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.

Searching for Brigid’s Well.

My older post on making Brigid's crosses HERE

Brigid’s Eve draws nearer and with thoughts of making crosses, I wandered down to the Lough Field to look at the reeds. 

Standing alone in this quiet place a phrase, spoken by a Donegal Seanchaí, came to mind:

“ There were two St Brigids.

There was St Brigid up in Kildare, but this is the Brigid from this place.”

This set me wondering about the Brigid who walks the land locally and who is remembered here in stories of stones, wells and small offerings. 

Stone by the roadside in Killeigh.

A local story relates that Brigid rested and left the imprint of her leg upon the stone.

St. Brigid’s Well, Rosenallis.

The saint is believed to have founded a church here and blessed the spring well.

Coins and white quartz at the well.

Brigid’s Cross made from reeds.

The old custom here was to make the cross from oak twigs, 

bind it with reeds and place it in the thatch for protection. 

St. Brigid was believed to have been born in Doire Aircean, Derryarkin, on the bog north of 

Croghan Hill, Co. Offaly and Brigid Begoibne, Brigid the Smith, had her workshop beneath the Hill. 

Another Brigid, not of fire but of healing waters, had a sacred well which flowed from Croghan.

In the distant past Croghan Hill emerged as an island from the surrounding lakes, a sacred place where water, earth and sky met. 

Map showing the Hill and bogland today.

A place where legends of the pagan goddess and saint intertwined. 

The Hill, reminiscent of a breast, appears to have long been a place of the sacred feminine.

The old name for the Hill is Cruachán Bri Éile, the prominent hill of Éile, an elusive mythological woman or goddess who was sister to Queen Maeve.

One source tells that the River Shannon erupted from a well, known as Linn Mna Feile, 

'the Pool of the Modest Woman’, sacred to Éile, found beneath Croghan. 

Several sacred wells were associated with the hill, some visible on old maps, though all but one are now lost. 

Only two old names were recorded Fuarán Well and Finneenashark Well, which cured headaches 

and was accompanied by an ancient Ash tree. 

With Lá Fhéile Bríde approaching I decided visit Croghan to search for clues to the whereabouts of
Brigid’s sacred well.

The Bronze Age mound upon the summit has never been excavated but is thought to contain 

the remains of Éile and her chariot. 

In local folklore it opens at Samhain, leading into the hollow hill and the Otherworld. 

Could this be the site of the elusive Well?

Croghan village.

I found the small village of Croghan and drove up the hill to view the site of St. Maccaille’s church, founded around 465 AD, and the remains of the cemetery.

In Christian lore it was here, at the hands of Maccaille, Bishop of Croghan, that St. Brigid received the veil.

Perched high on the hillside it is easy to imagine that the church was built here to claim the site 

from its’ pagan predecessors and proclaim the new religion.

A sacred well with a tree, seen in the illustration below, stood in the graveyard. 

This well was named for St. Maccaille, it’s older name unrecorded. 

Illustration via:  http://omniumsanctorumhiberniae.blogspot.ie/2013/04/saint-maccaille-of-croghan-april-25.html

 Did this well once belong Brigid ?

As the sky darkened I drove to the other side of the hill, to Glenmore, considered to be the place where earlier pagan veneration took place.  

Once a forested glen, three springs formerly emerged here from the rock of Croghan Hill, two of which rose beneath an ancient Ash tree.

My plan was to walk the land hereabouts looking for evidence of wells or bullaun stones, although 

I knew that two of the wells had long become dry. 

Driving uphill was fine until I approached the glen itself when the track became impassable by small car or even booted feet.

On a previous visit I had found the well, now dedicated to St. Patrick, 

although Brigid is still remembered here with fiery tinsel and a Brigid's Eye.

The older name for Patrick’s well is not recorded but like many other legendary Holy Wells, 

the water here will never boil and any stone taken from the site will return of its’ own accord. 

Disappointed I descended the Hill and stopped to look around the modern church of St. Brigid.
There was no sign nor information about her well but I did find a small stained glass panel of her.

Brigid holds her woven cross aloft in St. Brigid’s Church, Croghan.

My final glance at Croghan Hill was through dark, bare branches. 

I felt my way to Brigid’s Well was barred by too many changes or perhaps it had never existed at all.

Back home, by the fire, I dug deeper into an old book to discover that Brigid’s Well could once be found on the summit of Croghan, the exact location long forgotten. Her spring may even have been part of the mound's sacred space as it was in the passage tomb at Newgrange.

The story warned that if her well was ever discovered again the water would rise up violently to drown the cattle which graze upon its’ slopes, so it seemed fortunate that my search was fruitless.

***

When I closed my eyes that night images of the womanly hill appeared. 

Drifting towards sleep her well formed from the darkness, surrounded by ancient stones, shaded
by twisted branches, offering healing, reflection and respite from the modern world.

At the Sacred Well.

Brigid’s Well still flows within the Otherworld.