Saint Brigid now has her own state-sanctioned bank holiday in Ireland, which this year falls on Monday, 5 February, following the saint's feast day on 1 February.
Along with St Patrick and St Columcille (Columba), St Brigid is one of Ireland's three patron saints. Her recent "promotion" follows the organisation Herstory mounting a three-year campaign to get the public holiday – “the first Irish bank holiday to be named after a woman” – introduced and established, the BBC reports.
Herstory, which is backed by a panoply of NGOs and Irish governmental bodies, notes in its mission statement that it aims to “spark sister movements across the world" and that "the amnesia of women’s stories is not just an Irish problem - this is a global phenomenon" .
