Mo .ney.] ^^"^ [May 3, 



on which those inside shout gladly, "Si b'cat'n, si h'cat'a, si I'eat'a" (she 

 raha, slierJtha, slietaha), "She's welcome, she's welcome, she's welcome," 

 and, the door being c peud, Biighid enters and deposits her rushes on the 

 floor. According to a writer of 1716, a somewhat similar custom formerly 

 existed in the Hebrides, where a sheaf of oats was drest as a woman and 

 laid in a cradle known as "Brighid's bed," while the people shouted, 

 " Brighid is come, Brighid is welcome."* This ceremony is, probably 

 incorrectly, assigned to Candlemas, the daj^ following Saint Bridget's day. 

 In the west and south a handkerchief, known as the Brat Brirj'ide 

 (Broth Breja), or "veil of Bridget,!' is left out over night on the saint's 

 eve, and when saturated with dew in the morning is used to cure calvs of 

 ji diseas known as ruatt'ar peiste (roehar paesJicha), or the "depredation 

 of the worm," by striking them with it three times in the name of the 

 Trinity. 



Saint Patrick's Day, March 17. 



Altho Saint Patrick's day is pre-eminently the Irish national holiday, 

 not much can be said of it in a descriptiv way, as the observances con- 

 nected with it hav but little of the old ceremonial or mythologic character. 

 Processions and speeches in the larger towns and smaller gatherings in 

 the country villages, with the assistance of the pipers and fiddlers in the 

 evening, fil out the day, while every one seems bent on carrying out to 

 the letter the spirit of the old ballad which declares that 



"Saint Patrick's day we'l be all very gay." 



The festival commemorates the apostle and patron saint of Ireland, this 

 day, according to most writers, being the anniversary both of his landing 

 in Ireland and of his death, the latter occurring in the year 493. That 

 typical Irish poet, Samuel Lover, by turns so humorous and so pathetic, 

 gives the following characteristic account of the origin of the celebration : 



T7ie Birth of Saint Patriek. 



On the eighth day of March it was, some people say. 

 That Saint Patrick at midnight he iirst saw the day, 

 While others declare "twas tlie ninth he was born, 

 And 'twas all a mistake between midnight and morn ; 

 For mistakes will occur in a hurry and shock, 

 And some blamed the baby, and some blamed the clock, 

 Till with all their cross-questions, sure no one could know 

 If the child was too fast or the clock was too slow. 



Now the first faction fight in old Ireland, they say, 



Was all on account of Saint Patrick's birthday. 



Some fought for the eighth— for the niiith more would die ; 



And wlio wouldn't see right, sure, they blackened his eye ! 



At last both the factions so positive grcAV 



That each kept a birthday, so Pat then had two ; 



Till Father Mulcahy, who showed them their sins, 



Said, " No oue can have two birthdays but twins." 



* Martin, "Account of the Western Islands of Scotland," quoted in Brand, Antiqui- 

 ties, 50. 



