Forget St Patrick's Day – here's why you should head to Ireland for St Brigid's Day instead
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With crowded celebrations of Ireland’s patron saint no longer appealing to her, Nicola Brady discovers why St Brigid’s women-led festivities is worth a trip to the Emerald Isle. I heard them long before I saw them. I was making my way to St Brigid’s Well, a peaceful shrine beneath ancient oak trees in Kildare. But between the cawing of crows and the squelch of mud underfoot, I heard chanting, the clang of tambourines, and a steady drumbeat.
![[Grand illuminations fill Dublin during St Brigid’s Day celebrations]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/12/32/Brigid-illumination-in-Dublin-PXL_20240202_181123606.jpg)
I’d expected to see people placing items on the old stone shrine, but instead, I’d stumbled upon a group of pagan women (and one barefoot man) holding a ritual. They circled a fire, throwing rose petals onto the flames, and sipped ceremonial wine as they called in the sacred spirits. And they let me join in.
![[Aerial dancers scale the building on St Brigid’s Day]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/12/11/Dublin-BRIGIT2024-151.jpg)
This is St Brigid’s Day. Ask most people what they associate with Ireland, and St Patrick’s Day is probably top of the list. But I’ve lived in Ireland for 17 years, and when March 17 rolls around, I usually want to get the hell out of dodge. Call me a buzzkill, but I’m just not into the crowds, the noise, the American college students puking (or worse) on my doorstep.
![[The day is all about celebrating a sacred Irish woman]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/12/15/Dublin-BRIGIT2024-49.jpg)
Read more: The hottest new hotel openings in the UK and Ireland for 2025. I kicked things off at a candlelit concert in St Brigid's Cathedral in Kildare, a 30 minute train ride from Dublin. Over the course of the evening, some of Ireland’s coolest female singers performed in the nave of the church, their voices echoing under the vaulted ceiling.
![[Weaving Brigid’s cross then hanging it on your door is believed to bring protection to your home]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/12/53/Nicolas-Brigid-Cross-at-the-well-pagan-ceremony.jpg)
“St Brigid, I’m discovering, can be all things to all people,” said Lisa Lambe, a folklorist and singer with flame red hair, as she took to the stage before singing old Gaelic love songs. “A pagan goddess, a saint, and an empowering symbol of female leadership.”.
![[Procession in Dublin on St Brigid’s Day 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/12/32/Dublin-BrigitsDay2024_Preview-7.jpg)
