Killarney

By Sean Moriarty
<h3>After a two year hiatus due to the pandemic the Biddys were back with music, dance and in great form in Kilgobnet on Sunday evening.</h3>
The rural community near Beaufort is one of the few areas in Ireland still celebrating St Brigid&rsquo;s Day in the traditional ways.
Dressing as the Biddies is one of the oldest and most colourful customs in Ireland, a blend of pagan and Christian pageantry, held on February 1 each year.
Next year the day will be marked nationally with a Bank Holiday for the first time but the rest of Ireland will have to look to the small mid-Kerry community to see how it is really done.
Not unlike the Wren Celebrations in West Kerry, celebrating the Biddy is all about tradition.
Locals dress up in uniform &ndash; the official colours of the Kilgobnet Biddy is red and green &ndash; and they visit local areas to dance at crossroads and play music.
Two local guardians, Mike Coffey and Kilgobnet National School&nbsp;Principal Maura O&rsquo;Connor, ensure the correct protocols are followed.
Miss O&rsquo;Connor passes these traditions to her pupils and staff. The school&rsquo;s Board of Management identified the Biddy as a potential fundraiser and&nbsp;apart from&nbsp;the pandemic,&nbsp;the school has organised an event every year.
&ldquo;It was fantastic,&rdquo; teacher Mary Anne Leane told the Killarney Advertiser. &ldquo;Local man Mike Coffey makes all the costumes and he knows the protocols. It is great to have the proper traditions &ndash; often things get diluted when you try to revive them. This year we could not go around from house to house as we usually would, but we were at Sweeney&rsquo;s Cross which is a known location for crossroads dancing. We visited Kissane&rsquo;s Shop too. The older people were able to see us there.&rdquo;
She praised her school Principal Maura O&rsquo;Connor who has done so much to keep the Biddy tradition alive in both the school and in the locality.

Biddy tradition alive and well in Kilgobnet

DOWNLOAD AND XPLORE