Computers

 

Gawd, I always hated that paper clip!

St. Brigid's Eve

 Who was Saint Brigid – did she really exist?

St Brigid has long been one of Ireland’s most revered and iconic saints, celebrated for her charity, peacekeeping, social advocacy and pioneering role in the early Irish Church. However, in recent years, Brigid has become the subject of intense debate, with some recasting her as a pagan goddess and questioning her very existence. We take a deep dive into St Brigid!

Read the full article 👇

https://irishheritagenews.ie/who-was-saint-brigid-did.../

Happy St Brigid’s Day! Beannacht na Féile Bríde oraibh go léir!

Here’s a tradition that is done right around the country on St.  Brigid’s Eve - leaving out something for St. Brigid to bless. 

I know some people leave out a white cloth, more a red one and more a blue one. Some people call it a “Bratach” and many more don’t. No right or wrong - just different practices.

Over the years, I’ve found the scarf to be the most popular item and I found examples of it being used from Donegal to Wexford and Offaly to Tipperary. 

The general thinking is that Brigid blesses the scarf as she is passing with the belief that this blessed scarf added an extra layer of protection for your throat against colds in coming months. In the past red flannel was also used with the idea it’d protected the chest. There is a lot of crossover with St Blaise's day too in this practice which is centered around the blessing of the throat.,

Coats and jumpers are/were also left out - again with the same belief of protection against colds - especially for children. People also believed this they work for headaches too and I know a woman from Waterford who leaves out one of her husband's ties and she uses it during the year to tie on her head when she gets headaches. She told me she “looks like the Karate kid going around the kitchen” but she doesn’t care less as it does the job and “Brigid blest it”. 

So there you have it, a tradition done by some, and all different. By the way the tradition was brought over to Newfoundland by us and I’ll share a few accounts of it in the coming days. 

Text: Michael Fortune

Morning Reflections

 

Bad Girl Art

 

BAD GIRL ART

Knitting

 PATTERN HERE

 EXECUTIVE ODORS

On the Streets of Minneapolis

 VIDEO YOUTUBE

Bruce Springsteen on Trump: “I couldn't care less what he thinks about me. He's the living personification of what the 25th Amendment and impeachment were for. If Congress had any guts, he'd be consigned to the trash heap of history."

Lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s new song.

Through the winter’s ice and cold

Down Nicollet Avenue

A city aflame fought fire and ice

‘Neath an occupier’s boots

King Trump’s private army from the DHS

Guns belted to their coats

Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law

Or so their story goes

Against smoke and rubber bullets

By the dawn’s early light

Citizens stood for justice

Their voices ringing through the night

And there were bloody footprints

Where mercy should have stood

And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets

Alex Pretti and Renee Good

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice

Singing through the bloody mist

We’ll take our stand for this land

And the stranger in our midst

Here in our home they killed and roamed

In the winter of ’26

We’ll remember the names of those who died

On the streets of Minneapolis

Trump’s federal thugs beat up on

His face and his chest

Then we heard the gunshots

And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead

Their claim was self defense, sir

Just don’t believe your eyes

It’s our blood and bones

And these whistles and phones

Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice

Crying through the bloody mist

We’ll remember the names of those who died

On the streets of Minneapolis

Now they say they’re here to uphold the law

But they trample on our rights

If your skin is black or brown my friend

You can be questioned or deported on sight

In chants of ICE out now

Our city’s heart and soul persists

Through broken glass and bloody tears

On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice

Singing through the bloody mist

Here in our home they killed and roamed

In the winter of ’26

We’ll take our stand for this land

And the stranger in our midst

We’ll remember the names of those who died

On the streets of Minneapolis

We’ll remember the names of those who died

On the streets of Minneapolis