Joyce Fegan: The story of Brigid and Patrick is one of patriarchy on this land

 Brigid by Jef O'Riordan projected onto St. Nicholas church in Galway. Picture: Steve O'Connor.

All this talk of Brigid. We’re used to her day being February 1, the start of spring, the crosses, and now this year things have ramped up, there’s more chat about her than usual. They’re going on about whether she was a saint, was she even canonised, was she a goddess maybe, what even is a goddess, was she an Irish goddess though? Some people are even questioning whether the woman existed at all.

All that doubt and confusion and they’ve only gone and made a second day, a public holiday, this Monday, in her honour.

But there’s no parade. No grand marshal. No majorettes. They didn’t turn the Pyramids green nor Sydney Opera House. No one’s in the White House shaking a US president’s hand.

She’s probably not worth it. Mustn’t be that important so. Those confused, apathetic, “I’ll just keep scrolling” instincts are probably right.

And so goes the story of Brigid.

But not Patrick. He got the Rolls Royce treatment, Brigid barely got a push bike off us.

Major cities in America dye their rivers green for him and Manhattan holds a parade, up there with their major Thanksgiving and Pride street spectaculars.

We all got the shamrock pinned to our lapels in childhood, so fresh it wilted before your bowl of ice cream and green and orange jelly.

And the snakes, hook, line, and sinker, embedded in the national psyche is a yarn so preposterous that it’s too ridiculous to even question.

While we reserved podium position for Patrick all these years, Brigid didn’t even make it to qualifying

But that’s more to do with patriarchy than meritocracy.

As some split hairs over ascertaining Brigid’s dental records, while happily, and unquestioningly, pinning shamrock to their lapel, there are some facts at play worth mentioning.

About 1,500 years ago the church of Kildare was one of, if not the most, powerful institutions on this island. All faiths aside, and just regarding power and influence and sway, this Kildare
operation was a huge deal. There’s lots of evidence from many sources that make this case.

And another thing, all evidence also shows this power player was founded and led by a woman, and that woman was named as Brigid.

No shamrocks, no snakes, just hard, cold fact showing us the might of a very mighty Irish person.

Also, not up for debate is the cruelty and brutality of medieval Ireland. Women had the same status as slaves and children under the age of 14, in that they were considered “legally incompetent” and “dishonest” and “biased” witnesses in any disputes.

If you resisted marriage, you fell foul of your brothers or your closest male relatives because you denied them your bride price, like your dowry. 

Rape as a tool of oppression was used to punish women who chose church over matrimony

Catholic, atheist, lapsed Muslim, or devout Jew, all would surely agree that this Brigid woman must have been some character.

And yet, at the same time in Ireland, a man arrives over from the neighbouring island and starts to spread his message of Christianity.

Centuries later, we bow down in reverence to the man who saved us from our pagan ways, but history shows there was already a fair bit of Christianity in Ireland, namely on the eastern and southern coasts before this man showed up. But he gets all the credit nonetheless.

You know that feeling when someone passes off an idea of yours as their own in a work meeting, or over email, and even though you don’t seek the limelight, you’re seething, nonetheless.

Then we credit him with running the snakes out of Ireland. Off an island surrounded by cold water on all sides? But sure why let facts stand in the way of a bit of hero-worshipping?

That was always the way with Patrick. The kings gave his church more money than they gave Brigid’s.

And as with today, she was never going to be allowed to outrank Patrick, what with being a woman and all, and that whole thing about women not being able to be priests

So as the centuries rolled on so did the patriarchy. When the nationalists went looking to nation build and find a symbol for Catholic Ireland, Patrick got the nod.

Brigid’s church in Kildare had fallen into rack and ruin, only receiving restoration in 1875 — by the Church of Ireland — meanwhile, Patrick gets the gig of patron saint and his very own public holiday in 1903.

It would take exactly 120 years for his equal to have her day.

And it was a day that nearly wasn’t.

Herstory, a feminist storytelling platform founded by Melanie Lynch in 2016, campaigned for a public holiday day in her honour in 2019. A petition was launched, thousands of signatures were gathered and every politician on the island got a letter about the issue. In 2021, when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar tables the idea of a new holiday, her name doesn’t feature.

But Brigid is used to waiting and lapsing from power holders’ long and short-term memories.

The campaign kicked off again with men such as former justice minister Charlie Flanagan writing an open letter saying it was time the feminine and the masculine were given an equal footing on this land.

After all the names Patrick, Pat, Pa, Paddy is an enduringly popular one on these lands, whereas the name Brigid almost died off, with less than three girls receiving her name in 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017, according to the Central Statistics Office.

First her church in ruins, then her name nearly, just nearly following suit.

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And it isn’t that Brigid was an unremarkable person, but instead, a case perhaps of medieval misogyny making sure, she seemed irrelevant as the millennia moved on.

Brigid and St Brigid’s Day is ours for the taking. Whether you want to stick to the facts and honour this woman who defied an entire culture, tap into the goddess of the same name, or maybe even make your own meaning and imbue this figure with feminist qualities of your choosing — the choice is yours.

But just remember if you find yourself apathetic or eye-rolling, idle with no national or local parade to attend come Monday, fast forward to March 17, when you’ll be wearing shamrocks, eating green jelly, and talking about snakes, while questioning none of it.

The story of Brigid and Patrick is the story of patriarchy on this land.