The Brigid of Faughart Festival is organised by a group of people, who came together in 2008 with the vision of offering different ways/events through which they and others might access the wisdom of Brigid (pre-Christian Goddess and Christian saint) in ways relevant to our contemporary society. While the personnel involved in the festival has changed over the years, the vision of the festival remains dynamically stable! The emphasis of this unique festival is to revisit and reclaim some of the richness of the traditions associated with Brigid of Faughart, in ways which are relevant to our lives in the 21st century, through myth, landscape, folklore, spiritual customs, poetry, music and dance. A deeper underlying aim of the festival is to act as a catalyst for the recovery of the presence of the Divine feminine within our daily lives. Brigid (Mhuire Na Gael) occupies a central role within the Celtic Spiritual tradition, holding the energy of the Divine Feminine, a central pillar of that tradition. At the start of the 2009 festival the group travelled to Solas Bhride in Kildare, and brought a light from the Brigid flame which had been re-lit in 1993. This symbolic act consciously reconnected these two major Irish centres of devotion to Brigid and reunited her primary symbols of Fire and Water.
The Brigid Festival has evolved and expanded over the years since 2009 and has become more embedded within the local community. Each year more people from the local area, other parts of Ireland and the world have attended the many events hosted in the different festivals. New people have joined our group each year adding their gifts and wisdom to the festival. We, the organisers of Brigid of Faughart Festival , are local people who have a great love for Brigid and for Faughart. We have a deep awareness of the importance of the wisdom embodied within Brigid (goddess and saint) and the need to integrate this wisdom into contemporary culture in ways that ensure them presence of feminine consciousness in our society. Over the past years specific themes have been explored in each festival; in 2012 “What does Brigid represent in modern Ireland? ” in 2013 “Brigid – Inspiration for a New Society;“ in 2014 Brigid Building Bridges -Challenging Conventions. In 2015 “Embracing Brigid’s Wisdom for a New Way”.
The theme for this year’s festival is “Brigid – Gathering us beneath her mantle and calling us home to self to soul and to our land”
A range of exciting and creative events on offer in this unique, modern festival will explore four different, yet interrelated aspects of Brigid.
It will celebrate Brigid’s legacy as Earth Woman, Healer, Poet/Artist and Spiritual Teacher and create opportunities to learn from her wisdom, through talks, workshops and other experiential events available throughout the celebration.
The organising group for recent Festivals includes Stephanie O’Hanlon, Regina Byrne, Maura Lennon, Jane Mc Evoy, Una Curley, Carol McElroy, Roisin Cotter, Sorcha Brophy and Dolores Whelan with Secretarial assistance from Karen McDowell.