Brigid’s Day

Brigid

Grandmother Elizabeth,
mother of my mother,
today on Brigid’s Day
I honor your Irish lineage, and mine.
Because of you, I took the name of Brigid
the name your mother gave you,
the name you hid, because “brigids”
meant the nameless Irish
immigrant maids in Boston.

Mother of my mother,
All your life you never met, hooray,
the expectations of society for women.
When they got married, teachers
were almost always fired, since
supposedly they wouldn’t need an income;
but with your husband injured in the war,
you supported the family, including
years they wouldn’t hire you to teach.

Mother of my mother, when your daughter
disowned me at her husband’s decree,
you who married outside your religion
were the one who understood
what it was to disobey the family rules.
You stood by me, Grandmother,
protecting me from patriarchal ways.
Together we attended college, we defiants,
and how you surprised the world
when you earned your university degree
striding across the stage at eighty-five.

Mother of my mother,
they called you eccentric,
and it’s  likely what they’ll  call me too.
We gladly do not fit the common mold.
Misfit we’re named, instead of saying
the mold itself is much misformed.
What I think eccentric means,
unorthodox, uncommon;
too bright for everyday eyes.
Dear Grandmother so singular,
I join you as free spirit.

Mother of my mother, because of you,
I found the way of the Seabhean.
Today on Brigid’s Day I honor you.
I honor your mother, Margaret Murray,
and her mother, Ellen Hayes who crossed the sea,
and all the mothers back and back in time on Eiru.
May Brigid’s fire change your shame to Irish pride.
May your spirit rejoice, on Brigid’s Day,
for a life that blazed with singular creative fire.

©Susa Brigid Silvermarie

Today in Ireland employees are entitled to the day off, a public holiday dedicated to a woman. It’s Brigid’s Day, recognizing her and Irish women’s contributions. Brigid the Goddess is associated with healing, poetry, initiation and fire. She is celebrated and revered for her nurturing, creative, and protective qualities.With the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, Brigid as deity was transformed into human saint.The Christian Brigid shares many attributes and stories with the earlier goddess, and her Catholic feast day (St. Brigid’s Day) was fixed on the day of the ancient Gaelic festival called Imbolc, the cross quarter day (positioned midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox) which traditionally honored Brigid. Why should it matter today? Because the world desperately needs to bring back the honoring of women and the feminine archetypes of peace. Let Ireland show us the way!                Love, Susa Brigid