Knockfierna, where Donn of the Dead rides out ....

In these short, dark days of the dying year the figure of Donn Fírinne haunts my imagination.

Donn, Lord of the Dead and Fairy King, rides out from his Otherworld palace beneath Knockfierna 

on his white horse, roaming the landscape of Limerick and beyond.

Knockfierna, Cnoc Fírinne, ‘Truthful Hill’ served as a local weather guide with predictions 

based on the appearance of the summit in the morning. 

In the past the Hill was known as Knock Dhoinn Ferinne, ‘mountain of Donn of Truth’.
Also called ‘The Black Hill’, it only rises to 949 feet but is visible from almost all areas of Limerick and from parts of Kerry, Cork, Tipperary and Clare.

Donn, once known locally as Donn Ainech, ‘the dark face’, had his palace, Brugh na Bruidhne, beneath the hill, entered through a deep hole in the hillside, Poll na Bruinne. 

There were dire consequences for anyone looking to investigate this entrance to the Otherworld.

Local stories tell of the Surveyor, Ahern, who, attempting to measure the depth of the hole, 

was pulled into it by his own plumb-line, never to be seen again. 

And there was Carroll Ó Daly who tried to “knock at the spirits’ door” by throwing a stone into 

Poll na Bruinne and had his nose broken when the stone was returned.

Untimely deaths were often attributed to Donn and to see him could portend a death or a momentous happening. 

He was also responsible for stealing children, leaving a changeling in their place. 

To others who saw his benevolence, he was as "quick to reward as to punish". 

A farmer was allowed into the palace to meet his brother and sister who had died many years previously and

 “both were restored to the farmer as a reward for his good service to Donn in preventing the dirty water from his yard over-running Donn’s palace grounds.”

The summit and remains of a cairn are now dominated by a 36ft cross erected in 1950.

Locals believed they would enter his palace after death and there are reports of several people meeting with Donn on the evening before they died.

Folklore also explains that they would be taken to the hill as they approached the end of their lives to enter the palace of Donn. 

This journey was known as the path of truth - "tá sé tá sí imithear shlí na fírinne", ‘he / she has set out on the path of truth’.

Beneath the summit of the hill lies Glownanérha, ‘the glen of broth’, which was known to be plentiful as Donn ensured that his people never hungered in the Otherworld.

View the complete painting of Donn HERE

Traditionally Donn Fírinne appears to mortals seated on a white horse and when the weather turned stormy at night locals would say "Donn is galloping in the clouds tonight”.

However, his excursions were not confined to Knockfierna. 

In Co. Clare he resided on Cnoc an tSodair, ‘Hill of the Trotting’,

as well as on the west coast, where as Donn na Duimhche, ‘Donn of the Dune’, he was seen riding a white horse across 

the sands at Dunbeg.

Looking towards Dunbeg dunes, where Donn rides with his fairy host.

Here Donn was known for his generosity; giving a gift of pipes, tobacco and matches to seaweed gatherers and a fistful of silver coins to a starving widow and her family.

The punishment for refusing his gifts was death.

As Fairy King, he was described as beautiful “like the blossom of flowers”, 

as “Lord of the grey and mossy rock, smooth hill and pleasant bower” and in the area surrounding Knockfierna it was customary to visit the hill at least once a year and place a stone upon the cairn at the summit, known as the Stricín, in honour of Donn.

At Bealtaine and Samhain offerings included eggs buried in hay and corn and parts of dead animals.

In particular a cock, ritually slaughtered, was bestowed upon Donn.

At Lughnasadh flowers and FRAOCHANS were offered.

My own pilgrimage to honour Donn took place at Bealtaine this year when Knockfierna 

was clad in gold and green. 

Unable to climb the hill my offerings were left in a field below the Stricín.

Sunset at Knockfierna - photo courtesy of Derek Ryan Bawn at The Tipperary Antiquarian

Now that winter is here I imagine the hill, silhouetted by the sinking sun,
resounding with hoofbeats as Donn Fírinne rides out.

A Samhain remembrance.

We descend into winter's darkness.
Around us leaves fall, animals begin to hibernate and nature appears to sleep yet we hold fast in
the knowledge that spring will return and new life will emerge.

Candles lit for the departed.

It is fitting that the month of Samhain, November, is the time when we remember those who have gone before us,
our ancestors, our loved ones.

In Irish mythology and folklore Donn was considered to be the god to whom people went after their death.
In one text Donn tells his people:

"To me, to my house you shall come after your deaths." 

DONN by Jane Brideson showing the House of Donn at sunset.
Read about this painting HERE

He was known across the island but is remembered particularly in the West where his most famous dwelling is
Teach Duinn, the House of Donn.

Also called Bull Rock, it lies off the coast of Dursey Island, Co. Cork and is now home to a lighthouse.

Bull Rock
The rock, with its natural archway, was described as 'Donn's house behind Ireland'. 

In the folklore of Kerry and Cork the belief persisted that the spirits of the dead travelled across the sea, along a path illuminated by the setting sun, to Donn's House.

The House of Donn at sunset.

Local fishermen understood that spirits travelled west to the Land of the Dead or to mythical islands such as
Tír na hÓige, the Land of Youth, where they enjoyed the afterlife.

And so it is still, when we light a candle in the west to honour those who have left this life,

or open a west facing window to allow a spirit to depart at death
 or look to the sunset to remember...

My FaceBook SHOP

I now have a Facebook SHOP where you can buy 

Cards & Prints of my original paintings. 

If you have enjoyed my work on this blog please visit, 

LIKE and SHARE my Page with your friends. 

THANK YOU.

MY FACEBOOK SHOP

If you are on Facebook please drop by & say Hello!

The White Mare & the Horse Whisperer

The White Mare & the Horse Whisperer by Jane Brideson

Watercolour, & gouache  

Model: Vincent O'Brien

My painting of the White Mare and the Horse Whisperer is finally finished.
It was inspired by the Otherworldly horses of folklore, the Sídhe and stories told about the ability
of a famous horse whisperer in Ireland.

Distant fairy fort

Horses have been important here since 3,000 BCE  and are associated in mythology with several deities: Macha in Ulster, the DAGDHA, DONN and MANANNÁN MAC LÍR,
as well as with the rites of kingship on the HILL OF TARA where the Goddess of Sovereignty
took the form of a white mare.

Donn

A strong relationship between horses and water was seen at Lughnasadh when horses were swam
in rivers to protect them from harm during the year and tales of the fearsome each uisce,
the water horse, who was believed to live in lakes and the sea, was well known across the island.

Horses feature in many stories about the naming of places and one such tale tells of a lake in
Skreen, Co. Sligo near the Ox Mountains.
It was here that a local farmer found a horse on the shore which he caught and took home.
Many years passed and the farmer found the horse to be strong, gentle and easy to work.
One day however he struck the placid horse for the first time and the creature changed, rearing
and snorting violently. Before the farmer could dismount the water horse plunged into the lake
taking the man with him.
The farmer's body was never found but his heart finally floated to the surface and gave the
lake its' name, Lough Aghree, Lake of the Heart.

The lonely Lake of the Heart © rootsweb

Folklore tells of the belief that horses are sensitive to the presence of ghosts and Otherworldly
beings and will halt if a spirit is close by and refuse to move. If the rider looks between the horses
ears he too will be able to see the sídhe.

Their importance to humans meant that horses had to be protected from the good people,
who would steal them, ride them through the night, then return them the next morning lathered
and exhausted. To counter their intentions a slip of rowan would be tied to the mane or seven hairs knotted into it.
Others believed that horses were able to protect themselves by sneezing to keep the sídhe at bay.

In the west many fine horses were thought to be descendants of Otherworldly stallions.
The supernatural horses from the caves of Kilcroney, on the Burren and the sea horses which
emerged from Galway Bay, were reputed to have mated with local mares and produced a famous
blood line.

There were also tales of the fíorláir, ‘the true mare’, a name given to the seventh consecutive filly
foal born to a dam. This foal was understood to be safe from all evil and that her rider would be safe from all harm.
On the spot where the true mare was born a four-leaved shamrock would grow having the power to heal and protect anyone who picked it.
In general horses were considered to have luck attached to them with horse shoes being hung on
or above doors and halters kept in the home, even if the horse had been sold.

Horse-Whispering was the secret method which certain people used to tame unmanageable horses
and it was believed to be a gift passed down through generations of travelling families from father
to son. There are several opinions as to the actual method used in horse whispering or charming,
some say it is the application of a certain balm to the horse's muzzle, whilst others maintain the
secret lies in a calming spell whispered into the ear.

Portrait of Sullivan by Harrison Weir

One of the most famous whisperers of the eighteenth century was Daniel Sullivan from Mallow,
Co. Cork who was secretive about his methods, claiming that he could not explain his power.
His success with race horses was well known throughout the country and in his native Cork it was
said that if he spoke to a horse it would lie on its back with all four legs in the air and remain so calm that a glass full of drink could be balanced on each hoof.
Today horse whisperers are found across the world but none have been able to emulate Sullivan's feat!

See video below in which white horses and water horses still symbolise power, the Otherworld and Ireland :

For information on Fairy Horses please visit Living Liminally
The story about Lough Gur and the white horse can be found at Voices from the Dawn