You can of course visit a holy well any day of the week but there are certain times when a visit is considered to be especially potent. The main day for visiting a well is the pattern day or pátrún, usually celebrated on the patron saint’s feast day. St John’s wells are visited on St John’s day/Johns Eve, 23/24th June for example, St Gobnait’s wells on the 11th February and so on. (For a list of all saints’ days see Feast Days.)
Originally it seems that pattern days were not just a pilgrimage but more of a holiday and could last several days. By 1660 things had got so lively that the Synod of Tuam decreed :
Dancing, flute-playing, bands of music, riotous revels and other abuses in visiting
wells and other holy places are forbidden…
Further attempts to stop pattern days were made a few decades later in 1703:
Penal Laws of the early 18th century … include the following infamous Act to Prevent Further Growth of Popery. It prohibited ‘the riotous and assembling together of many thousands of papists to the said wells and other places’ and prescribing a fine of 10/- on all who met at wells and 20/- on vendors of ‘all ale, victuals or other commodities’ with a public flogging in default of payment, enjoined on all magistrates the demolition of ‘all crosses, pictures and inscriptions that are anywhere publickly set up, and are the occasion of any popish superstitions.
Irish Culture & Customs website
However, pattern days continued to flourish and were big business by the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Some wells could attract literally thousands of pilgrims who would start to arrive several days before the religious activities began. Large crowds need to be fed, watered and entertained and shops, bars and vendors of all sorts were attracted to satisfy these needs, encampments growing up in the fields around the wells.
A pattern which had nationwide appeal was in Gougane Barra, where St Finbarr, patron saint of Cork City, had founded a monastic cell in the sixth century.
Originally there were two pattern days – St John’s Eve (23rd June) and St Finbarr’s day (25th September) when huge crowds gathered to pay the rounds, visit the holy well and even swim their cattle across the lake.
The numbers eventually got so enormous and the pilgrims so diverse that arrangements had to be made to prevent things getting completely out of hand. It was recently explained to me that eventually the travellers were given St John’s Day as their official pattern and other pilgrims attended on St Finbarr’s Day. Eventually the St John’s Day celebration dwindled and died out and St Finbarr’s feast day took prominence.
Thomas Crofton Croker visited in 1813 and, in his book, Researches in the South of Ireland, gives intriguing details of the colourful goings on :
As night closed in, the tent became crowded almost to suffocation, and dancing being out of the question, our piper left us for some other station, and a man, who I learned had served in the Kerry militia, and had been flogged at Tralee about five years before as a White-boy, began to take a prominent part in entertaining the assembly by singing Irish songs in a loud and effective voice. These songs were received with shouts of applause, and as I was then ignorant of the Irish language and anxious to know the meaning of what had elicited so much popular approbation, I applied to an old woman near who I sat, for an explanation or translation, which she readily gave me, and I found that these songs were rebellious in the highest degree. Poor old King George was execrated without mercy; curses were also dealt out wholesale on the Saxon oppressors of Banna the Blessed (an allegorical name for Ireland); Bonaparte’s achievement were extolled, and Irishmen were called upon to follow the example of the French people ….. We left this scene, so calculated to excite compassion and horror, and turned towards the banks of the lake, where whiskey, porter, bread and salmon were sold in booths or tents resembling a gipsy encampment, and formed by means of poles or branches of trees meeting at angles, over which were thrown the proprietor’s great coat, his wife’s cloak, old blankets, quilts, and occasionally a little straw. Above the entrance of each was suspended the name of the owner, if he happened to possess a license; when this was not the case, a jug, a bottle, or pipe were displayed to indicate that spirits and porter might be had within, and not unfrequently were added a piece of ribbon, and an old shoe, the first to distinguish some popular party, the latter emblematic of dancing, to which amusement the lower orders of Irish are immoderately attached. Almost every tent had its piper, and two or three young men and women dancing the jig, or a peculiar kind of dance, called the rinkafadah, which consists of movements by no means graceless or inelegant. The women invariably selected their partners, and went up to the man of their choice, to whom they freely presented their hand. After the dance was concluded, the men dropped a penny each, or, such as were inclined to display their liberality, something more, into an old hat which lay at the piper’s feet, or in a hollow made in the ground for the purpose. The piper, who seldom makes a moment’s pause, continues playing, and another dance immediately commences. I recollect having seen, in Cork, a painting by Grogan, (a native artist) of the breaking up of an Irish fair, in which he has happily expressed the ceaseless motion of the musician’s fingers on such occasions by the introduction of a man holding a jug of porter to the piper’s lips, which he drinks without interruption to the dance.
Unamused by this rowdiness, the Bishop of Cork issued a Decree of Excommunication in 1817 banning anyone from taking part! This was eventually revoked.Today Gougane Sunday, the one nearest to St Finbarr’s feast day, is a well attended, dignified affair. The pilgrims are piped down to St Finbarr’s church, lead by the clergy, and an open air Mass in English and Irish is celebrated.
Faction fighting
It wasn’t only at Gougane Barra that things got riotous. Once the religious solemnities finished it seems that pattern days routinely evolved into a mighty party with drinking, dancing and merry-making. Often this all ended badly as faction fighting broke out. I was confused by this as it seems so contradictory but again it was explained to me that this was often carefully planned and could almost be looked upon as a good thing – feuding families, having remained peaceful all year, were allowed grievances to be played out and satisfied only on this one day. This illustration by WH Brooke, taken from Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry by William Carleton published in the 1830s, shows the full melee.
However, people were killed. At Lady’s Well Kealkil, now such a tranquil spot, a man was brutally murdered on the 15th August, as described in this article from the Southern Reporter, 28th August 1848:
On Friday and Saturday last, the Constable F Baldwin esq, held an inquest at the Court House Bantry, on the body of John Murphy of Droumduff, who was killed in faction fighting between the Flynns and the Murphys, who had assembled together at the annual pattern at Lady’s Well on the lands of Lisheens. The deceased, it appears, was knocked down with a blow of a spade, given by a man named William Downey, and while down, was struck with a stone to the chest by a woman named Margaret Flynn. He died about four hours later. Several others were most severely beaten. Head Constable Grant, and the Police Force under him, have arrested several of the parties accuses. Several have been identified and three have been committed on the Coroner’s Warrant. A verdict of wilful murder was delivered by the Jury at 4 o’clock on Saturday evening against eight persons as principals and against seven as aiding and abetting … It is right to say that exertions have been made for some time by the Clergymen in the vicinity … to prevent people from attending wells and patterns.
By 1849 Sir William Wilde, father of the playwright Oscar, paints a much bleaker image:
The old forms, and customs too, are becoming obliterated. The festivals are unobserved and the rustic festivities neglected or forgotten – the bowlings, the cakes, the prinkums, do not often take place when starvation and pestilence stalk over a country, many parts of which appear as if a destroying army had but recently passed through it. Such is the desolation which whole districts, of Connaught at least, at this moment presents. Entire villages being levelled to the ground; fences broken; the land untilled and often unstocked, and miles of country lying idle and unproductive, without the face of a human being to be seen upon it.
W Wilde, Popular Irish Superstitions
Today, however, many pattern days are thriving, the largest in County Cork include St Gobnait’s Well, Tobar Ghobnatan,in Ballyvourney (11th February); St John’s Well, Tobar Eoin Óg, Carrigaline (23rd June); Tubrid Well, Tobar Bo Finne, Millstreet (May 1st); St Fanahan’s Well, Tobar Naomh Fionnchú, Mitchelstown (25th November) and Gougane Sunday, Gougane Barra (25th September). Other communities which celebrate on a smaller scale including St Laitiarian’s Well Cullen ( 25th july), Lady’s Well near Bantry (1st May), Skour Well, Tobar na Sceabhrach, Lough Hyne (30th April), St Bartholomew Well, Tobar Phartalain, Garryantaggart (24th August) and St Colmán’s Well near Cloyne (October 27th). Today’s celebrations are less rowdy but equally sincere and meaningful.
Paying the Rounds
So what was required once you arrived at a holy well? What rituals and behaviours were expected? It seems that most wells followed the same rituals but each had its own unique flavour or customs. As described above, the pattern day was the most popular day of observance. Many pilgrims would gather on the Eve of the feast day. At some sites it was traditional to walk barefoot as at St John’s Well near Castletownbere where pilgrims faced a long walk and arduous climb up the mountain where they were expected to spend the night before beginning devotions at dawn on St John’s Day .
Generally devotions follow a similar pattern and pilgrims are expected to pay the rounds – this is a circumambulation of the holy well following a set route.The turas or round is always deiseal or clockwise, following the path of the sun. To go anticlockwise or tuathal was considered extremely unlucky or an insult, and only used for mischief. Sometimes one round is all that is required but usually several rounds are necessary. At St John’s Well, Tobar na bhFaithni, Mushera for example, three rounds are required.
This is a large site and 14 stations are included in the rounds. Stations are stopping off points where a prescribed set of prayers are said. Stations could be literally the Stations of the Cross, as at St John’s Well, or other significant markers such as altars, stones or even natural features. The number of stations can vary hugely. At St Olan’s Well near Aghabullogue In North Cork there are three stations – the well itself, St Olan’s Cap or capáin and St Olan’s Stone. PJ Hartnett, writing in 1940, explains the ritual:
Regarding the rounds paid I must, first of all, point out that St. Olan’s Well is one of a chain of three “Stations”; the other two – St Olan’s Stone and St. Olan’s Cap – being located in the neighbouring town land of Coolineagh. The Olan whose name is here perpetuated was, of course, the patron saint of the parish of Aghabullogue, as well as being the preceptor of St. Finbarr of Cork. His name is recorded in the Martyrology of Donegal as Eolang, Eulang, or Eulogius, and his feast-day occurs on September 5th. It is on this date that rounds are paid at all three stations.
PH Hartnett, The Holy Wells Of Muskerry
St Gobnait’s ecclesiastical site in Ballyvourney has one large round but eleven stopping off points, some of which are very unusual and include: a sile na gig, an agate stone and the shrine of the saint herself. Two wells are also included in the round.
If rounds were complex or many stations were involved, pilgrims would sometimes carry stones with them and each time a round was completed leave a stone in a heap. When all stones were used up they knew they had successfully completed the circuit. At Lady’s Well near Bantry the process is as follows:
Tis a very devout place. and there have been healings attached to it. The rounds are done here on the 15th August. The rounds then consisted of 15 decades of the Rosary, going up one side of the path by the altar and down and round the other. The tradition was to take 15 small pebbles and as you passed the well you dropped one in. You know you had the 15 decades finished when you dropped the last pebble in the well. When you threw in the 15th stone and said your Hail Holy Queen, if an eel that was in the well jumped up in the water, the main part of your wish would be given…
Sheep’s Head Way Booklet
Sometimes heaps of these stones left by pilgrims can still be seen. At St Colmáns penitential station, which includes a holy well amongst other interesting monuments. The now flattened heaps of stones are still there, marking 14 stations.
Whilst paying the rounds pilgrims often inscribe crosses into stations or particular stones. The evidence of this is plentiful if controversial – concerns being expressed that this damages the monument. It’s a difficult one for in some ways this seems a natural evolution of the site and part of the ritual and tradition, yet some carvings could be considered to have been disfigured.
Offerings
Once rounds are completed offerings are left. Traditionally pins, coins, delft and religious medals were popular but today a much wider variety of objects can be seen. Some are a little strange and might be considered inappropriate – cigarette packets, sweet papers, toys – but really these are in the tradition of leaving a part of yourself behind, anything you might have on you, something to show you have been.
Rag trees
At some wells it is traditional to leave a piece of cloth on a blessed tree or rag tree. Again this is a form of leaving an offering but it can have a different meaning. If someone was sick, the cloth, traditionally red, was wiped on the afflicted area, the cloth hung in the tree and as it disintegrated it was believed so did the ailment. See the section on Sacred Trees for more information about this.
Drinking the water
The round is usually completed by drinking water from the holy well. This sketch from John Barrow’s A Tour Around Ireland, dates from 1835 and shows a pattern day at St John’s Well, Tobar Eoin Óg, in Carrigaline. Literally everyone is crowding in to take the water- men, women, children and dogs! Generally three sips were considered sufficient – a reference to the Holy Trinity but water could also be applied to an afflicted area, or taken home to be used as necessary. At St Mary’s Well, Tullylease in North Cork the water comes ready bottled.
There is a nice summing up of the whole process in this entry from the Schools’ Folklore Collection in reference to St Brigid’s Well, Britway:
… There is a wall built around this well. This was built by a man called Garret Heaphy on the Ist May 1880 … There are four trees inside the well one rowan, two beech and one sycamore….. The annual pattern day is the 15th August but the real pilgrimage day is the 1st February – St Brighid’s Day. The well is frequented for temporal and spiritual benefits and cure of all ailments. The Rosary is recited, three rounds being given and there are three stones to count the rounds. The water is applied to the affected part. It is also drunk and taken away. The water is also used for domestic purposes but in this instance is not taken from the well proper but from the stream which flows from the well. It is said that water taken out of the well cannot be brought to boil. After the rounds offerings are made, men: money, women beads. These offerings are placed on the small altar at the back of the well or on the limbs of the trees inside the well. Pieces of cloth are also applied to a branch. In olden times it was the custom after the rounds to repair to Saint Brigid’s Stone which lies southeast of the well in a field adjoining the graveyard. Prayers were said here and also at the cross on the boundary wall of the graveyard north west from the stone.
SFC:311:0381
