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St Brigid's Cross Pendant
Inspired by Rosaline’s St Brigid’s Cross (Fermanagh), 3D-scan by Jan (Antrim). Original scan released under CC BY 4.0; modified by The Knotty Celt.
Rosaline learned to make St Brigid’s Crosses as a child at school in Fermanagh, a place where the custom was part of the year’s rhythm and the parish’s memory. What she learned, she now gives back: gathered in the parish hall, she shows neighbours and friends how to weave the rushes into the familiar four-armed form, fingers moving with the calm certainty of long practice. When the crosses are finished, they’re brought to the church and shared—tokens of protection, hospitality, and the quiet generosity of a community that still makes things with its hands. Her husband teases that she shouldn’t make too many, lest people think his fields are nothing but rushes.
In earlier times, when money was scarce, the tradition endured precisely because it was simple and resourceful: a sacred sign made from what the land freely offered. That spirit remains. To help preserve Rosaline’s work, one of her handwoven crosses was captured as a 3D scan so the pattern could travel further—into classrooms, studios, and now into metal. This pendant is a small tribute to Rosaline’s teaching and to the way old skills live on when they are shared. It carries the story of a woman, a parish, and a craft passed from hand to hand across generations—faith made tangible in the humblest of materials, and reimagined with care.