{"id":119409,"date":"2026-02-08T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=119409"},"modified":"2026-02-05T01:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T14:28:50","slug":"ballarat-gathers-to-honour-st-brigid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-gathers-to-honour-st-brigid\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballarat gathers to honour St Brigid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A CELEBRATION of Irish culture was held in Ballarat this week, as a large crowd gathered to honour a saint and the women inspired by her example.<\/p>\n<p>Brigid Fest was held at St John of God Hospital on February 1, coinciding with Ireland&#8217;s national holiday commemorating St Brigid.<\/p>\n<p>More than 60 people attended the event, enjoying Irish dancing, making Brigid&#8217;s crosses and listening to stories of women named after the goddess and saint who went on to thrive throughout Ballarat&#8217;s history.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/Irishdancers_87727.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"800\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Entertainment: Irish dancers from the O\u2019Shea Ryan Academy of Irish Dance performed at Brigid Fest at St John of God hospital. Photo: SUPPLIED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ballarat Irish Association vice-president Mary Darcy said events such as Brigid Fest were an important way to highlight the lasting contribution of Irish culture and its descendants to the city.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had one story of Brigid Burke,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Which was an amazing story of someone who lived on five goldfields having children along the way.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was also noted that up in St Patrick&#8217;s Cathedral, there is a stained-glass window honouring St Brigid, and that particular window was donated by the Loreto sisters in the 1800s in memory of the first bishop of Ballarat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was bringing these stories out into the open, or as we call it, bringing the women out of the shadows and telling their stories.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Darcy said the influence of both Brigid the goddess and saint remained profound.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/02\/Irishmakingcross_87745.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Culture: Attendees had the chance to make some of the saint\u2019s famous crosses. Photo: SUPPLIED<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was a really good address by Margaret Lavery talking about the importance of Brigid and her story in Celtic culture and modern Irish culture,&#8221; she said. &#8220;She&#8217;s been made one of the patron saints of Ireland in recent years, and her feast day in Ireland is a public holiday, so she has gained status in recent times.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s [about] telling the Brigid story and looking at its relevance for our world today. Because of that, it&#8217;s honouring those who carry the name, and bringing them out into the open and telling those stories.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Association president Helen Bath thanked St John of God for hosting and providing catering for the event.<\/p>\n<p>The association is now turning its efforts to St Patrick&#8217;s Day. On 15 March, it will host a lunch ahead of Ireland&#8217;s biggest day at the Bunch of Grapes hotel.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, phone Ms Darcy on 0407 041 998.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A CELEBRATION of Irish culture was held in Ballarat this week, as a large crowd gathered to honour a saint and the women inspired by her example. Brigid Fest was held at St John of God Hospital on February 1, coinciding with Ireland&#8217;s national holiday commemorating St Brigid. More than 60 people attended the event, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-gathers-to-honour-st-brigid\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":119422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-119409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ballarat gathers to honour St Brigid - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ballarat celebrates St Brigid with Irish dance, stories and culture as Brigid Fest Ballarat draws crowds to honour women.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/news\/ballarat-gathers-to-honour-st-brigid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ballarat gathers to honour St Brigid - 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