Knockainey, Midsummer and the scent of Meadowsweet.

Midsummer is almost upon us, our senses filled with colour, the heady scents of woodbine 

and wild sweet pea, the sound of bees and birds. 

Almost overnight, clouds of meadowsweet appear along the boreen. 

In folk medicine meadowsweet, Airgead Luachra, ‘silver rushes’

was used to cure fevers and colds as well as easing pain. 

In Co. Galway meadowsweet was placed under the bed of a person afflicted by wasting sickness brought on by contact with the Good People. The use of the flower was fraught with danger however, as patients risked falling into a deep and deadly sleep.

Also known as Cúchulainn’s Belt, meadowsweet was said to have reduced 

the heroes’ fever and calmed his fits of rage. 

It was Àine however, the ‘bright’ goddess often associated with the sun, who gave meadowsweet its’ perfume. 

In the old tales she is described as “the best-natured of women”.

Àine is found in several places in the Irish landscape, including Lough Gur 

where she is remembered as Bean Fhionn, White Lady. 

Link to previous post about Àine & Lough Gur ~
LOUGH GUR - “a personality loved, but also feared.”

Her main residence however is her hill, Cnoc Áine, Knockainey, which is steeped in myth.

Knockainey from Bóher Na Sceach, ‘road of the thorns’. 

Ritual once took place here on Oiche Fhéile Eóin, St. John’s Eve, June 23rd.

The celebration falls close to the Summer Solstice and many believe it has its’ roots in pagan ritual. 

In legend Áine, using her magic, helped to take the hill from the Firbolg so that her people, the Tuatha Dé Danann, could settle there. 

Her price for preventing bloodshed was that “the hill were given to her till the end of the world.”  

At 528 feet high, the summit provides views across the landscape to the hills around Lough Gur, 

to Knockfierna and to the sacred fires which would once have been lit on hill tops to celebrate the changing seasons. 

Knockfierna to the west of Knockainey. 

Folklore tells that the local fairies, led by Áine, used to play a hurling match against the god, 

Donn Firinne who lived beneath Knockfierna. 

Whoever was victorious would ensure a successful potato crop.

The top of Áine’s Hill, difficult to reach in the summer months due to grazing cattle, has the remains of three mounds. These were believed to be the dwelling places of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Eogabal (said by some to be Aine's father), 

Fer Fi and Áine.

Diagram of Knockainey mounds from Thomas J. Westropp, 

 “The Ancient Sanctuaries of Knockainey and Clogher, Co. Limerick and Their Goddesses”

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 1917 - 1919 

After visiting Knockainey Westropp describes’s Áine’s cairn as

 “a defaced, insignificant heap of earth and stones wrecked by treasure-seekers.” 

As late as the 19th century celebrations were held at Midsummer and at harvest when burning brands of hay and straw were carried to the summit.

Evans-Wentz, W. Y. - 'The Fairy-faith in Celtic Countries', London: H. Frowde, 1911.

The goddess herself was believed to lead a similar rite. 

Several wells are marked on the old maps suggesting that there may have been rituals involving water. 

One ‘curious’ well which flowed down the slope beneath her mound was recorded as 

Áine’s Well and she was said to haunt the local river as a banshee, combing her hair beside the waters of the Camòg.

All that can be found today is Mary's Well in the village.  

A series of exposed rocks, the remains of an old quarry, hide the elusive Áine Clíar's Cave.

The Hill and land around Knockainey is filled with ancient monuments, mounds and standing stones once part of Bronze and Iron Age burial traditions and ceremonies. 

The landscape holds its’ secrets but still whispers, in the summer months, of forgotten rituals, celebrations to the sun and to Áine, the “ beautiful spirit crowned with meadowsweet”.

Offerings to Áine at the river.

Click link below to read more about Knockainey & view the surrounding landscape from the summit ~ 

VOICES FROM THE DAWN

Bealtaine, Water & Sun~Enchanted Dew.

Bealtaine Eve, Oíche Bealtaine, and the supernatural prevails.

On May Day, the start of summer, especially in the moments before dawn, water was understood 

to possess magical qualities and in rural Ireland the Good People used this medium to meddle in the affairs of humans.

Folk belief was rich in traditions surrounding wells, rivers and dew at this time.

Tobar Geal, Bright / White Well, Co. Galway. 

The first water taken from the well after dawn on May Day, known as Barra-bua an tobair , 

sgaith an tobair, ‘the top of the well’ or ‘the luck of the well’, was collected from the surface using 

a milk-skimmer. 

This water, which brought luck to the household, was used as protection against evil intent and 

was saved for healing. 

Village well, Co. Offaly.

Where a water source was in a village or shared by neighbours there was rivalry 

between households to be the first to skim the well for luck after the sun rose on May Day.

So strong was the belief in Other-worldly forces that precautions were taken to protect the water supply from interference. 

Village pumps were also defended, especially at dawn on May morning and some were chained 

and locked overnight to prevent their use.

People sat guarding the well, salt or holy water was sprinkled around the site or a slip of mountain ash or piece of iron was placed in the water itself. 

Flowers collected on Bealtaine Eve were placed in wells to safeguard water and the health 

and livelihood of the community. Later in the day May flower water could be taken from the well
for use as a cure and as a means of protection.

However, it was not only the Good People who were believed to be abroad at this time. 

Certain individuals who harboured evil intentions would steal well water or dew from fields to appropriate the fertility, luck and prosperity of their neighbours.

The Hag of the Mill - LINK HERE

Those who worked charms were understood to be older women with supernatural powers, gained from invoking 

the devil or associating with the Good People. 

They obtained assistance from the Otherworld by crawling naked on May morning under an arch of briar then bathed naked in dew. 

Water was understood to hold a subtle connection to people and to animals which could be 

utilised by fairy and human alike.

Taking water from three different wells on May morning had the power of stealing the butter yield from the neighbours, whilst water taken from a point where 3 farm boundaries or townlands met, uisce na dtrí teorann, ‘water of three mearings’, was especially potent for use in magical workings and setting charms, so these areas were safeguarded.

Drinking place for cattle on the River Barrow.

Watch was often kept overnight at streams which flowed through farmland as the spots where cattle drank were also vulnerable. 

Strangers or Otherworld beings, who could approach in the form of wild creatures, were warned off with a shout or a blast from a shotgun.

To avert malign influence neither milk nor cow dung was permitted to fall into streams lest the water be used magically. 

Even after milking, hands to be washed elsewhere to avoid drawing unwanted attention to the contaminated water. 

Dew was of great value on the first day of summer.

In some places as much as possible would be gathered before sunrise in order to ensure enough money for the rest of the year.

Washing the face or rolling naked in May dew bestowed beauty as well as giving a resistance 

to sunburn, freckles, chapping and wrinkling of the skin in the following year. 

Dew was collected before sunrise by shaking long grass or herbs into a dish or by placing a clean cloth on the grass and wringing it out when soaked.

The most powerful dew was understood to collect on green corn or wheat.

Dew on May morning was considered most potent and walking barefoot through grass 

ensured healthy feet.

The collected dew was transferred into a clear glass bottle then placed on a window sill to stand in the summer sunshine. 

During this time any dirt settled at the bottom then the liquid was decanted. 

This process was carried out several times as the action of ‘sunbeams’ on the dew itself was considered purifying and increased its’ potency. 

By the end of summer the dew would look ‘whitish’ and could be kept for a year or two as a 

medicine to cure headaches, skin ailments and sore eyes.

Dew was at its’ most potent when used before sunrise on May Day especially when it was employed in the working 

of malevolent magic.

‘Stealing the butter’, increasing your butter yield at others’ expense, was accomplished by gathering dew from a neighbours’ field where their cows grazed whilst repeating a charm.

“Come butter come!

Come butter come!

Every lump as big as my bum!”

***

Today many May Day water customs have long been forgotten but the practice of washing the face in May dew continues.

Where did this reverence for dew originate?

The late folklorist Dáithí Ó hÓgáin wrote of a source of wisdom employed by the druid-poets which describes the action of sun on dew resulting in inspiration. 

“imbas gréine, … defined in early literature as ‘bubbles which the sun impregnates on herbs, 

and whoever consumes them gains poet-craft.

This is a reference to dew.”

Ó hÓgáin goes on to say:

“Elsewhere there are highly significant references to druchtu Déa, (dew of a goddess), 

which in early poetic rhetoric was a kenning for the all-important 

ith ocus blicht (‘corn and milk’). ”

The land-goddess is fertilised by the sun, her body produces dew and the corn and milk which are essential for the nourishment for the community. 

As Ó hÓgáin theorised this may be an early understanding of agriculture and the partaking of dew an element in druidic ritual during summer.

At dawn tomorrow, when you wash your face in the dew, beware, 

you may be taking part in a tradition that stretches back further than you imagine.

The Cailleach - Hag of the Mill & Mother of the Herd.

Cailleach an Mhuilinn, The Hag of the Mill, a new painting.

For much of last winter and earlier this year I have kept company with the Cailleach, the Old Woman, the Hag, who appears in many guises in folklore, landscape and myth. 

Her great age, her ability to fly, to shape shift into animal form, her role as a Sovereignty goddess and her links to wild animals marks the Cailleach as a supernatural being, an ancient goddess. 

As Hag of the Mill she is associated with grinding corn and the harvest.

In many places the last uncut stalks of corn were plaited, cut and hung above the door at home as protection. 

This action was known as ‘cutting the cailleach’. 

In others areas it was believed she took the form of a hare who sheltered in an uncut corner of a field to avoid the scythe.

I was commissioned to paint her in her guise of The Hag of the Mill as she appears in Buile Suibne,

‘The Frenzy of Sweeney’, a tale recorded in the 1670’s. 

Rather than illustrate her part in the tale literally, I wanted to portray her energy and wildness. 

You can read the text of Buile Suibhne, translated by JG. O’Keefe HERE

Briefly Suibhne is described as the king of Dal Araidhe in the north east of Ireland. 

When news reached him that St. Ronan Finn was building a Christian church on his land and chanting psalms the pagan Suibhne, having no time to dress, left his home naked and expelled the cleric.

After throwing the psalter into a nearby lake Suibhne is cursed by Ronan to constantly wander Ireland, flying naked throughout the land until killed by a spear.

So he spends seven years leaping from hill to hill, living amongst trees and existing only on watercress. Suibhne appears to lose his sanity but he is eventually caught and left in the care of his kinsman, the miller Loingseachan.  

Suibhne is locked in a bedroom at the miller’s hostel until one day, during the busy harvest when all hands are needed, he is entrusted to the care of Lonnog, The Hag of the Mill. 

She is ordered not to speak to the captive but Lonnog has her own plans. 

She teases the king about his madness and he responds with tales of his freedom and the great leaps he once took across the hill tops of Ireland. 

Finally the Cailleach challenges him to make one more leap, this time through the skylight of the room. Suibhne does so and pursued by the Hag, is free once more. 

Detail - Teach Duinn, Donn’s House of the Dead, identified as Bull Rock, off the coast of  Co. Cork.

They visit Teach Duinn in the west, then travel across the landscape, with the Mill Hag driving him on, revealing to him his past life as a ‘madman’.

Detail - The Cailleach as bringer of winter, mother of the herd.

During their time together Suibhne recounts his meetings with the famous stags of Ireland, remembering his great adventures in the wild and although the king despises the Hag for bringing him back to his old ‘madness’, he recognises Lonnog as an ancient one, the progenitor, Mother of the great herds of deer.

“ O mother of this herd

thy coat has become grey,

there is no stag after thee

without two score antler-points.”

Finally, to be rid of the Hag, Suibhne leaps to Dunseverick on the Antrim coast where he jumps again, followed by the Hag of the Mill.

Detail - cliffs at Dunseverick, Co. Antrim.

The king survives by falling into the sea but the Cailleach lands on a cliff, her body broken, 

she falls into the water. 

After many more adventures St. Ronan’s curse descends upon Suibhne, he is killed by a spear wound and at death the pagan king is given the Christian sacraments.

But what of the ancient Cailleach ?

Later her body washes up on a beach and at that liminal place, between sea and land, 

she is carried away by her Otherworld kin, “the devil’s crew”. 

To this day the Hag, The Old Woman, is remembered and honoured at wild, lonely places across Ireland and at this time, when the harvest is over and winter is almost upon us, perhaps she haunts those places still.

Harvest offerings to the stone Cailleach, The Old Woman of Beara, who looks out to sea from the Beara Peninsula.

LOUGH GUR - “a personality loved, but also feared.”

The land surrounding Loch Goir, Lough Gur in Co. Limerick 

has been inhabited continually for 6,000 years.  

Early Bronze Age wedge tomb on the shore of the Lough.

Pics: loughgur.com & ancientireland.org

The bronze Lough Gur Shield, known as the ‘Sun Shield’, dates to 700 BCE 

and appears on the beautifully designed information boards adjoining the lake.

Stone circles, standing stones, tombs, barrows and hill forts dot the landscape 

and there is a wealth of folklore. 

Map from visitballyhoura.com

However, the heart of this sacred landscape is the Lough. 

Although it was a spring day when I visited, the water was still and silent, holding mysteries 

dimly remembered in folk tales. 

“ Lough Gur dominates the scene. It was to us a personality loved, but also feared.
Every seven years, so it is said, Gur demands the heart of a human being.”

It is believed that Lough Gur was originally a circular lake belonging to Fer Fi, 

leader of the Tuatha Dé Danann and brother of the Goddess Áine, who has her palace beneath 

the waters.
As Bean Fhionn, the White Lady, it is Áine who summons a victim to the lake every seven years and takes them to her realm below. 

“Called the Enchanted Lake; some say that in ancient days there was a city where the lake is now.”

Áine is described in folklore as a fairy Bean-tige, housekeeper to Gearóid Iarla, the enchanted son of one of the Earls of Desmond.
Gearóid, banished to the lake, is doomed to return every seven years and gallop over its’ surface seated on a milk white horse shod with silver shoes.

Knockadoon © michaeldebarra.com

The hill of Knockadoon, once an island, has on its’ shore a rock formation 

known as the Suideachan Bean-tige, the Housekeeper’s Chair, 

which is the seat of the goddess Áine. 

Pic © Derek Ryan Bawn - more information The Tipperary Antiquarian

Also known as Áine’s birthing chair and the Old Hag’s Chair, 

no mortal may sit on this stone without losing their wits.

© 2015 National Folklore Collection, UCD. 

Across the Lough from Knockadooon stands Knockfennel, named for Áine’s sister. 

It is understood that this hill too is hollow and within resides Fer Fi, the king of the fairies. 

Knockfennel

His realm is entered through a cave which has a small opening at the back.

“It was said anyone who had the courage to squeeze through the hole would find himself in the hollow heart of the hill.”

Entrance to the Otherworld courtesy of The Standing Stone.

More photos of the cave can be found on The Standing Stone.ie  

In the distant past on Samhain night, when the bonfire was lit on Knockfennell and on the sixth night of every moon, the sick were brought out into the moonlight to be healed. 

This night was known as ‘All-Heal’.

If the patient did not recover by the eighth or ninth night of the moon they would hear the ceolsidhe, the fairy music which Áine brings to comfort the dying. 

The music itself, the Suantraighe, is sleep music played by Fer Fi on his harp .

“They say the Suantraighe is the sweetest tune of all, 

and that anyone who hears it falls into a trance with its beauty. 

But ‘tis a sleep from which no mortal man or woman will ever awake.”

Words of the late Tom McNamara, local seanchaí, storyteller. 

Lough Gur Heritage Centre - loughgur.com

The design of the centre is based upon the ancient lake-dwellings.

Today Lough Gur is a wildlife sanctuary, popular with local people and tourists yet there is a feeling of stepping into a landscape still alive with the old stories. 

And once the visitors have departed and the Lough settles into night

Moonlight over Lough Gur © Michael de Barra.

The Shining Ones race in their boats across the water whilst Áine’s enchantment remains irresistible 

to those who hear her call. 

‘The Enchanted Lake’ Video - Nicky Fennell, produced by Mike McNamara.

To hear more stories about the Lough from the late Tom McNamara 

please visit Voices From The Dawn.