Happy St. Brigid's Feast Day!

Today is St. Brigid of Ireland's feast day. Born around 450 and died around 525; her first years of life were coincident with St. Patrick's life. Which is why Brigid's mother was Christian. Brigid lived a devout life as the daughter of a slave and the lord of the manor. He made sure she was educated and tried to arrange a good marriage for her -- but Brigid had other ideas and eventually was allowed to become a nun. She founded many convents throughout Ireland and is probably only second to St. Patrick as well-loved Irish saints go.

This is one of StringBean's patron saints, so we always do a bit more for those. Today we read a lovely book called Brigid's Cloak -- which is an interesting blend of pagan and Christian legend. We will act out this story tonight for Dad, Granmere and Kotch -- aren't they lucky? We also made Brigid's Crosses -- which traditionally are made with rushes or grass, but which we made with chenille stems (used to be called "pipe cleaners"). The benefit of the chenille stems is that they're a bit easier to maneuver and you can mold them a bit to what you want the cross to look like.

We'll make spaghetti (after all, the feast day beneficiary is the one who chooses dinner), BarmBrack (which is REALLY good and then we get in a spot of "cooking math") and watch Darby O'Gill after the first (and only) performance of our version of "Brigid's Cloak".