This story clearly has Brigid behaving like a non Christian, but God respects her wishes any way. Other less fantastic stories surround the saint, Brigid supposedly multiplied loaves, and made cows produce endless milk (126). It seems that the old worship of the goddess was transferred to the saint (134). Brigid was a method for the Christian church to introduce the new religion to the pagan culture. St Brigid would make the patriarchal aligned Christian religious system familiar to the more female conscious Celts (Rankin 147).

The druids are thought to form the intellectual elite in Celtic society, and some evidence exists that women elevated to the high status. Traditions relate women in the position of prophet, bard, doctor and even satirist (Rankin 253). Women “seers” emerge through myths and legends, and can be linked to the male druid counter part (292). One instance of a female druidess emerges in the mythical character Fidelma. She is the daughter of the infamous Queen Madb, and known to posses the imbas forasna, the light of foresight. Celtic sagas tell of households where heroes are trained by women in fighting and druid wisdom (Chadwick 115). There is also the well known St Brigid, who was reputed to have been a female druidess before converting to Christianity (Ellis 146). Not very much is actually known about the druids; they wrote down little and passed most knowledge through oral traditions. Because of the practice of passing knowledge orally, much of what is known about the druids comes from the biased writing of Romans and Greeks (Cremin 55).

There is an Irish saint reputed to have the supernatural powers of and Druidic associations. Brigid of Kildare, to be known later in her life as St. Brigid, takes a prominent place in Celtic mythology. St Brigid was a real person thought to have taken the place of a Celtic goddess (Rankin 270). Brigid posses’ qualities associated with Dana, and was the goddess of healing, metal smith, poets, and most importantly fertility:

Condlaed was a bishop of Kildare and he was devoured by wolves. This is the reason: he was Brigid’s chief artist and tried to go to Rome in violation of Brigid’s order: So Brigid prayed he might get a sudden death on his road and her prayer was fulfilled. (Cremin 134)

Tacitus also mentions “there is no rule of distinction to exclude the female line from the throne, or the command of armies” (110).

A whole troop of foreigners would not be able to withstand a single Celt if he called his wife to his assistance. The wife is even more formidable. She is usually very strong, and with blue eyes; in rage her neck veins swell, she gnashes her teeth, and brandishes her snow-white robust arms. She begins to strike blows mingled with kicks, as if they were so many missiles sent from the string of a catapult.

Some topics in this essay:
Status Celtic, St Brigid, Queen Madb, Galatian Chiomara, Ammianus Marcellinus, France Germany, Druid Celtic, AD Boudicca, Connacht Madb, Cassius Dio, st brigid, queen madb, celtic women, celtic woman, celtic female, celtic society, brigid kildare, women celtic, ellis 18, law system, boudicca queen iceni, picture celtic woman, celtic woman permitted,