Brigit 2025: Brigit as Peace-Weaver
The 30th Anniversary WSI Brigit Festival was held at An Grianan, Co.Louth in 2025. This was a vibrant weekend filled with music, poetry, dance and ceremony (including our signature Crios ritual where participants were invited to make meaningful commitments in the year ahead, in the spirit of Brigit). The event was initially scheduled for 24-26 January 2025. However, it had to be rescheduled to the following weekend (31 January - 2 February 2025) at short notice due to Storm Eowyn.
This programme was as follows:
Friday: 17.00: Registrations; 18.00: Dinner; 19:00: Circle gathering facilitated by Ruth Marshall (poet and circle-dancer), with drumming by Dr. Caroline McFadden and singing by ecological artist Carol Barrett; symbolic procession outdoors at dusk to leave cloak on hedgerow overnight.
Saturday: Optional pre-breakfast meditation or chanting workshops; 8.30: Breakfast; 10.00: Brigit ceremony with pageantry featuring Dr. Nandini Gupta; 11.00: Tea/Coffee; 11.30: Dr. Mary Condren, Key-note lecture on ‘Peace-Weaving in the Brigit Tradition’ and Prof. Michelle LeBaron, interactive lecture on ‘Transforming Conflict’; 13.00: Lunch; 14.30 Choice of (optional) workshops in either cross-making (Ruth Marshall) or ‘Reflecting on Power’ with Gabrielle Stuart; 15.30: Tea break; 16.00 Choice of (optional) art workshop on Transformation led by artist Catherine Barron or (optional) wisdom workshop on Stability led by Dr. Rosari Kingston;17.30: Dinner; 18.00: Evening Ritual (cloak brought indoors to the hearthspace, contemporary reclamation of traditional ‘Crios’ ritual); Spiral Dance led by Ruth Marshall.
Sunday: 7.30: Optional pre-breakfast meditation or chanting workshops; 9.30: Reconvene and close circle; 10.00: Presentation by Dr. Nandini Gupta on parallels bewteen Saraswathi and Brigit; 10.45: Tea/coffee; 11.15: Plenary session where participants are invited to share insights and reflections; 13.00: closing lunch.
Registration fee = €150, including €50 deposit for accommodation. (Accommodation to be arranged separately with An Grianan.) Non-residential option (Saturday only) = €65.