St. Brigid's Crosses and Customs Workshop

Learn to make St. Brigid’s Crosses with craft expert Monica Fleming. Using locally sourced rushes, various regional cross designs will be created. Participants will also learn about similar traditions, crafts and crosses from Europe.

Although St. Brigid's Crosses are most commonly made with field rush and bulrush, historically, many other plants were used. The same plants were commonly used for baskets, ropes and all manner of farm and household use e.g. mattresses, seats, horse tackle, sieves, nets and fishing gear, hats and toys.

Local materials like heather in uplands, marram grass by the sea, hay from the meadows (especially bent, fescues, crested dogs tail and sweet vernal grass), bark, briar and bramble, as well as willow and hazel from the woods, and many wetland plants, including purple moor grass, reedmace, field rush, bulrush and iris, and oats and rye in grain growing areas. People either knew or sought out where these useful plants grew and valued the areas where they harvested this material.

The aim of this workshop is to identify the various plant materials used to make St. Brigid's Crosses, teach various regional designs and to evoke appreciation for the habitats that the plants come from through the enjoyment and satisfaction of hand-making a St. Brigid's Cross.

Anois teacht an Earraigh agus an lá ag dul chun síneadh déanfaimís Cros Bríd agus Féile Imbolc a cheiliúradh.  Beidh neart driseacha ar fáil agus tae agus caife

Monica Fleming

Monica Fleming is a Horticulture tutor with Kilkenny and Carlow ETB, with a keen interest in folklore and heritage, native plants and crafts. She works with many community groups, teaching and facilitating horticulture, craft and local history projects. She is especially interested in working with native plants and has a vast knowledge in this area, having worked for many years in a wildflower nursery.

Róisín Sheehy

Is scríbhneoir iomráiteach í Róisín Sheehy.  An saothar is déanaí óna peann ná a cnuasach filíochta Líomóídí  ‘s Rúbarb agus a dráma Snámh na Saoirse. Is as Corca Dhuibhne ó dhúchas di ach tá sí curtha fúithi I gCill Chainnigh.  Tá sí cáilithe mar múinteoir rince cruthaitheach leis an Laban Guild, Londain.  Tá cúlra aici mar múinteoir meánscoile le Fraincis agus Spáinnis agus is iomaí clár atá craolta aici ar shláinte na mban agus crainn do Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Róisín Sheehy is an award-winning writer with her play ‘Snámh na Saoirse’ and poetry compilation ‘Líomóidí ‘s Rúbarb’. She’s a native of West Kerry Gaeltacht and now lives in Kilkenny. She’s an accredited creative dance leader with the Laban Guild, London.  She has a background as a secondary school teacher with French and Spanish and has broadcast a number of documentaries on Women’s Health and Forests and Nature for Radio na Gaeltachta.