Join Creative Ardagh in conjunction with Cruthú Arts Festival and
funded by Creative Ireland – Longford, on Sunday 28th July for the
Annual Bilberry Walk.
As usual we will be meeting at 11am at the GAA pitch with suitable
attire for the weather of the day. This year is a year of great
celebration as we will no longer be wading through the mud but using the
newly created walk thanks to Longford Tourism.
Brendan Farrell of Ardagh Village Landscapes, our traditional “leader
of the walk” will start with a tour of his wonderful garden and advise
us on biodiversity, then we will follow him over the hill.
Following that, wander on into Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre
where Ann and Annette will entertain you with their Scéalta Beo
storytelling of local legends. Our Viking friends from the Jofur Drengir
re-enactment group will be coming to entertain us and Adel Coleman,
Archaeologist, will give us a lecture to update us on the developments
regarding the dig at The Back of The Hill.
Light Refreshments will be provided in Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre.
Here
we are at another 1st
February, St. Brigid’s Day, the festival of Imbolc, the beginning of
Spring. It sprung into my mind that while St. Brigid is famously
connected to Kildare, that we should explore her links with Longford
as she continue to be acknowledged locally by all the churches,
schools and clubs that are named after the Patroness of Ireland and
by the traditions that are alive in the area.
Who is Brigid?
The
St. Brigid everyone knows about is the St. Brigid we learned about at
school, a slave by birth, born circa 453, in Faughart. Her mother
was a Christian woman, Brocessa, slave to a chieftain Dubthach. She
was kind and generous and has many miracles to her name, the most
famous being that of the original St. Brigid’s Cross and the one
about her cloak covering enough area to claim as a convent in
Kildare.
Long
before Christianity there was another Brigit. In Irish Mythology,
Brigit was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha De Danann,
wife of Bres of the Fomorians. She is often seen as a threefold
goddess over healing, poetry and smithcraft. (Lebor Gabála Érenn).
Many of the stories of the mythological Brigit and the Christian St.
Brigid have similarities, the Brigit’s doll became the St. Brigid’s
Cross, the Brigit’s mantle became St. Brigid’s Cloak and many of the
miracles performed by St. Brigid mirror the powers of the ancient
goddess.
What are St. Brigid’s
connections to Longford?
The
first connection of Brigit to Longford, and not a widely known
connection, is Brigit was daughter of the Dagda and so therefore must
have been half sister to Midir, son of the Dagda, Midir of the local
legend of The wooing of Étáin, Midir of Brí Leith, Ardagh and The
Bog Road in Corlea, Kenagh. There must be many stories to be
uncovered about this half sister and half brother and hopefully by
this time next year we will know more. It is interesting, given our
history of poets and writers in Longford, that Brigit is the goddess
of the poet.
St.
Brigid has strong connections to the county too. By many accounts
she came to Ardagh and received the veil at the hands of St. Mel. In
some writings she is said to have been professed as a nun, in others
she was professed as a nun and also received abbatial powers and in
others, my favourite, she was ‘accidentally’ ordained a Bishop by St.
Mel.
While
it is widely accepted that St. Brigid established her first convent
in Kildare there are a number of writings that say otherwise and that
her first convent was in Ardagh, Clonbroney or Ballinalee.
The Dúchas school
collection have many stories about St. Brigid in Longford. One story
in the Dúchas collection talks of her first convent being on the
north side of Sliabh Galry, another name for Ardagh Hill and another
says that
St. Brigid carried coals two miles and her Holy Well in Ardagh sprung
up where she dropped them. Another states carrying the hot coals was
a penance given to a local woman for disrespecting St. Brigid.
However tentative or
true the connections to Longford are we do know that there is a St.
Brigid’s Well in Ardagh that is visited every 1st
February by the locals, that there are many schools, churches and
clubs called after St. Brigid throughout the county and that the
tradition of making the St. Brigid’s Day Cross continues locally.
Ann Gerety Smyth, Creative
Ardagh, Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre, Ardagh, Co. Longford.
Contact us to arrange your guided tour or heritage workshop for yourself, a group or your school. #irelandshiddenheartlands, #longfordtourism, #creativeardagh
Click on the links above for more details. Here's a snippet of what we do:
Thanks to Longford Tourism and the Towns and Villages 2017 the walk on Brí Leith, Ardagh Mountain has been upgraded and completed. You can read more about it here.
We operate with limited opening hours in December and January. We are there most days at some point for groups or meetings, but if you want to view
the heritage exhibition or browse in the craft shop when we are not there give us a call on
086 3027602 or 0861717925 and we'll be there in a few minutes. We both
live in the village.
You can also make an appointment in advance, or book any of our group programmes.
Our craft shop stocks a range of cards and handmade gifts from Longford and the surrounding area, so is perfect if you want to shop local this Christmas. You can also buy a few Creative Ardagh items on our online shop here.
We are delighted to announce the full line-up for Ardagh Fright Fest which runs from the 27th
October to 3rd November this year and promises to be more exciting than
ever. Thanks as always to the generous support of Longford County Arts
Office we are able to bring you some very talented people from around
the country for a host of spooktacular events for all ages.
We welcome backJane Gilheaney Barry who has published her novel Cailleach~Witch since we saw her last year. We look forward to her creative writing workshop. Jane will also feature on our author panel with Kevin McManus whose third book in the Ray Logue Mystery series 9 Lives will be out in November. Both authors will share readings from their work and take part in a questions and answers session.
Internationally renowned poet, Adam Wyeth will present The Mythic Imagination
full-day creative writing workshop which promises to leave participants
with 'a deepened appreciation and awareness of modern literature, myth,
tradition and writing craft' as well as some great new work of their
own.
Candlelit Tales offer a
contemporary reinterpretation of Ireland's ancient lore accompanied by
live music score and perform in small venues and large festivals around
the country. We are delighted to welcome them to Ardagh with their Shadows of the Táin show which is touring venues across the country including Whelan's of Dublin this month.
Robert Peacock will be dressing up and reading from his newly released book Cara and the Cauldron of the Round Hill at a free family event on 3rd November and we have to thank Mary Carlton Reynolds of Creative Ireland Longford for suggesting we include Gian Castello who will close the festival with an enchanting concert that evening.
Our Frightful Flash Fiction
competition returns for the third year and we invite artists of all
ages to send us in some Cailleach themed art for display during the
week. We look forward to seeing what the TYs of County Longford under
the guidance of Shelly Corcoran produce for the Photography Exhibition
this year. It is always a highlight of the festival which aims to
include work for and from a diverse range of age and experience.
Our popular Spooky Art Camp
also returns for one day only on Thursday 1st November from 12pm to
4pm, contact us early to book your place and avoid disappointment.
Tickets for all events are available online or by contacting us on 086 3027602, 086 1717925 or creativeardagh@gmail.com
Scéalta Beo - the first
storytelling festival in the Midlands
Saturday started at 12pm with John
Wilmott and Claire Roche of Bards in the Woods. John told stories of
the Dagda, the forming of the landscape and the background to other
mythology as well as sharing some of his poems beautifully
accompanied by Claire on harp. Gerry Donlon and Kate Corkery had
gotten together in London to prepare for the weekend and shared a
turn and turn about version of the complete legend of Midir and Etain
which kept the crowd enthralled for nearly to hours. After lunch Kate
gave a workshop on Bringing Stories to Life and Chris Thompson
finished the day session with a very enjoyable presentation on
Midir's tasks in the Wooing of Etain, especially the construction of
the bog road in Corlea. Unfortunately Isolde Carmody, the other half
of Story Archaeology, was unable to attend as she is in hospital, but
we got to hear her speak through audio recordings which was great.
The three hour evening concert was
fantastic with a mix of music, poetry and stories including a
surprise musical performance by Brian Dooley of the Kavanagh Festival
in Monaghan who had travelled down especially for the event. Ann
Gerety Smyth also delighted the audience with a story. Kate Corkery,
Gerry Donlon, John Wilmott and Chris Thompson took turns to excite
and delight with tales of Moytura, Brig, the Dagda, and many more
while we could have listened to Claire Roche on the harp for hours.
