The gate of the year

Statue in stone of the goddess Brigantia, discovered in the site of the ancient Roman fortress of Blatobulgium, located near modern Birrens, in Southern Scotland. The object dates to between 120 and 180 A.D. and is now in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburg.
Brigantia was worshipped by the Brigantes, a Celtic population inhabiting the Northern part of England: both these names derives their origin from a root meaning “high”, “elevated”, with reference to the hills on which the settlements were located, but perhaps the goddess’s name means “the High One”. Her name can be found in the names of several rivers: for example the Braint in Anglesey, and the Brent in Middlesex, thus evidencing the goddess’s association with water and her function as bringer of fertility, which was bestowed by the sacred springs and wells.
The goddess Brigantia was probably associated with the Irish goddess Brigit, a divinity worshipped in several localities with different variants of the name. she was regarded as the daughter of Dagda, the “good god” of fertility, and in some texts she is described as a triple goddess or as a combination of three goddesses, three sisters, respectively associated with smith craft, healing and the art of the poet-seer. Some scholars retain that there was an all-female priesthood of the goddess, and that men were excluded from her sanctuaries, but the documentary evidences are too few to confirm this hypothesis. During the Roman age, Brigit had been probably identified with Minerva, of whom she acquired the iconography, with warrior weapons and helmet.
The name Brigit was later assumed by a Christian Saint, Brigit of Kildare, died probably around 525, about whom the historical documents are rather insubstantial and who seems to be a Christianized version of the Celtic goddess. It was said that her mother was a Christian slave and her father a pagan Celtic king, and that she was born at dawn when her mother stood on the threshold of their home (thus neither at day nor at night, neither inside nor outside, in a marginal, boundary zone). Around the child just born a light poured out. Many miraculous deeds were told about her: that she had traveled back to Bethlehem (both in space and in time) to serve as midwife at the birth of Jesus, that she had pulled her eyes from their sockets, to make herself so ugly and so avoid marriage, and then healing herself and regaining her sight, and that she used sunbeams to hang up her wet mantle. Even the name of her birthplace, Kildare, presents a double reference, being made up by kil (“church”) and dar (“oak”, tree sacred to the druids), thus signifying the superposition of the two spiritual traditions of Ireland. The figure of the Saint seems so inextricably fused with that of the pagan goddess that it is often difficult to separate them. Her feast, celebrated on February 1, was coincident with the Celtic ceremony of Imbolc, the celebration for the beginning of springtime (Monaghan 2004).

[Image: http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-037-663-C]




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Statue in stone of the goddess Brigantia, discovered in the site of the ancient Roman fortress of Blatobulgium, located near modern Birrens, in Southern Scotland. The object dates to between 120 and 180 A.D. and is now in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburg. Brigantia was worshipped by the Brigantes, a Celtic population inhabiting the Northern part of England: both these names derives their origin from a root meaning “high”, “elevated”, with reference to the hills on which the settlements were located, but perhaps the goddess’s name means “the High One”. Her name can be found in the names of several rivers: for example the Braint in Anglesey, and the Brent in Middlesex, thus evidencing the goddess’s association with water and her function as bringer of fertility, which was bestowed by the sacred springs and wells. The goddess Brigantia was probably associated with the Irish goddess Brigit, a divinity worshipped in several localities with different variants of the name. she was regarded as the daughter of Dagda, the “good god” of fertility, and in some texts she is described as a triple goddess or as a combination of three goddesses, three sisters, respectively associated with smith craft, healing and the art of the poet-seer. Some scholars retain that there was an all-female priesthood of the goddess, and that men were excluded from her sanctuaries, but the documentary evidences are too few to confirm this hypothesis. During the Roman age, Brigit had been probably identified with Minerva, of whom she acquired the iconography, with warrior weapons and helmet. The name Brigit was later assumed by a Christian Saint, Brigit of Kildare, died probably around 525, about whom the historical documents are rather insubstantial and who seems to be a Christianized version of the Celtic goddess. It was said that her mother was a Christian slave and her father a pagan Celtic king, and that she was born at dawn when her mother stood on the threshold of their home (thus neither at day nor at night, neither inside nor outside, in a marginal, boundary zone). Around the child just born a light poured out. Many miraculous deeds were told about her: that she had traveled back to Bethlehem (both in space and in time) to serve as midwife at the birth of Jesus, that she had pulled her eyes from their sockets, to make herself so ugly and so avoid marriage, and then healing herself and regaining her sight, and that she used sunbeams to hang up her wet mantle. Even the name of her birthplace, Kildare, presents a double reference, being made up by kil (“church”) and dar (“oak”, tree sacred to the druids), thus signifying the superposition of the two spiritual traditions of Ireland. The figure of the Saint seems so inextricably fused with that of the pagan goddess that it is often difficult to separate them. Her feast, celebrated on February 1, was coincident with the Celtic ceremony of Imbolc, the celebration for the beginning of springtime (Monaghan 2004). [Image: http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-037-663-C]