Saint Ffraid, bless us on our journey.
Today it is Imbolc day, St Brigid's Day or even Candlemas Day. When we turn from the cold 31 days of January in the hope that the next three months as we turn towards the light and spring will get warmer.
Its Celtic roots lie in Imbolc, to the lactation of ewes. But although St. Brigid is an Irish saint she is also remembered in Wales.
She is Ffraid, (c.450-c525) Brigid, Bridget, Bride, Mary of the Gaels and is the patron of poets, blacksmiths, brewers, cooking and kitchens, and healers. A good all rounder of a saint, and with us on a daily basis in the kitchen!
I always knew her from St. Bride's Bay in Pembrokeshire and would often imagine the Irish 'saints' sailing over the Irish sea to teach the heathen Welsh. Often when you wander along the coast you will also find cromlechs hidden on the cliffs. They took my fancy as Irish people buried in sight of their homeland across the sea.
There are a large number of dedications to Ffraid in Wales, her cult was popular and seemed to have spread to many corners of Britain. T.D.Breverton quotes Giraldus Cambrensis the story of the 'fire of Brigid'. "That a perpetual fire was kept burning at Kildare,. It was surrounded by a circle of shrubs and no man allowed to approach it'
So the pagan Celtic fire lit on the night of the 1st February slowly evolved into the Christian Candlemas.
Bishop Cormac, in the 9th century, described Ffraid as a "goddess that the bards worshipped, for very great and noble was her perfection, her sister were Brigid, the woman of healing, and Brigid, the smith woman".
Breverton goes on to say that later on Ffraid was associated with the cattle cult and horned cattle and of course sheep eaten at her feasts.
Talking of fires, the Romans kept a perpetual fire going at the temple in Bath, the coal came from Camerton, strange how things fall down through history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6W2UfdNbQ0
I really enjoyed reading this. I hadn't heard of Ffraid, but I suppose her name mutated to Bride. Hadn't made the Irish connection with St Bride's Bay either nor heard of the perpetual Fire of Brigid. The only perpetual fire I know of is the one burning in the grate of The Warren House Inn, kept burning since 1845 when a spade of embers was brought across to the new building from the old the other side of the road.
ReplyDeleteIs that Carreg Sampson on the bottom?
Yes Jennie, always loved its situation overlooking the sea but there are quite a few cromlechs facing the sea in Wales. I am so thrilled to have my old Breverton book on the shelves again. When you come to think about it, the 'Celtic' branch of monks of the Christian church came over from Ireland proselytising. All along the coast from Scotland to Cornwall and then round to Brittany.
DeleteI had not heard of the perpetual coal fire. These days they would be prosecuted for air pollution.
ReplyDeleteThe Romans had quite an effect on the Bath countryside.
DeleteThat picture is just down the road from where I live!!!! There is a heol st ffraid in Cardigan too!
ReplyDeleteLucky you living in that area. Carreg Sampson is a spectacular cromlech. There seemed to be quite a few churches dedicated to her as well. ostly we only hear of the Irish Brigid so it is somewhat surprising to find a Welsh saint with similar history.
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