museum of Ireland – Collins Barracks will also present Bonnets, Bandoliers and Ballot Papers, which offers a unique insight into the changing role of women during the transformational first decades of the 20th century through the lens of artefacts in the collection. These are just a selection of the numerous events taking place at the National Cultural Institutions, with further details available on individual institutions’ websites.
There will be a range of community based events organised by the local authorities as part of their Culture and Creativity Strategies under Creative Ireland in Galway, Kerry, Louth, Offaly, Roscommon, Tipperary and Kildare. Herstory Light Show is leading festivities by illuminating a number of local landmarks with art of Brigid and Irish goddesses across several locations in Ireland. A giant Sliabh na mBan Cloak prepared by local women will be unveiled in Tipperary while Kildare County Council has planned a programme of events celebrating its unique links with St. Brigid.
Elsewhere, Herself – a large scale public ‘projection project’ – will take place in Galway on February 4th. In collaboration with local community groups, artists Shona MacGillivray and Jill Beardsworth have identified women whose lives and work embody the qualities that Brigid is known for. Individual moving portraits of each woman have been filmed and layered with visuals representing their ‘Brigid’ qualities. The images will be projected at dusk on the neo-classical courthouse building in Gort town square on the new Brigid bank holiday weekend. The project illuminates those women who work quietly in the background, nurturing, protecting, growing, healing, listening and making our world a better place to be.
Meanwhile, Mná100, a key element of the Decade of Centenaries Programme, have partnered with the Department of Foreign Affairs Irish Embassy in Delhi, India, to produce a short film piece on the life of Roscommon woman Margaret Cousins. Cousins worked for suffrage, the rights of women, and gender equality both in Ireland and in India. This piece looks at her lasting legacy in Ireland and India to this day.
A number of Irish Embassies and Consulates will also organise events this year, celebrating the pioneering role of Irish women in various aspects of life. The programme will showcase Ireland’s commitment to diversity and gender equality by celebrating the achievements of women, and acknowledging women’s contribution across the world.
Speaking today, Minister Martin said:
“I look forward greatly to the inaugural Saint Brigid’s Day bank holiday, also known as Imbolc, which heralds the beginning of spring, a time of growth and renewal. This presents a unique opportunity to reflect upon the vital role that Irish women have played in building, sustaining and inspiring our nation.
“I look forward to working with the National Cultural Institutions to further embed St Brigid’s Day into their annual programmes for 2024 and beyond.”
For more information visit ireland.ie.
From 2023 there will be a new permanent public holiday established in celebration of Imbolc/St Brigid’s Day. This will be the first Monday in every February, except where St Brigid’s Day, the 1st day of February, happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday 1 February will be a public holiday.
In Ireland, the first of February marks the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Lá Fhéile Bríde, St Brigid’s Day. Like many of other feast days of the Irish calendar, Brigid predates Christianity – her roots lie in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigid, celebrated at least five millennia ago. In old Irish, Imbolc means "in the belly", a reference to lambing and the renewal Spring promises.
Brigid was a triple goddess – of healing, fire, and of poetry – and the saint who took her name, born in 450 AD, carried some of those same associations. The patron saint of poets and midwives, by legend, she maintained a sacred fire by the monastery she founded in Kildare. Alongside St Patrick and St Columcille, she is one of Ireland’s three patron saints.
Brigid’s name can be translated as > the exalted one>. And, over recent years, her festival has come to be an exaltation of Irish women. From Washington to Warsaw, Sydney to Santiago, Ireland’s diplomatic network, in partnership with local communities, host a series of festivals each February celebrating the remarkable contribution Irish women have made – and continue to make - across the world.
The Chester Beatty is presenting its Annual Lecture 2023 in celebration of St Brigid’s Day. Dr Sara Parks will present Fragments: Lost Stories of Ancient Women on Wednesday 8 February 2023 at 6pm. Dr Parks will join online from Nova Scotia, Canada where she is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, St Francis Xavier University.
Friends of Crawford Art Gallery are hosting Lá Fhéile Bríde Workshop with Rosemary Kavanagh on Feb 1 at 11am. Join a unique workshop celebrating St. Brigid's Day and learn traditional basket weaving with expert Rosemary Kavanagh. Make St. Brigid crosses using field rushes, bull rushes, and heritage willow. Enjoy beverages and home baking while weaving in the beautiful library setting. For more information and booking details please visit Eventbrite.
Children and adults can participate in workshops that draw from the works on display and focus on the theme of hospitality. The workshops will take place in the Gallery's Long Room, and there will also be an arty-activity trail for children to explore and play with. This interactive trail will explore the themes of hospitality, wisdom, and warfare shared by Brigid. The trail and workshop will take place from 1.30pm – 3.30pm on Monday 6 February, no booking required.
Visitors can also take advantage of expert-led tours of the National Collection and exhibitions, with no pre-booking required. A special tour of the collection will be arranged to honour St. Brigid. The tour will specifically highlight the themes of women, nature, and mythology, and provide a unique way to celebrate St. Brigid's Day. The tours will take place at 2:00pm on Sunday 5 February and Monday 6 February.
On 5 February at noon, MTU Cork School of Music and Crawford Art Gallery present Music at Midday and what promises to be a wonderful afternoon of musical enjoyment. Featuring the opening movements from Franz Schubert's dramatic yet hauntingly beautiful 'Death and the Maiden' string quartet, MTU Cork School of Music and Crawford Art Gallery are delighted to present the next instalment of Music at Midday in the wonderful surrounds of the Gallery's iconic Long Room.
From 2.30pm to 4.30pm on Monday 6 February, musicians, Conor O' Sullivan and Karl Nesbitt will celebrate St. Brigid’s Day with traditional music, song, and dance.
On 10 February IMMA will present Irish Gothic, a major retrospective by one of Ireland’s most accomplished artists, Patricia Hurl. Greatly admired by her peers, but overlooked for decades, this is Hurl’s first significant exhibition and will present work spanning over 40 years of the artist’s career. Hurl’s work traverses the disciplines of painting, multi-media and collaborative art practice. The exhibition includes more than 80 works developed over 40 years and the work’s primary subject matter is the lived experiences of women. Using painting, performance, film, textiles and her own body, Hurl explores the hardship faced by mothers, sisters and friends: women warriors affected by horrific acts and often powerless to ease the suffering of loved ones.
This is the first in a series of solo exhibitions at IMMA focusing on Irish and international women artists throughout the year which includes Sarah Pierce, Jo Bear, Howardena Pindell, and Anne Madden.
For St Brigid's Day the NCH will present Rebel Irishwomen featuring Helena Moloney, Kathleen Behan, Maud Gonne with landless, Niamh Bury and Dr Mary McAuliffe in the John Field Room on 5 February at 3pm.
Rebel Irishwomen, the 1966 Claddagh Records release, brought listeners into the personal experiences, recollections and songs of three women who were particularly associated with the 1916 Rising. As Cathal Ó Seanáin wrote in the sleeve notes at the time, Helena Molony, Maud Gonne McBride and Kathleen Behan, were ‘among the militant nationalists’ who were passionate about Irish independence. Celebrating this landmark recording, this event sees the songs reinterpreted by artists Niamh Bury and the female vocal group Landless, with historian Dr Mary McAuliffe.
The NGI will open the exhibition St Dymphna. The Tragedy of an Irish Princess at 6.15pm on Friday, 27 January 2023.
In 2016, the Phoebus Foundation in Belgium undertook a large-scale restoration project focusing on an altarpiece triptych in their collection by Goossen van der Weyden (1455-1543). Dymphna - a legendary 6th or 7th century Irish saint was the daughter of a Celtic king. The Church of St Dymphna in Geel, consecrated in 1247, still holds relics associated with the saint. The altarpiece featuring scenes from the life of St Dymphna is the only work of its kind to focus on the life of an Irish saint.
NMI - Country Life in Turlough Park will present A celebration of all things St Brigid, a series of online and onsite events for St Brigid's Day on Saturday, 28 January that will focus on the traditions, and oral histories associated with St Brigid. The day will include a number of family workshops and talks as well as a display of St Brigid's crosses.
Hands-on History: 'Unconvertible Rebels'- The Women of Revolutionary Ireland Over the weekend, join Museum educators for Hands-on History: 'Unconvertible Rebels'- The Women of Revolutionary Ireland, an interactive handling session with objects from the Museum's handling collection that reflect a history of women's activism during the revolutionary era of 1913-1923.
This handling session will feature objects, such as bullets, pamphlets and badges, representing the many roles women filled during this turbulent period.
Celebrate St. Brigid’s Day by joining us for a special guided tour about the artefacts and shrines connected to Irish saints and how Christianity influenced the development of writing.
It is envisaged that following this inaugural year, St Brigid’s Day events will be embedded within the cultural calendar and programming for the National Cultural Institutions.