Index Home Join IPCC

PRESS RELEASE 31st January 2007

PRESS RELEASE 31st JANUARY 2007

Celebrate St Bridget's Day by Making the Traditional Bridget's Cross

Thrusday 1st February is St Bridget's Day and is technicallay the first day of spring. Why not celebrate this year by trying your hand at making a St Bridget's Cross. You can find full instructions on the web site of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council by visiting www.ipcc.ie/bicartpr3.html

A custom in Ireland on St Bridget's Day is the making of crosses out of rushes for hanging above the entrances to dwellings and byres to invoke the help of St Bridget in warding off disease. Rushes were traditionally used to make the St Bridget's Cross. A bundle of rushes (Juncus effusus) were pulled rather than cut form wetlands and bogs and woven to make the cross.

St Bridget's crosses offer protection from fire, lightning, infectious diseases and the evil eye.

There are three main styles of St Bridget's Cross, each popular in different parts of Ireland, but today the best known is the "sun wheel or swasticka" cross, which was used for many years as the logo of Radio Telefis Eireann. Other designs include the Diamond and the Interlace crosses.

Rushes can be hard to get for city dwellers so ordinary drinking straws are a good substitute. Use rubber bands to tie up the ends.

Rushes could be seen as the emblem of Irish wetlands and bogs. Many people think the bogs are only good for the turf they contain which can be burned to keep one's home warm. The Irish Peatland Conservation Council aims to raise awareness of other values of our boglands including the wonderful craft tradition of the St Bridget's Cross. At our Nature Centre, in Co. Kildare, the birthplace of St Bridget, we show young people and adults how to celebrate their peatland heritage through craftwork, story telling and visits to the living bogs in our neighbourhood. It's our pleasure to help people begin their love affair with our wonderful boglands.

ENDS

For further information please contact:
Irish Peatland Conservation Council
Bog of Allen Nature Centre
Lullymore
Rathangan
Co. Kildare
Ireland
Tel 045-860133
Fax: 045-860481

www.ipcc.ie

bogs@ipcc.ie

Action for Bogs & Wildlife