Past Event Blogs

Local historian and longtime friend of the Festival, Pat O’Rourke, guides us around the sacred sites of Faughart, from St.Brigid’s Shrine A91 Y771 and the Healing Stones, to the ancient Hill of Faughart, Brigid’s Well and Old Faughart Graveyard. (half a mile away)From the Hill of Faughart one can look south across to Dundalk Bay, eastwards to the Cooley Mountains and back to the famous Gap of the North and the mighty form of Slieve Gullion. All these locations are steeped in myth and folklore, playing a major role in the epic story of the Táin Bo Cúlaigne, where the hero Cuchulainn defended Ulster against the armies of Queen Maeve. Faughart played a strategic role in the military…

Greetings from Faughart (near Dundalk) regarded as the birthplace of Brigid in her Celtic Christian form 425 CE. However, Brigid has been a part of the spiritual landscape of this island for much longer. Brigid in her many forms over the millennium is associated with many places in Ireland...especially Faughart her birthplace and Kildare the site of her abbey. Brigid is a pre-Christian, pre-Celtic Goddess who embodies different energetic forms, maiden mother and Cailleach, at different times in the year. Brigid represents the Divine feminine within the many spiritual traditions that have evolved in Ireland over the many millennia. At Imbolc we celebrate the young vibrant Brigid who blazes through the land releasing it from winter sleep and…

This 2020 talk with Dolores explored the role that Brigid, as embodiment of the Divine Feminine, can and must play in the creation of a new society. Together we explored the values and qualities that set Brigid apart, as a woman who held a deep vision of what was needed to bring about fundamental change in society and the courage to pursue that vision. We discovered how each of us can bring this inspiration into creative actions in our own lives, reflecting the uniqueness of our gifts and personal circumstances. These are the qualities that are needed so urgently in our world today.