SNIPPET: Per Olive SHARKEY in the 1996 #2 issue of "Irish Roots" magazine published in Cork -- St. Brigid's feast day, February the first, has always been celebrated in Ireland, and still is in some homes. It appears to be the christianisation of one of the focal points of the agricultural year: the first day of spring and the farming year, marked in olden times not only by the fashioning of St. Brigid's crosses, but also by the 'turning of the sod' - the first piece of earth to be turned over in anticipation of the ploughing, a ritualistic occasion on many farms. Armed with a spade and accompanied by his family, the farmer went out to the field with due solemnity and turned the first sod. Prayers generally accompanied ritual, and the ploughing itself often commenced forthwith, weather permitting. In the home St. Brigid's Day eve was an important day for the children. When they arrived in from helping on the land, or from school, they immediately launched themselves in cross-making. This was a skill handed down from parent to child, and varied little from household to household within a district, though there were regional variations. The crosses were fashioned from green rushes collected from fields where they sometimes flourished in abundance, or from freshwater sources. Crosses varied in design from the standard, widely known four-legged specimen adopted by RTE, Ireland's national broadcasting service, as its emblem back in the 1960s, to lozenge-(diamond) shaped, and even three-legged varieties. (In the magazine she draws six variations). Ms. SHARKEY mentions that on a visit to Minsk (capital of Byelorussia) some years earlier, she was amazed to see a replicated St. Brigid's Cross pattern one one of the sidewalks and wasn't sure of it was one of their traditional symbols or not.. Some historians tend to refer to the standard cross as a swastika, but it lacks the essential element of the swastika, that of the sharp bends on the arms. The three-legged cross was widely known in the NW of Ireland, and in most parts of Ulster, and always reminded Olive of the Isle of Man symbol. A much more complicated cross was known in a few parts of Connaught, also in Munster and parts of Ulster, fashioned by interlacing strands of straw, rushes or reed in a criss-cross type pattern. It has been recorded that where all the different types were known, they were used in different ways. The lozenge cross was hung in the house, the standard form in the cow-byre, and the interlaced variety in the stable. Each of them was sprinkled with water taken from the nearest well dedicated to St. Brigid, a gesture which ensured the safety of the occupants of the bulding in question be they animal or human. Crosses were fashioned within a plaited ring in parts of south Munster, whilst in Galway three crosses, presumably representing the Trinity, 'grew' out of a large plaited ring. Also in Galway, as in most other areas, the residue of cut rushes were not thrown out but were put to good use. Rush lights were fashioned from them (the spongy central stem of the rush was drawn through fat dozens of time until it became a limp candle of sorts, giving off a mere ten watt strength of light when set alight, but in the days of no electricity such a feature was welcomed. These lights were then set alight on St. Brigid's eve in honour of the saint. In homes where the crosses were fashioned from straw, the residue of that, too, was pressed into other use. Traditionally, such straw had curative powers. Strands of it were preserved, then placed about a child's head in the event of illness. The St. Brigid's cross has largely survived in one form or another, and is still be found sticking out from behind the Sacred Heart picture in many Irish kitchens. However, the "Brideog" has largely disappeared. Thsi was another symbol of St. Brigid, an effigy, also fashioned from straw, but dressed up as a doll might be. In later times, where the tradition survived, a doll was used. Whilst some communities were careful to make their Brideogs look attractive, others deliberately veered towards the grotesque. At the height of its popularity as a custom, the Brideog was carried from house to house by unmarried young women only, who presented the head of each household with a specially made St. Brigid's cross. Olive states that in her own county an unmarried maiden dressed up in white, and instead of carrying an effigy, represented the saint herself. (For more information about Ms. SHARKEY and her books, you can key her name into your browser). Derry-born contemporary poet Seamus HEANEY writes in his collection of verses called "Crossings" -- "On St. Brigid's Day the new life could be entered/By going through her girdle of straw rope/The proper way for men was right leg first/Then right arm and right shoulder, head, then left/Shoulder, arm and leg. Women drew it down/Over the body and stepped out of it/The open they came into by these moves/Stood opener, hoops came off the world/They could feel the February air/Still soft above their heads and imagine/The limp rope fray and flare like wind-born gleanings/Or an unhindered goldfinch over ploughland." Nowadays, per the author, some children hear of St. Brigid's Day celebrations in their school, but few are introduced to the old traditions at home. Olive remarks that in some ways it is good to see young people consigning many of the old ways to history, but in others "it is a great shame to see them lose so much of the sweetness and innocence of those less enlightened days."