So, I'm still thinking about Bríghde as a Dawn Goddess, and it makes more and more sense. Considering some of the iconography of the saint that was based on the Goddess, including a common theme where she hangs her cloak on a ray of sunlight, and that she was born at dawn on the holiday representing the "Dawn of the Year", there's a lot of material there for a Dawn Goddess, as well as the musings in my foregoing toot.

So, I searched for "Rig Veda Dawn God" wondering what I would find. And what do you know? It's a "she", Ushas. She's venerated as one of the highest and most beloved gods, she's married to the Sun god, she's associated with worldly abundance, possibly also artistic inspiration, and her iconography involves red cows. These are all associations clearly held in common with Bríghde!

Wanna bet that if I dig deeper I'll find that Ushas is celebrated in springtime in particular, and that she mourns a lost son or father in one of her key myths?
#imbolg #imbolc #brigidsday