Brigid: An Avatar for the Power of Women
For the third year running, the Brigid’s Festival Vancouver will offer a number of free academic and cultural sessions dedicated to the celebration of women. This virtual three-day festival will explore the experiences of women through the medium of Brigid, Ireland’s triple goddess and matron female saint.
With free registration opening on January 10, 2022 this event will be held virtually across multiple time zones.
Opening with an official welcome from the Irish Consulate of Vancouver, the first event “BRIGID: A Return to the Divine Feminine” features storytellers from Ireland and Canada and dives into some of the feminist stories of our favourite goddess.
Sunday’s line-up also includes a virtual traditional Irish cross-weaving workshop with award winning Irish-Canadian artist, Deirdre Keohane.
On day two of the festival, academics will join us virtually from Belfast to discuss The Bad Bridget Project, a historical study into criminal and deviant Irish women in North America in the mid-1800’s to early 1900s.
That evening we have a very special presentation from LGBTQ+ activist Chris Morrissey and Dr. Maurice Casey, curator of the “Out In The World: Ireland’s LGBTQ+ Diaspora''. Together they will tell us the extraordinary story of Bridget Coll, a nun from Ireland who first defied Pinochet’s regime in Chile before fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Canada.
On February 1, we bring together representatives from the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia in Canada and the Tuam Oral History Project located at the National University Galway in Ireland. This important panel discussion is entitled “Records and Redress: A Dialogue on Irish Mother and Baby Institutions and Canadian Residential Schools”.
The final event of the festival again celebrates the Irish tradition of storytelling with a performance reading by local Irish diaspora women.
Coinciding with the traditional festival of Brigid’s Day (February 1), this series of events will be presented online beginning Sunday, January 30 through to Tuesday, February 1, 2022. Admission to all sessions of Brigid’s Festival Vancouver is free and attendees can register at www.brigidfestivalvancouver.com.
For further information:
● Maura De Freitas, Festival Director
○ E-mail: bridfestvancouver@gmail.com
○ Tel: (778) 238-1522
● Website: www.brigidfestivalvancouver.com
● Social Media:
○ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bridfestvan/
○ Twitter: @bridfestvan
○ Instagram: bridfestvancouver
Notes to the editor:
● Graphics are attached
● Updates on the Brigid’s Festival Vancouver along with event registration can be found at www.brigidfestivalvancouver.com
● Bad Bridget project website: https://badbridget.wordpress.com/
● BBC News piece on Bridget Coll: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57555518
● Tuam Oral History Project, NUI Galway, Ireland: https://www.nuigalway.ie/tuam-oral-history/
● Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, UBC, Canada: https://irshdc.ubc.ca/about/what-we-do/
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