Saturday, January 30, 2010

St. Brigid's Feast today!

Well, it's a lovely snowy morning here in Appalachia, a perfect day to be in the kitchen cookin' up a favorite meal for my family. We're honoring St. Brigid today, Mary of the Gael, whose generosity and hospitality I seek to emulate.

The boxty pancakes were such a hit last year, we'll be making this again along with a few extra items. Our menu includes:
Spring Herb Quiche
Beacan Bruith
Boxty Pancakes and
Curach Irish Oatmeal Yogurt Parfaits (which my 8 yr. old daughter gleefully volunteered to make)
Irish Black Tea

"On St. Brigid's Eve every farmer's wife in Ireland made a cake called bairin-breac, the neighbours are invited, the madder of ale and the pipe go round, and the evening concludes with mirth and festivity." - Colonel Vallencey, Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish Language, 1781

You may enjoy this video by a charming Irish lady, demonstrating how to make a St. Brigid's Cross.


7 comments:

Jane G Meyer said...

Enjoy the feast! Your menu sounds fun--especially the cup of Irish tea--could use one of those right now.

We'll be celebrating all weekend--with a special coffee hour in her honor on Sunday, and weaving crosses with the family Sunday eve--and school visits on Monday! Such fun :)

amy said...

Hello Jane and thank you! The feast went well, although I'll have to tweak the quiche recipe on the next go round. I hope your weekend was all you expected it to be and more!

btw, we've added your book on St. Brigid to our home collection and our church bookstore keeps it in supply =-) We enjoy your talents!

Gae said...

Dear Amy,
I have been reading through some of your older posts. They are indeed thought provoking. I have been inspired by your passion and talent for writing.
Our St Brigid celebration was not as complete as other years but I love being able to share these special days with our family. It gives such 'life' to our Faith to celebrate in the events of the Saints and learn from their lives.
thank you for shaing you thoughts.
I have been blessed by them
God Bless

Abbie said...

Amy,
I'm Abbie. I going to be chrismated on Holy Saturday in a few weeks. I have decided that I would like to take St. Brigid's name as my patron saint. I visited Ireland several years ago and visited Kildare and was able to visit the Monastery of St. Brigid. I learned a lot about her when I was there. Lately I have been trying to find a book about her but have only come across a children's book and names of books published over a hundred years ago. During my search your blog came up and so I thought, since she is your patron saint, you might know of some books that discuss St. Brigid? - Abbie

amy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
amy said...

Hello Abbie! and welcome home to the ancient faith. What a blessing to have visited Kildare! I'm sure you know much more than I can share about St. Brigid - I do not have any complete works on the life of St. Brigid, only books that contain profiles of her such as, "Women Saints : 365 Daily Readings" (although this is a Catholic work and so, some of the saints in the book are not recognized by the Eastern Orthodox) and "The Celtic Year: A celebration of celtic christian saints, sites and festivals" by Shirley Toulson

Also, we have two children's books, one by Jane G Meyer, "The Life of Saint Brigid" which has much good information and is fun to read and Bryce Milligan's "Brigid's Cloak" which is a delightful tale for all generations...

I have a link on my blog to Cindy Thomson's blog, Celtic Voices: http://celticvoices.blogspot.com/
She has written a novel about St. Brigid titled, "Brigid of Ireland: A Historical Novel" I've not read it, but sounds interesting ...

Sorry I cannot be of further help, but thank you for the comments; I hope you'll visit again.

Cindy Thomson said...

I'm a little late chiming in here, but thanks for mentioning my book and linking to my blog!

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