How to Create a Brighid's Cross

 Goddess or Saint, legend or real living person, Brighid (pronounced "breed") is honored on the first and second days of February. Her name is known across western Europe as Brid, Bridget, Bridey, Brigitte, Bergitte, Beran, Fraid or Vrain; sometimes conflated with Branwen, Bronwyn, Boudicca or Brittania. She is believed by Catholics to be a nun, perhaps the midwife for the Virgin Mary. Irish folks honored her as the bringer of soringtime, a woman versed in smithcraft, brewing, poetry, motherhood, and dairying. Bridget is the Goddess of Fire and passion and music, which might be the same thing. In the old days, women left beds for a "Bridey doll", a small poppet constructed of corn (wheat) stalks, left their scarves outside for Bridget to bless, and looked for her footsteps in the cold morning ashes. And of course, constructed Bridget's Crosses of rushes, straw, or here in the USA, corn (maize) shucks. The how-to is below.

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