{"id":2095,"date":"2015-01-29T13:00:22","date_gmt":"2015-01-29T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=2095"},"modified":"2024-06-24T12:13:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T11:13:21","slug":"brideog-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/brideog-night\/","title":{"rendered":"BRIDEOG NIGHT, a poem by Richard Oulahan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Twas Br\u00edde\u00f3g night, near old Kildare, – just fifty years ago, –
\nAnd Tully maidens made St. Bride in garments white as snow;
\nFor, one, as pure as Brigid, – with a namesake\u2019s girlish pride,
\nGave up her wardrobe, lovingly, to honor good \u201cSt. Bride\u201d.
\nDear heart! I\u2019ve knelt beside her grave (when Autumn leaves were pale)
\n\u2018Neath Graylock\u2019s mountain1<\/sup> shadow , – in North Adam\u2019s golden vale; –
\nAnother land thief\u2019s victim, by the feudal laws of Might! \u2013
\nAnd, in her home, a rack-rent slave is chained this Br\u00edde\u00f3g night!<\/p>\n

The names our fathers loved so well, in mother, wife, and child, –
\nAre all too plain for lady-shams, by senseless sounds beguiled.
\nWhen \u201cPet\u201d <\/i>and \u201cFlo\u201d<\/i> and \u201cPoll\u201d <\/i>and \u201cPuss\u201d, <\/i>are types of Fashion\u2019s craze,
\nPoor Oscar Wilde\u2019s aesthetic farce deserves its meed of praise!
\nNo wonder strangers mock us, if the p\u00f3ir\u00edns2<\/sup> of our race
\nDeem Brigid antiquated<\/i>, – even Patrick commonplace<\/i>!
\nYet courtly dames nursed baby Brides<\/i>; and Knighthood waits an heir
\nTo peerless Patrick<\/i> Sarsfield, – lord of Tully, in Kildare!<\/p>\n

In Erin\u2019s calendar of Saints not one has such a claim
\nOn exiles from Cealldaradh3<\/sup> shrine as holy Brigid\u2019s name.
\nBut thoughtless jokes, and vulgar sneers, our silly maids dismay,
\nWho brought the dear Baptismal gift, from Inisfail4<\/sup> away.
\nFor fourteen hundred years it graced the noblest Irish girls; –
\nThe light and life of hall and cot, – the convent\u2019s saintly pearls, –
\nAnd winsome, sweet, and musical it seemed to Norman knight,
\nWhen wooing some young Brighid B\u00e1n5<\/sup> the belle of Br\u00edde\u00f3g night.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve kissed the hearthstone of St. Bride, and played through ruins vast,
\nOf cells and grand cathedral, of \u201cKildarra\u2019s\u201d glorious past; –
\nThat mystic Round-Tower, too, I\u2019ve climbed, to reach the jackdaw\u2019s nest;
\nWhile moss-grown tombs lay thick beneath \u2013 where Saints and Chieftains rest.
\nAnd still, in dream-land\u2019s Shamrock Clime, soft thoughts of cousin Bride
\nProtect her little tameless mate from hands too harsh to guide.
\nFalse Land of Nod! \u2013 full fifty years have silvered nut-brown hair,
\nSince boyhood\u2019s dawn, that Br\u00edde\u00f3g night, in Tully of Kildare.<\/p>\n

RICHARD OULAHAN, Washington DC, January 1883
\nPoem about Brideog Night (1st February) in Kildare by Richard Oulahan, published in the Irish American Weekly<\/i>, New York, 1883.<\/p>\n

Author\u2019s Note:<\/strong>
\nBr\u00edde\u00f3g \u2013 (pronounced Breedhogue) \u2013 \u201cAn image of St. Brigid, used on the eve of that Saint, by unmarried girls, with a view to discover their future husband\u201d \u2013 O\u2019Reillys Irish-English Dictionary)
\nPerhaps I was too young to notice any superstition, like that of \u201cHalloween\u201d, connected with the Brideog; <\/i>but I believe \u201cfuture husbands\u201d were neither sought nor secured by supernatural agency in Kildare. \u2013 AUTHOR (R. Oulahan).<\/p>\n

Footnotes by R. Oulahan \u2013<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Graylock is the highest mountain above North Adams, Massachusetts<\/li>\n
  2. P\u00f3ir\u00edn \u2013 a small potato<\/li>\n
  3. Cealldara \u2013 (Kildare). The cell (or church) of the oak. The term \u201cKill\u201d or \u201cCill\u201d is a Saxon corruption of the old Irish word \u201cceall\u201d (a cell or church). Thomas Davis in the old \u201cSpirit of the Nation\u201d takes notice of this fact in the notes to his poem of \u201cThe Geraldines\u201d.<\/li>\n
  4. Inisfail \u2013 Ireland, The Isle of Destiny<\/li>\n
  5. Brighid B\u00e1n \u2013 Fair Brigid<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Biographical note on author compiled by John Malone \u2013<\/p>\n

    Richard Oulahan was born in Co. Dublin in 1822, but apparently spent much of his youth with his grandparents at Tully in Kildare. He emigrated to the United States around 1849, following involvement with the \u201cYoung Ireland\u201d movement, and having been a contributor to The Nation magazine. At the outbreak of the US Civil War he joined the Union forces as First Lieutenant in the 164th New York Infantry in 1862. He was destined not to serve long with the 164th, being wounded and discharged due to disability in Sept. 1863. Oulahan received a brevet-Major rank for his services. He was a committed Fenian both before and after the US Civil War, campaigning and fund raising for various Irish causes, and was later an advocate of Home Rule- he carried out a correspondence with Charles Stewart Parnell on the issue. \u00a0His post-war career saw him working in the Treasury Department, a position secured by political connections. Richard Oulahan died in Washington on 12th June, 1895, where his remains were interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u2018Twas Br\u00edde\u00f3g night, near old Kildare, – just fifty years ago, – And Tully maidens made St. Bride in garments white as snow; For, one, as pure as Brigid, – with a namesake\u2019s girlish pride, Gave up her wardrobe, lovingly, to honor good \u201cSt. Bride\u201d. Dear heart! I\u2019ve knelt beside her grave (when Autumn leaves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folklore"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}