Our first stop was Kildare's tourist centre where we watched a short video about the history of Saint Bridget and the area of Kildare. We learnt the round tower was there for defense and so much more facts. What really amazed me was, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, had been to Kildare town last April! We were shown a picture of him holding a Saint Bridget's cross which had been sent to hang in the Kildare tourist centre. Although this wasn't something many people saw, it really made me think. Although so many religions and cultures have and are constantly clashing it really made me happy to see the Dalai Lama, head of the Buddhist religion hold a Catholic symbol peacefully and with such joy.
Next we visited Saint Bridget's cathedral, where today The Church Of Ireland still holds mass. The stone ornaments were very impressive and the stained glass windows were beautiful. We also saw the round tower here. This round tower was the tallest in Ireland until the cone top was knocked off, today it is the second tallest in Ireland.
We than had a shopping and lunch break in Kildare Village outlets.
We than walked to the original Saint Bridgets well. The sun began to shine so brightly on the way and all of us who had spent the morning ice cold began to quickly warm up, it defiantly raised spirits.
At the first well we each had the option to walk down to the well, walk around the edge of it and bless ourselves with the holy water. Even though I am not religious I did find it nice to take part in this. We could say a private prayer which I also find has a lot more meaning as apposed to reciting things you may not understand.
We walked to the second well next which was a beautiful green area with a small stream, statues, benches, flowers and of course, the well. Here an optional short prayer service was held. Not everyone joined in and I really liked that it was your decision. For me, I don't enjoy prayer services as such, I feel I can't connect properly with what I would like to reflect on. I choose to walk around the well on my own after the prayer service. Some girls did this too and others felt they enjoyed the prayer service.
I really liked that throughout our trip we were given options as I feel religion is something that should always be your personal choose and no one should interfere with that.
Also as part of our study of Bridget we have started a blog, please check out my poem on this blog!
Thanks :)
