It is traditional to make Bridget’s crosses out of reeds for Imbolc, but we couldn’t find reeds in Ohio. We did, however, find a lot of this plant that looked like it might work:
My mom cut a handful, and then we soaked them in the tub to make them more flexible.
We watched a bunch of YouTube videos on making the crosses, and this one was the best and easiest to understand:
We followed the directions on the video, and made two crosses with the reed-like plant:
My mom also made one out of paper,
and another out of pipe cleaners:
The reed-like ones were pretty easy to make, except that the reeds tended to crack when we bent them. You can see in the videos how nicely new reeds work, and these were just too dry even after being soaked. The paper worked ok, but you have to work hard to keep the paper from overlapping in the center. The pipe cleaners were the easiest by far with which to work, although I prefer a more natural look.
Here are our finished Bridget’s crosses!
(You can also make a three legged cross, but we didn’t try it):
My mom and I wish you many Imbolc Blessings!
You and your mom did a beautiful job making the Brigid Crosses, it is not easy working with raw materials. Love the paper and pipe cleaner crosses too. Thank you for sharing the video
Thank you! We watched a lot of confusing videos before finding this one, and I thought others might like it too!