Celtic fairy traditions
Saint Brigit
Evans-Wentz presents Saint Brigit as a national saint whose cult receives devotion previously directed to a goddess. He compares this with wells and fountains being rededicated to Christian saints. This argument places Brigit at a religious transition, rather than treating pagan and Christian practice as isolated worlds. The continuity is the author’s proposal and should not erase the distinct Christian identity of the saint.
Also known as Brigid
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In the sources
Principal account
ReportedEvans-Wentz presents Saint Brigit as a national saint whose cult receives devotion previously directed to a goddess. He compares this with wells and fountains being rededicated to Christian saints.
Further detail
ReportedThis argument places Brigit at a religious transition, rather than treating pagan and Christian practice as isolated worlds. The continuity is the author’s proposal and should not erase the distinct Christian identity of the saint.
Context & interpretation
Evans-Wentz combines named informants, manuscript narratives, and his own psychical theory in a 1911 survey. This entry preserves those distinctions: collected belief and literary tradition do not establish the physical existence of an Otherworld.
Original passages
Source 1
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
pagan Celts has been supplanted by the Christian St. Brigit ^ ; and, in exactly the same way as the pagan cult once bestowedOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 315
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0315
- Original scan leaf
- 316
- Recorded leaf number
- 316
- Current Reader position
- 311
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries
transferred to Christian saints, to whom the wells and fountains have been re-dedicated, so to St. Brigit as a national saint has been transferred the pagan cultOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Celtic fairy traditions; active reader leaf 315
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0045-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0045-E001-P0315
- Original scan leaf
- 316
- Recorded leaf number
- 316
- Current Reader position
- 311
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Dana
The goddess whose name defines the Tuatha Dé Danann in Evans-Wentz’s survey.
Shared source pageTuatha Dé Danann
The divine people who continue within Ireland’s fairy hills.
Same subject and traditionAengus Óg
The youthful god associated with the enchanted palace of the Boyne.
Same subject and traditionDagda
Divine king who assigns the Sidhe palaces and negotiates with conquerors.