Brigid’s Family Tree

About Brigid →

Family

• Bres(spouse),Ruadán(child)— Marriage

  Brigid married Bres mac Elatha, the half-Fomorian king of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and bore him a son, Ruadán, whose death at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired drew from her the first keening ever heard in Ireland.

• The Dagda(parent)

  The Dagda sired Brigid, who inherited three aspects of his creative fire — poetry, smithcraft, and healing — making her among the most revered of his children.

Member of

• Tuatha Dé Danann

  The Tuatha Dé Danann descended through the sky in a dark cloud upon Ireland, bringing with them the arts of sorcery, druidry, and every craft — a divine race who conquered the Fir Bolg and ruled until the coming of the Milesians.

Associated with

• Cailleach

  At Imbolc, Brigid stirs from the earth and the Cailleach's grip on winter loosens — in Scottish tradition, the old hag drinks from the Well of Youth and is reborn as the maiden of spring, the two goddesses forever trading sovereignty over the land.

• Second Battle of Mag Tuired

  Brigid's son Ruadán was slain at the Second Battle of Mag Tuired after attempting to assassinate Goibniu, and her grief-cry over his body became the first keening ever heard in Ireland.