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Brighid

One of the most well known goddesses in the Irish Celtic pantheon, Brighid is one the children of the Dagda. In some tales, Dagda had three daughters named Brighid, but truly these were just her three aspects. One aspect presides over healing and midwifery, one over poetry and inspiration and one over craftsmanship. Besides her more high minded associations, Brighid was also conceived of as an earth/fertility goddess, mostly by the peasants of that time. She is also associated with the holiday of Imbolc on Jan 31/Feb 1, (today more well know as the Christian holiday of Candlemas) which in ancient times celebrated the milking of the ewes. Today it as viewed as the cessation of the cold and the beginning of new life.

Brighid is also a water and a fire deity. Her sacred wells still dot the Irish countryside where people used to give her offerings. Long into Christian times, there was a flame dedicated to her that always burned at Kildare. She was so popular that she became a saint in Irish Catholicism and is considered a secondary patron saint of Ireland.

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