St. Brigid's Crosses: How to Make Them, Types, and Protection
The most widespread Irish custom for St. Brigidβs Eve was making the cros BrΓde or bogha BrΓde (St. Brigidβs cross). People hung these crosses in the dwelling-house, byre, and stable to honor the saint and gain her protection. Counties developed their own distinct styles, and families passed down specific techniques through generations.
This wasnβt a single practice with minor variations. Different parts of Ireland created entirely different cross types using different materials and different ceremonial approaches.
The Diamond or Lozenge Cross
The most common type featured a diamond or lozenge shape made of straw (see crosses #2 and #4 in the image above). In its simplest form, two pieces of twig or slips of wood were fastened in a cross shape, with straw woven around them to form a neat lozenge (cross #2).
More elaborate versions secured small lengths of twig or wood across three or all four legs of the cross, creating smaller crosses at the extremities. Makers wove straw diamonds around these secondary crosses as well as the central one. Cross #4 shows this style, with five lozenges arranged in a cross pattern. The most elaborate examples had as many as 24 to 30 lozenges.
Sometimes rushes replaced straw, but straw remained far more common. This cross type dominated Connaught and Munster, and appeared in Counties Donegal, Monaghan and Armagh in Ulster.
The Four-Legged Overlapping Rush Cross
This type had no wooden foundation (see crosses #1 and #5 in the image above). Makers created it by doubling rushes over each other to form an overlapping cross. The simplest version used only four rushes. More elaborate examples added up to 20 or more rushes to each side, producing a square of overlapping rushes with a bunch of rushes projecting from each side to form an irregular cross.
Usually the projecting rushes were tied together at the ends, making each leg look somewhat pointed. This cross was almost always made of rushes, though straw specimens existed in a few localities.
This style was well known in Ulster and Leinster but appeared in only a few places in Connaught and Munster. A subtype with three legs instead of four appeared in several parts of the north, particularly in Antrim, Armagh, Down and Donegal (see cross #3 in the image above). In these areas, the three-legged cross hung in the byre while the four-legged cross hung in the house.
Less common than the first two types, the interlaced cross appeared in widely separated places across Connaught, Munster, Ulster, particularly in Sligo, Leitrim, and south Donegal (see cross #6 in the image above). Makers created it by interlacing strands or groups of strands of straw, reed or rushes in a crisscross pattern, then tying the four sets of projecting ends together to form a cross that looked like a four-armed set of interlaced bows. The elongated diamond shape in cross #6 shows this interlaced technique clearly.
Plain Latin Cross and Other Variations
A plain latin cross made from two short plaits of straw appeared in Counties Clare, Galway, Longford, and Donegal. Some included a straw lozenge in the middle.
Plain wood crosses, simply tacked or tied together, appeared in County Clare, west County Galway, southwest County Mayo, and County Meath. These may represent a breakdown of tradition, as people substituted simpler forms for older, more complex ones. Crosses made of cloth, paper, cardboard, and quills clearly served as substitutes for older types.
Very localized cross types that were well made of traditional materials appeared in scattered areas. Danaher suggests these βmay be survivals of more widespread use, or more recent products of local imagination and skillβ (p. 18).
Making the Crosses: Southern Ireland
In the southern half of Ireland, households usually made one cross of the local type. They sprinkled it with holy water and hung it above or close to the entrance door with a prayer: βMay the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be on this cross and on the place where it hangs and on everyone who looks at it.β
In County Clare and a few places in Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, and south Galway, families made a second cross. They blessed it the same way and hung it in the byre.
Making the Crosses: Northern Ireland
The northern half of Ireland followed a much more elaborate ritual. This ceremony appeared in slightly varying forms in every county in Connaught except County Clare (especially in Sligo, Leitrim, north Mayo and north Roscommon) and in every county in Ulster.
The festive supper connected directly to cross-making. The material for the crosses (straw or rushes) was placed on or under the table during supper. In some places, the food itself rested on the material. In Donegal and Sligo, mashed potatoes or colcannon were mashed or mixed in a pot resting on the cross material.
In other places, families made the crosses before supper and laid them on the table while the meal was eaten. Sometimes the dishes holding food sat on the crosses. Sometimes the crosses themselves held bread laid directly on them during supper. Elsewhere, the crosses lay on the floor under the table. In County Leitrim, people put crumbs from the supper into the crosses.
A detailed description from Carrickmore in County Tyrone around 1900 shows the full ceremony. John B. Arthurs recorded it in Ulster Folklife (1957, pp. 42-3). One of the family (a girl) represented St. Bridget. She left the house and knocked on the door three times seeking admittance. Each time she knocked, she said in Irish: βGo down on your knees, do homage, and let Blessed Bridget enter the house.β
After the third time, those inside responded: βOh, come in, you are a hundred times welcome.β
She entered and placed the rushes under the table. The family ate supper, with the father and mother reciting grace. After the meal, they recited a long thanksgiving prayer asking for Godβs blessing and protection throughout the coming year (Danaher, pp. 20-21).
Then the family divided the bundle of rushes or sheaf of straw among themselves. Each member made a cross. Usually one parent made a larger cross to hang over the door. Other adults made crosses for the byre and stable. The children competed with each other in making their crosses, learning the technique. These smaller crosses hung over the childrenβs beds.
After everyone finished making their crosses, they sprinkled them with holy water and hung them on the roof or walls.
The Story of the First Cross
The Schoolsβ Collection preserves the story of why St. Brigidβs crosses are made:
Deirtear go raibh βNaomh Brigdeβ ag suibhal uair agus cualad sΓ duine istigh ag fΓ‘gail bhΓ‘is agus ni raibh aon creideamh aige agus thΓ³saig Brighid ag innseacht dΓ³ faoi Dia, agus faoi an caoi ar thΓ‘inig βIosaβ ar an saogal agus rith sΓ amach agus thuig sΓ isteach pΓosa admhaid agus rinne sΓ crΓ³s as. [It is said that βSaint Brighdeβ was once walking and she heard a man inside dying and he had no faith and Brighid began to tell him about God, and about how βJesusβ came into the world and she ran out and found a piece of wood and made a cross out of it.] Source
The dying man accepted the faith after seeing the cross, and St. Brigid baptized him. The custom of making crosses on her feast day comes from this story.
When asked why they made St. Brigidβs crosses, people answered without hesitation: protection.
Protection against fire, storm and lightning was the most common reason. The crosses also held illness and epidemic disease at bay. Evil spirits could not enter a house where the cross hung near the door.
An early reference appears in the burlesque poem Hesperi-Neso-Graphia (1735 edition). It describes the crossβs protective power:
St Bridgetβs cross hung over door which did the house from fire secure as Gillo thought, O powerful charm to keep a house from taking harm; and thoβ the dogs and servants slept, by Bridgetβs care the house was kept.
This belief persisted. William Monks from Lusk in County Dublin gave an example from his youth. Workers from County Cavan and County Monaghan came to his fatherβs farm in spring and autumn to do the planting and harvest. They lived in a house on the farm. One day a fierce thunderstorm struck. One of the men grabbed a handful of straw and made a St. Brigidβs Cross to save the house from lightning. When the storm ended, he taught young William how to make the crosses (Danaher, p. 18-19).
The belief that the cross provided protection against lightning continued into Danaherβs time of writing in the 1970s.
What to Do With Last Yearβs Cross
In some districts, people took down last yearβs cross when they put up the new one. More commonly, they left old crosses in position, especially where they were pinned to the underside of a thatched roof.
In some places, a newly married couple began a new series of crosses that was added to year by year until both partners had died. The earliest reference to crosses appears in a report by Rev. Story, a Williamite chaplain, in September 1689 (Danaher, pp. 22-23).
Residue from Cross-Making
In parts of Donegal, Tyrone, and Antrim, the residue from making the crosses was not simply thrown away. People arranged it neatly on the floor near the hearth, sometimes covering it with a white cloth. This formed a bed for the saint when she visited the house.
In some houses, people made rushlights from the residue and lit them in the saintβs honor. An Antrim tradition involved making a little ring from a portion of the rushes and hanging it on the spinning wheel to bring a blessing on its work during the year.
The leftover material also had curative powers. People preserved strands and tied them about an aching head or sore limb during the night. Next morning they threw the strands on the fire, where their quick burning indicated a rapid cure. Others put a wisp under the mattress or pillow to ward off disease.
Donegal fishermen wove a little rush ribbon from the residual rushes or straw and carried it when at sea to gain the saintβs protection.
In County Leitrim, children practiced an unusual custom. They got a small flat wooden board about 30 cm by 15 cm. Using the sticky substance from a partly boiled or roasted potato, they fixed peeled rushes onto the board in figures representing the sun, moon and stars. They hung this with the cross.
Using These Traditions Today
The cross-making tradition translates directly to modern practice. You donβt need to replicate any specific regional style. Pick rushes, straw, or even dried grasses from your own area. Learn one of the simpler forms first. The basic four-rush overlapping cross takes minutes to make once you understand the technique.
Make your cross on February 1st eve. Hang it over your door or in a prominent place in your home. The specific blessing doesnβt matter as much as the intent. Youβre marking your home as protected space and honoring the turning of the season.
Save the leftover material. Use it for lighting a candle on Imbolc night. Keep a small piece for protection or healing throughout the year. The residue customs show people extracting maximum value from their materials. That practical approach makes sense for modern pagans too.
Regional diversity in cross types shows thereβs no single βcorrectβ way to honor St. Brigid. Irish people created forms that worked for their materials, their skills, and their local traditions. You can do the same. What matters is the act of making something with your hands to mark a threshold in the year.
