Briid’s Bed

Martin, in his Description of the Western Islands, recorded that at Candlemas the mistress and servants of each house dressed a sheaf of oats in women’s clothes, laid it in a large basket with a wooden club beside it, and called it Briid’s Bed, after St Bride. Just before going to bed they cried three times that Briid was come and Briid was welcome. In the morning they searched the ashes for the mark of Briid’s club: if they found it, a good crop and a prosperous year would follow, and if not, it was an ill omen.