Many people looking for a relationship turn to dating apps, but some have other ideas. One woman found out her mom had created a “shrine” to an Irish saint to help her find a partner.
Erica Bracken, a yoga teacher, posted a video made by her dad on TikTok. It showed a figure made from dried grass and red fabric sitting on a windowsill, surrounded by lit candles.
Bracken’s dad can be heard saying: “Here, here, she’s at it again. Look over here in the corner. She’s at it again. Yeah, guess who this is for?”
The caption underneath the video reads: “Peak Irish mother. I’ll take all the help I can get, NGL.”
Commenters were intrigued by the so-called shrine, with one saying: “Saint Brigid, you say?”
Another wrote: “I would rather do this for a month of Sundays than go back on the apps.”
Someone else said: “Can you ask her to maybe make one for me too, please?”
While St. Patrick has long been the saint most identified with Ireland, Brigid, a patroness saint of Ireland, has gained a growing following in the 21st century. Born in A.D. 451 in Dundalk, she became an abbess who founded a monastic community in Kildare in the fifth century. According to Irish lore, she never wanted to marry, despite her father’s wishes, and was said to have gouged out her eye to destroy her great beauty.
She is now one of the three patron saints of Ireland, along with St. Patrick and St. Columba. Folklore links Brigid with healing, fertility and care for living things. She died in A.D. 525.
Brigid shares a name with a Celtic goddess of pre-Christian Ireland who is associated with healing, fire, fertility, spring, wisdom, poetry, healing, protection and domesticated animals.
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In 2022, the Irish government acknowledged Brigid’s importance by declaring a new national holiday on her feast day, February 1. The campaign to create a national day for the saint was spearheaded by the women’s rights organization Herstory.
St. Brigid’s Day is often marked by making traditional crosses from grasses and reeds. With its origins in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, which marks the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, the day brings a festival associated with fertility and new life. It marks the beginning of spring as winter ends.
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