Thathar a’ dèanamh an t-samhlaidh – ‘cho eòlach ’s a tha am Bridean san tràigh’. Is e seo an àrainneachd anns an do shàbhail an t-eun seo beatha Brìde, a rèir beul- aithris.
A Gaelic simile says ‘as well acquainted as the oystercatcher is with the shore’. This is the environment in which, according to oral tradition, St Brigid’s life was saved by the oystercatcher. From that point on, it has been ‘Brigid’s bird’ in Gaelic Scotland.
Saintly species
Many places in Scotland called ‘Kilbride’ (Cille Brìde, the cell or church of Brigid or Bride) are named after the famous saint who lived in the 5th to 6th century and was associated with Kildare in Ireland. She‘s also remembered in ‘Lhanbryde’ (Lann Brìde, the enclosure of Brigid) in Moray and in the dedications of a number of churches around Scotland. In pre-Reformation times, Brigid (who shared her name with an earlier pre-Christian goddess) was a very significant religious figure nationally. In the communities that kept their original Catholicism, notably in the Western Isles, she has held on to her significance. Three species are linked to the saint in Scotland, owing to their being in flower
or becoming active at the time of her feast day in February, the earliest of the calendar. The dandelion – the English name of which came from the French dent- de-lion (lion’s tooth) – is known as beàrnan-Brìde in Gaelic or the ‘gapped one of Brigid’ (referring to its leaf shape). Its yellow flowers are said to be suggestive of the fire that burned constantly in her monastery. Two birds carry the saint’s name – the bigein-Brìde (‘Brigid’s little bird’) or linnet, and the Brìdean (‘Brigid’s bird’) or gille-Brìde (‘Brigid’s servant’), which is the oystercatcher. The former’s reddish breast is supposed to represent Brigid’s fire, while a group of the latter is said to have saved the saint’s life by covering her with seaweed to hide her from a band of men who planned to kill her. She blessed the oystercatcher on that day and, for the last millennium and a half, it has been ‘Brigid’s bird’ to Scotland’s Gaels.
www.snh.gov.uk
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