Our worldwide Matron of honour
Celebrations for Celtic goddess to rival Paddy’s Day
PADDY’S Day is now one of the world’s biggest festivals, celebrated from London to LA.
Our patron saint is internationally famous – but the time has come for our matron saint to shine.
St Brigid is rivalling St Patrick on the global stage this year, with celebrations to mark her national day tomorrow taking place in more than 80 locations around the globe.
With a new bank holiday in her honour, falling this year on Monday, February 5, it’s now the turn of the Celtic Goddess.
Ireland’s foreign missions are really pushing the boat out for La Fheile Bride 2024 with a series of innovative and exciting gigs that will run from tomorrow right through to next Monday.
Whether it’s music, politics, sport, science or poetry, Brigid – already a feminist icon – has it all.
The Irish flag will be flying for Brigid in places as diverse as Nigeria, Jakarta, Mexico, Miami and Beijing, while closer to home you can remember the great Abbess in London, Brussels or Madrid.
This is only the third year of the national holiday, which celebrates the role of Irish women in the world, and there is a co-ordinated programme of global events that highlight Irish female success in every field. For sports fans,
France is the place to be this week, both for our first game of this year’s Six Nations rugby in Paris on Saturday and for St Brigid’s Day celebrations featuring some of our female rugby stars in Lyon in the days leading up to it.
Tomorrow, the Irish Consulate will organise a high-level panel discussion in partnership with the City of Lyon to highlight the importance of increasing the participation of women and girls in sport.
The Consulate has secured the appearances of Irish sportswomen Anna Caplice, former rugby international and current coach at La Rochelle, Nora Stapleton, former Irish rugby international and Women in Sport lead at Sport Ireland, and Hannah Craig, Olympic
finalist in canoeing and newly appointed Women in Sport Manager at Sport Ireland.
And politics will be centre stage this year for St Brigid’s Day. The biggest event will take place in Brussels.
CRAFTS
In addition to providing a space for Irish women to meet, it will shine a spotlight on a number of Irish females occupying key positions in the EU institutions, including Permanent Representative Aingeal O’donoghue, the Director General of the Legal Service of the European Council, Emer Finnegan, the Cabinet of the Commissioner, Patricia Reilly, and others. The St
Brigid’s Well art exhibition in Beijing, China, sees 97 women artists respond to a new poem by Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, which was commissioned by Hamilton Gallery in 2021.
This exhibition, open throughout February, is in support of the La Fheile Bride/brigid’s Day Celebration of Women and Creativity and will be partnered with Nanchizi Museum in Beijing.
Ms Ni Chuilleanain will travel to China for the events.
This year marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Ireland, while the Irish arts and crafts movement there is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Women in Design and Craft: The Art of Nurturing and Reinventing Tradition will see our embassy mark St Brigid’s Day with a weeklong set of activities putting in dialogue women artisans from both countries.
The objective is to have an exchange of experiences and knowledge regarding the conservation, practice and evolution of their traditional crafts.
In London, one of the biggest celebrations for Brigid features a proper hooley led by rising Irish music star Denise Chaila. And a panel discussion will explore the challenges and success of some key Irish women musicians and women involved in the music industry.
This will be the seventh year of official St Brigid’s Day celebrations in the UK capital.
And in the UAE later in February there will be a joint Brigid and Patrick celebration for our main saints.