Every year on the 1st of February we celebrate Saint Bridget’s day. Saint Bridget was one of many Irish Saints. It is believed that Saint Bridget was born five miles from Kildare to parents of humble origin.

She was baptized by Saint Patrick.  She is one of three patron Saints of Ireland. She became a nun at a very young age.

Saint Bridget went to Clonmacnoise, where she wanted to buy land to build a monastery. She was told that she could have as much land as her cloak could cover.  Saint Bridget spread out her cloak and it seemed to cover a large area of ground.  The owner of the land then gave her that amount of land.  On that land she built her monastery.  Nuns and priests came to stay in the monastery.
 
 

Now you might think it a blessing to have a saint in the house, but in fact Brigid was a pain to her father Dubhtach. She kept giving things away. It was bad enough giving away food, her father thought, but, when it came to giving away some of his treasured possessions, well that was a different matter altogether.

 Once, Dubhtach left her in his chariot while he visited another chieftain. While she waited a leper passed by. He was a pitiful sight, and Brigid was sad to see people draw away from him. As he limped along the road, Brigid’s heart was touched. Then, she happened to look around the chariot and saw her father’s sword. She gave him the sword and he limped of happily along the road. When Dubhtach came back, of course, he saw his sword was gone.  “I gave it to a leper, father”, said Bridgid.  Dubhtach was furious.  He ranted and raved all the way back to Brocessa (his wife) in County Louth.
 
 

In Breaffy there is a haunted house. When the old man that lived there died a friend of his became caretaker of the house. During his many visits to the house he witnessed many strange happenings. The caretaker knew this wasn’t an average house and that it was haunted. A couple moved into the house some years after the old man died. But the couple were frightened by the odd noises, screaming and banging in the house and moved out not long after moving inn. A month or two later another couple moved into the house after getting married. This couple heard the same things as the previous, also a car could be heard turning in the yard and the headlights could be seen but when the man of the house went out to see who was there no car was to be seen. They also heard the sound of a man walking with the aid of a stick walking towards the door this ended up out side the door with a short pause and then a loud rapid banging on the door. This couple also moved out because they got frightened. Many couples came and left until a couple said they wanted to move in (the man in this couple owns the house now but he doesn’t live in it). Nothing happened on the first few nights but one night the incident including the old man walking and the rapid banging on the door happened three times. On the third time the man of the house was ready to swing a poker at the person that was making the noise. But when the man opened the door there was no one there. The odd noises that were heard by the other couples could be heard as the couple were going to bed, When the couple reached the room it was a mess-everything thrown all over the place and the bed was warm as if someone was after sleeping on it. The couples packed up they were at the bottom of the stairs ready to leave when they looked up and saw a man standing at the top of the stairs holding either a sword or a stick in his hand. The couple left in a hurry and the house is now vacant.
          Le Cristín Ní Chillín
          Rang 6