Brigit

Brigit (Brigid) was the goddess of healing and fertility as well as the goddess of craft, especially of metalworking. Brigit was probably also the goddess of fire and poetry.

She was the warrior goddess as well as the patron goddess of craftsmen.

In the Irish myths, Brigit was a daughter of Dagda. Brigit was sometimes identified with the goddess Danu, the mother goddess of the Danann, but this would cause even greater confusion in already confusing genealogy.

Birgit was normally said to be the wife of Senchán Forpeist, though in another version, she had married Bres, one of the Danann kings, and became the mother of Rúadan.

Her son Rúadan tried to murder Goibhniu for his father, but the smith killed the youth. Her lament for her son was the first keening to be heard in Ireland.

Brigit was also the mother of Brian, Iuchar and Iurbarba. Some say she was the mother of Creidhne (artificer), Luchta (carpenter) and Goibhniu (smith), the three master-craftsmen, though Goibhniu was usually called the son of Danu and Dian Cécht, and Luchta was the son of Luchad. Brigit was also said to have a grandson named Ecne.

Her name was also spelled "Brigid," means "High One" or the "One Who Is Exalted". During the time of Roman power, Brigit was identified with Brigindo or Brigandu in Gaul, while she was called Brigantia, after the Celtic tribe living in northern England.

Brigit became associated with the Christian saint named St Brigid (d. 524-528). St Brigid was the patron saint of Ireland, and was the abbess of the nunnery of Kildare, which she had founded. This saint had her spring festival on February 1, the same day as the pagan festival called the Imbolc, also sacred to the pagan Brigit. This festival was also associated with Scottish folklore, where Brigit disposed of the blue-faced winter hag named Calleach Bheur by turning her into stone. Calleach Bheur however was reborn on Samhain-eve (October 31), bringing the winter snows with her.