Anthony Raftery (Antaine Ó Raiftearaí), who was born in Killedan (Cill Liadáin) between Kiltamagh and Bohola, County Mayo, Ireland, about 1779, is described as ‘the last of the wandering Gaelic bards’. His father was a cottier and a weaver at Killedan House, home of the local landlord, Frank Taaffe, and his mother, née Brennan, came from the area.   After attending a hedge school for a few years, he contracted smallpox at the age of nine, which left him without sight.  His eight siblings are said to have died in childhood with it. Anthony began to play the fiddle but never became a good musician.  He was a regular visitor in Killedan House, and one day took one of Frank Taaffe’s horses for a trip to Kiltamagh.  The horse fell and broke its neck, which made the owner very angry.  It is said that Taaffe banished Raftery from Killedan. Whether the story is true or not, Anthony Raftery left County Mayo and spent the rest of his life wandering the roads of Galway, visiting house after house, bringing the news of the day, reciting his poems, playing his fiddle, drinking, and talking about his experiences.  He is said to have attended a hedge school in Ballylee, County Galway, and had books read to him.  He had two children with his partner, Siobhán.

            Raftery could not write, but his poems were preserved in the oral tradition of the people of the Athenry/Gort/Loughrea district of East and South Galway. His poems were recited at weddings, wakes, on special occasions, and around many firesides. These were polemical with a strong historical, political and religious content. A few people recorded his poetry in manuscripts, most of which were later collected by Lady Augusta Gregory (1852-1932), who gave them to the Irish scholar, Dr Dubhglás de hÍde (Dr Douglas Hyde).  Hyde published thirty-two of Raftery’s poems in Irish, with English translations and background information in ‘Songs Ascribed to Raftery’, the fifth chapter of The Songs of Connacht (1903).  Raftery’s poems and ballads include attacks on those who tried to suppress rural agitation (Na Buachaillí Bána /The Whiteboys); celebrations of contemporary events such as Daniel O’Connell’s election victory in Clare, 1828, which led to Catholic Emancipation a year later (Bua Uí Chonaill /O’Connell’s Victory); pieces in praise of pretty women with whom he was besotted, in spite of his visual impairment (Máire Ní Eidhin/Mary Hynes and Brídín Bhéasaí /Breedgeen Vesey; singing the praises of tradesmen (An Gréasaí /The Shoemaker), and lamenting some nineteen people tragically drowned in  Lough Corrib between Annaghdown and Galway in 1828 (Eanach Dhúin/Annaghdown). There is an astonishingly-detailed summary of Irish history containing more than 400 lines (Seanchas na Sceiche/Traditional lore with the Bush) and a confession of the poet’s many sins (Aithrí Raiftearaí /Raftery’s Repentance).  In Mayo his best -known poem is Contae Mhaigh Eo (County Mayo) or Cill Liadáin, in which he sings the praises of his native place:

                            ‘Killedan (is) the village in which everything grows;

There are blackberries and raspberries in it, and fruit of every kind’,..

Translation by Douglas Hyde

            There is some doubt about the provenance of his best-known poem Mise Raiftearaí /I am Raftery, which laments his life as a blind man, with his back to the wall, ‘playing music unto empty pockets’.  It was published by Seán Ó Ceallaigh, a native of Loughrea living in Oswego, New York State, in the journal An Gaodhal in 1882; it is thought to have derived from material in folk memory relating to Raftery.  It was later credited by Douglas Hyde to Raftery himself.  Anthony Raftery died on December 24, 1835, and was buried in Killeeneen cemetery between Kilcolgan and Craughwell in County Galway.  Lady Gregory was responsible for the erection of a headstone on his grave which was unveiled on August26, 1900. The big attendance included not alone Lady Gregory, but also other major figures from the Irish cultural renaissance like W. B. Yeats, Edward Martyn and Douglas Hyde. In 1985, a granite memorial was erected in his honour in Kiltamagh.

        In January 2022, the Irish Government announced an additional annual public holiday to thank citizens for all their sacrifices and work during Covid, and to remember those that lost their lives in the pandemic.  This year the additional day is on March 18 to make a long weekend as the previous day, St Patrick’s Day, is already a public holiday.  From 2023, the new public holiday will fall on the first Monday of February and celebrate St Brigid, the patroness of Ireland, one of the three national saints with Saints Patrick and Columba.  This will bring the number of public holidays in Ireland to ten. As provided for in the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, the existing nine public holidays are January 1 (New Year’s Day), St Patrick’s Day, Easter Monday, the first Mondays in May, June and August, the last Monday in October, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day. In respect of each, an employee is entitled to a paid day off on the holiday, or another paid day off within a month, or an extra day’s annual leave, or an extra day’s pay, as the employer may decide.  If a public holiday falls on a Sunday the next day becomes the public holiday, and in respect of Christmas Day, the following Tuesday.  Part-time employees must have worked at least forty hours in the five weeks before the public holiday to qualify for payment.

       The first is celebrated in Ireland as St Brigid’s Day, a date originally associated with the pre-Christian festival known as Imbolc, which marked the start of Spring and growth.   From early Christian times in Ireland, the date became the feast day of St Brigid, the most renowned female saint in the country.  Many miracles were attributed to her.  From that time, it became traditional for each family to make and display a Saint Brigid’s Cross, a small cross made with rushes.  Straw and small sally rods were also used to make Saint Brigid’s crosses and there were a number of different designs.   The origin of the tradition is said to have begun when a local chieftain in Kildare was ill and Brigid went to see him.  She soon realised that he was dying and decided to speak to him about Christianity. While doing so, she picked up rushes from the floor of the house and knitted them into a cross.  He asked her what she was doing. She placed the cross in his hands and explained to him about Jesus, His crucifixion and resurrection. When told of its symbolism, the dying person asked to be baptised. Shortly after his baptism, he died. Afterwards Saint Brigid came to be associated with hope, renewal and growth.

       In Ireland it was traditional to place a Saint Brigid’s Cross over a doorway in the belief that it protected a house from fire and saved its inhabitants from any harm.  Saint Brigid’s Cross became one of the symbols of Ireland with the harp and shamrock.  Today the custom is kept alive in Ireland, especially with primary schools playing big roles in observance of this custom. It is still customary to see a Saint Brigid’s Cross in many homes.

        It is believed that Brigid (c. 451-524) was born in Faughart, about 3km north of Dundalk, in County Louth, where there is now a Saint Brigid stone and pillar as well as holy well.  It is still a place of pilgrimage. After becoming a nun, Brigid became a great Christian leader and founded a number of monasteries, especially one in Kildare where she spent a big part of her life. Brigid is said to have established the first community of women dedicated to religious life in Ireland at Kildare. She is said to have founded two communities there, one for women and the other for men. Kildare developed into an important monastic foundation in early Christian times. It is believed that Saint Brigid died there. Many place names in Ireland are called Kilbride, the church of Brigid, in her memory. Henceforth, St Brigid will be remembered in a special way in Ireland on the first Monday of February each year.