Brigidiplomacy: From Berlin to Beijing, the Irish saint is having a resurgence

Those who doubt the afterlife have clearly never heard of St Brigid.

Some 1,500 years after she died, Ireland’s Louth-born, Kildare-based patron saint has gone beyond mere abbess, bishop, farmer and brewer.

Rediscovered at home in recent years as a lioness of fearless female leadership, fertility and Celtic spirituality, this busy woman has found yet another after-life abroad: Brigidiplomacy.

Even before she was granted a national holiday at home, she was part of a discreet revolution in Irish cultural diplomacy abroad.

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[ St Brigid’s Day events around Ireland: From magic capes in Dublin to Kerry’s fashion highlight of the year ]

In her name, a small army of Irish women creatives turned cultural missionaries have fanned out to 50 locations across the globe, from Berlin to Beijing, for events celebrating Brigid and all the trailblazers who followed.

The shift is most obvious in Germany where, with little fanfare, women have taken the lead in Zeitgeist Irland 24, a year-long celebration of Irish cultural events. As part of that programme, on Thursday evening, the Irish embassy in Berlin hosts novelist Audrey Magee. She participated in its first “Brigid meets Berlin” event in 2014 and sees the event now as a “fantastic way to mark women’s achievement in Ireland”.

“It’s very exciting and positive to have these spaces and opportunities, particularly as we know where Irish women have come from to this point,” said Ms Magee, author of The Undertaking and The Colony.

On the 40th anniversary of the lonely death of Ann Lovett, she added: “Many women participating in the St Brigid events now were girls back then. They learned what could happen to you in Ireland so the Brigid programme shows how much work and amending is still necessary.”

The list of Irish Embassy- and consulate-organised events worldwide is long and diverse: London offers talks on women in music, politics and sports, the latter dovetailing with sport-related events in Lyon and Paris ahead of the Olympics there.

[ St Brigid's Day: six ways to celebrate Ireland's only woman patron saint ]

Spain is focusing on Irish dance and Brigid cross-making in a Madrid children’s hospital. Similarly, the Irish Embassy to Mexico is using Irish artisans to tap into the local crafts tradition. Jakarta’s focus is talks between Irish and Indonesian women in Steam (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) areas.

Closer to home, the Nordic embassies in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen have joined forces to host artist Alison Conneely and her multidisciplinary project, Hail Thee We Come: In Reveries of Change, including the tapestry Ascension.

Next Saturday the Irish Embassy in Warsaw and the Polish National Opera will present “Songs of Celebration”, an evening of song and arias celebrating — and performed exclusively by — women.

Emerging Irish soprano Ava Dodd and mezzo-soprano Aebh Kelly will share the stage of the opera house Chopin Room with seven Polish women singers and six pianists.

[ Celebrating St Brigid: the younger generations believe and they don't believe ]

The creative duo behind the evening are also two women: the Warsaw Opera Academy’s Beata Klatka and award-winning Irish pianist and mentor Dearbhla Collins.

“I’ve always felt a bit unpatriotic about St Patrick’s Day, with all the drinking and leprechaunery,” said Ms Collins. “But Brigid, a patron of creativity in so many ways, gives us a chance for a cultural reset, to make new connections and cultural partnerships.”

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