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.

Tales from the Cailleach: Tipping the Balance at Equinox.

A short walk today, just as far as the thorn. 

The Equinox sunrise gilded the stones within my mound this morning.

Photo: sunlight at Spring Equinox inside Cairn T  © Clare Tuffy http://www.newgrange.com 

Seed-sprouts rise from the earth, tiny leaves curl on branches.
Still, there is a breath of snow in the air and on these grey days I don’t stray far from the hearth.

The fire awakened, I sit staring into the flames, warmed by memories of SAMHAIN past. 

Since then I have a ready smile for neighbours and laughter in my eyes. 

They do not know the cause but I see them sniffing the air as they pass, sensing sea tang, their faces puzzled by the seaweed fond across my threshold. 

The phone rings, reflections shatter.

Two voices, so like my own, whisper down the line.

“ Tonight, is it?”

I nod my reply.

“Yes, we’ll tip the balance. ”

Later, fire banked, I listen to the house as it sighs and settles into the night.

Once the tale was told of we three Hags who push up new growth from the land at Equinox, it’s almost true that story.
My sister-selves and I labour when light and dark are equal but not beneath the earth.

As shadows deepen, eyes close, breathing slows and I gently slip away.

Needing neither broom nor steed I rise to travel rimed roads. 

Sleep blankets the villages I pass, a quiet night in this world.

Over frost bitten bog and pitch river I gather speed to soar above the rising hill.

Photo © Lynda McCormack 

A feathering of snow flakes as I settle upon Sliabh na Caillíghe, where once we leapt and hurled 

the stones that now bear legends.

Upon my chair I scour the sleeping island with keen eyes.

Photo: Courtesy of © Anthony Murphy http://www.mythicalireland.com 

Yes, the land is ready, ripe for growth. 

I release my howl of greeting high into the darkness.  

A chill blast bearing laughter replies, my sister-self on Gullion. 

A moment later the screech of Bheara answers and we three Hags are ready.

The tipping point approaches.

At the mound, breath hoar frost on stone, I enter black stillness.

In this womb, the air, already laden with the scent of meadowsweet yet to bloom, 

shifts as I trace shapes within the stones. 

Patterns once danced upon the land in rhythm with earth, sea and sky.

We three move as one. 

Goodness in seed, grass and grain.

Sunwise circling.

Goodness in flower, fruit and branch.

Weaving words.

Goodness in grain, nourish our people.

A sudden surge. 

A torrent, the yellow of ripening sun, is birthed across the land. 

The point of balance tipped.

The land awash with vigour once again.

Cailleach at Sliabh na Caillíghe © Jane Brideson.

***

Next morning, I stir the embers back to flame and place the kettle on the stove, my work complete 

till harvest.

Stepping out the sky is washed pale blue and Seán stops the post van by the gate. 

“ Not a bad morning,” he says, “ there’s a feel of spring to the air. ”

Handing over the bills he stays to chat until the kettle sings. 

“ No tea for me today. ” 

Leaving he sniffs and mutters, “ is that the sea ? ”

I look to the sky. 

From the west a cloud formed like a wave rolls across the hills.

Inside two cups sit ready.

Manannán comes.

My first story of The Cailleach at Samhain is here: The Lament of the Old Woman

By Stone, Whitethorn and Well.

It may have been that sacred springs and wells were understood by our ancestors to originate in the Otherworld, flowing from the earth into this world at special places, bringing healing, inspiration, wisdom and connection to deities.

Gold boat from the Brighter Hoard Co. Derry, thought to be a votive offering to Manannán Mac Lír.

Numerous deposits of votive offerings were made during the Bronze and Iron Ages in the lakes, rivers and bogs of Ireland indicating that water was an important part of ancient peoples’ lives and beliefs.

In Ireland there remain wells that are pre-Christian in origin

St. Mobhi’s Well, also known as Fionn MacCumhail’s Well. 

Photograph courtesy of Gary Branigan - Gary's book is available HERE

The construction has lead archaeologist Geraldine Stout to suggest that it may have been built around the same time as the great mound at Newgrange. 

and famous wells of mythology whose over flowing created the rivers of the island.

 Trinity Well, the source of the Boyne.

One such well was Tobar Segais, said to be surrounded by nine hazel trees.

When the hazelnuts, containing wisdom, fell into the water they were eaten by the Salmon, a creature who appears throughout Irish tradition associated with great knowledge. 

An Bradán Feasa, The Salmon of Wisdom courtesy of Séighean Ó Draoi.

More work by Séighean HERE

The legend of Tobar Segais explains that the only visitors allowed to approach the Well of Knowledge was Nechtan and his three cup bearers.

However, Boann, Nechtan’s wife, defies this taboo and visits the well where she walks around it three times, tuathal, anti-clockwise, against the course of the sun.

Unfortunately Tobar Segais, like most wells, should only be circled in a sun-wise direction and her offence causes the waters to rise up, drowning and dismembering Boann and creating the River Boyne, which bears her name.

Boann - the goddess whose essence forms the river.
More about Boann HERE

We cannot know the ancient rituals or beliefs associated with sacred springs and wells but the spiritual traditions which have grown around them may offer a glimpse into the past. 

Tobar Lugna, Co. Offaly.

With the arrival of Christianity many wells were consecrated by the early saints of Ireland and folk traditions were incorporated into the Christian rituals.

These older folk beliefs are thought to contain traces of much earlier practices of pilgrimage and veneration at well sites. 

Irish Roman Catholicism today includes devotions which take place on the feast day of the patron saint of the parish, these are known as ‘patterns’ and many are linked to rituals at wells. 

Sign explaining the pattern at ‘The City’ and holy well, Co. Kerry. 

Part of these prescribed rituals involved pilgrims ‘paying the rounds’, reciting a rosary whilst circling around the well site a number of times, always revolving deiseal, in the sun wise direction.  

Crutches and circling ritual at Doon Well, Co. Donegal. ©info@ihpc.ie

Often this circling is carried out three times, at others nine, with water from the holy well sipped at the end of the rounds. 

Occasionally holy water was taken away in bottles to be used at graves, in healing or sprinkled at the four corners of the home for protection.  

In the past patterns often ended with drinking, dancing and fighting and were so popular in rural areas that the church began to forbid these gatherings, describing the folk belief in the powers of the wells as pagan.

Bullaun stone at St. Manchan’s Holy well, Co. Offaly where sunlight and shadow creates the ‘mystical fish’.

Some healing wells were understood to contain a mystical fish, often a salmon or a trout, which appeared at certain times when the water was especially potent. 

As a sacred symbol the fish is known in both Irish mythology and Christianity. 

At St Kieran’s Holy Well, Castlekieran, Co. Meath, three trout are said to appear just before 

midnight on the first Sunday of August.

For those seeking to be cured the presence of the fish is taken as a sign that the healing

will be effective. 

Offerings continue to be made to wells, usually after drinking the water, with coins, holy medals, pieces of cloth and flowers left by pilgrims. 

Occasionally a pin or coin is put into the well water itself.

Offerings at St. Fachtnan’s Well on the Burren.

Offerings of daisies and rose petals at Ladywell, Co. Galway.

Another element of many well sites is the presence of a special bush or tree, usually a whitethorn, ash or oak.

Rags are often secured to the branches of these trees as an offering to the well or in the case of healing wells, in the belief that as the cloth rots away so does the illness.

Whitethorn & offerings at one of The Seven Blessed Wells of Killeigh, Co. Offaly.

The well dates to pre Christian times.

Holy wells are not only accompanied by trees.

There are numerous locations recorded as having some sort of stone nearby and this combination of water, tree and stone was incorporated into Christian ritual.

Stone, whitethorn and well at Tobereenatemple, Co. Clare.

Stones found near wells may consist of standing stones, enclosures or natural outcrops. 

The City, Co. Kerry.

The City, Co. Kerry 

The stones may be used as altars or utilised in ‘patterns’ with marks being scratched on the surface to indicate points within the rounds.

It is common to find a boulder with one or more depressions near to holy wells, known as a bullaun stone, although the formation and original function of bullauns is unknown.

Bullaun stone at Saint John’s Well, St John’s Point, County Down.

The presence of a well, a tree and a special stone marks these locations as sacred.

Unlike the great community gatherings at bonfire festivals of the past, perhaps our ancestors also visited these places alone, in silence, or circled sacred wells chanting or murmuring prayers as many do today?

The atmospheric Ráithin Well, Co. Clare.

Sitting by stone, whitethorn and well the modern world drops away and we are left with nature, 

deep peace and the spirits of the place.

St Fachtnan's Well, a place of solitude and silence.

This is the second of three posts about Sacred Water, you can read the first HERE

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.