Shining Brigid’s light and wisdom in these challenging times

2024 is a special year marking 1500 years since the death of Saint Brigid. The festival also celebrates the ancient festival of Imbolc, announcing the beginning of Spring. The festival launch takes place on Thursday 18th January at 6.15pm in the County Library, Dundalk, everyone is welcome.

The Brigid of Faughart Festival is organised by a group of people, who came together in 2008, with the vision of recovering and offering the wisdom of Brigid and the values that she embodied, in ways relevant to our contemporary society.

The theme for this year’s festival is 'Shining Brigid’s light and wisdom in these challenging times'.

This unique modern festival offers a range of exciting and creative events through which four different, yet interrelated aspects of Brigid, Earth Woman, Healer, Poet/Artist and Spiritual Teacher, are explored. This year’s speakers include: Manchán Magan (author and broadcaster), Dolores Whelan, spiritual teacher and author, Mael Brigde (visiting Canadian poet and spiritual teacher) and Rita O Loughlin (Brat Bhride workshop) There will be a specially commissioned poem-mural, by Siobhan Mac Mahon in Dundalk town. The festival creates opportunities to learn from the wisdom of Brigid, who is an expression of the divine feminine, within the Irish spiritual and mythological narrative.

The Brigid of Faughart Festival explores ancient spiritual traditions through myth, landscape, folklore, spiritual customs, visual arts, poetry, music and dance. The emphasis of this festival is to revisit and reclaim the richness of the traditions associated with Brigid of Faughart, in ways which are relevant to our lives in the 21st century.

A deeper underlying aim of the festival is to act as a catalyst for the recovery of the presence of the feminine energy and the Divine feminine within our daily lives.The festival has many exciting events including The annual Pilgrimage Walk from Dundalk to Faughart, talks and workshops in the County Museum and An Táin Arts Centre, and Closing Ritual in Ravensdale Community Centre. These events may awaken your interest in the ancient yet relevant spirituality available to support us humans at this time of intense change and transformation.

The Festival will take place in Faughart, Dundalk and Ravensdale, Co. Louth between Wednesday, January 31 and Monday, February 5. The organisers wish to acknowledge the support of Louth County Council, An Táin Arts Centre, the County Museum and Dundalk Tourist Office.

For the full programme of events and bookings, please see www.brigidoffaughart.ie Bookings for An Táin events through An Táin Arts Centre www.antain.ie and for County Museum events through https://www.eventbrite.ie/o/brigid-of-faughart-festival

For information contact - Roisin (087 1363224) or Dolores (086 8434117).