Brigid's Day Celebrations

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Brigid In Flames

Brigid's Day Celebrations - 1st February

Brigid, Goddess and Saint, is celebrated on February 1st – the day when the hinge of winter swings open to welcome in the spring. It's time to light a candle, make a cross of reeds and have a get- together. Song, dance and joyous rituals are just what is needed to kick start the sun so that she will burn brighter and brighter as she rolls toward summer.

Hospitable Environment and GuestHouse Storytellers invite you to join them at the Hillcrest Centre in Newhaven for an afternoon of free celebrations with fire, making, family time and food, and, from 7.00pm, a ticketed adult show with internationally acclaimed storytellers.

3 - 5pm Weave a St Brigid's Cross with Emma Carlow and Sarah Lawrence. Listen to family-friendly stories from GuestHouse's talented tellers. Free to attend and open to all. ​ 5 - 7pm Join Hospitable Environment as we celebrate the third birthday of Soup & Social with our 25th shared meal and community conversation. Enjoy a free hand massage with the fabulous team from A Touch of Gentleness. Free to attend and open to all - you're always invited!

Ticketed evening event

7 - 10pm Brigid in Flames – an Evening of Light in Darkness (for ages 16+). Book your tickets NOW!

Brigid was a Fire Goddess before she was a Saint, a blacksmith who moulded the flame of compassion into hospitality, and the spark of creativity into poetry. She is the midwife to new life. In the middle of winter, it requires imagination to see Brigit's spark igniting seeds in the dark - but good company improves vision!

Come and join world-renowned Irish storyteller Kate Corkery and Xanthe Gresham Knight as they share the stories of this magnificent Goddess. Expect music, laughter, wild rhythms, quiet rituals and a cornucopia of nurturing stories to kindle your heart.

Kate Corkery Born in Cork and living in London, Kate is much in demand all over the world, she is fluent in Irish, French and Spanish. She has been a guest storyteller at international festivals such as Edinburgh, North Pennines, Belfast, Derry, Dublin, Newcastle and Salford. Kate was Storyteller-in-Residence at the Cape Clear Island Festival and has won a Fringe First Award for her work as a storyteller in residence at the Irish Cultural Centre in London. Kate connects her stories to ancient sources: 'A heady mix of bloodthirsty, funny, passionate and moving stories kept our ancestors enthralled on dark evenings long ago. They have survived on the lips of storytellers for generations and can still live on in our imaginations today. I hope you enjoy them.' Kate is also an author and an actor. Her book 'Cork Folk Tales' was published in 2017.

Xanthe Gresham Knight Xanthe is Artistic Director of GuestHouse Storytellers. Her passions are Goddesses, Plants and Eco-feminist performance. She 'unfolds each story like the petals of a lotus. At the end you leave with something beautiful created in your own mind' (British Theatre Review). Internationally acclaimed, she has performed at the National Theatre, the Barbican, and Cheltenham Literature Festival and festivals worldwide. Residencies include Harvard University, The Smithsonian and The Chelsea Physic Garden. She is the author of 'Goddesses and Heroines' and 'A Herba Mythica, Myths and Folktales of Sacred Healing Plants' and 'Sussex Folktales.'

Doors 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Tickets £12 (£8 concessions and low waged).

There are a few helping hands spots for anyone who would like to lend a hand on the evening in return for their seat, also bookable via the link below (subject to availability).

All at the Hillcrest Centre, Bay Vue Road, Newhaven, BN9 9LH.

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