Despite having spent all of her short life in Egypt Saint Catherine Alexandria was, at one time, among the most revered saints in Ireland. The many religious institutions named after Saint Catherine give some indication of the saint’s widespread veneration in Ireland over previous centuries, but it is perhaps Saint Catherine’s Bed, one of six penitential beds, at Lough Derg that gives the greatest indication of the high position she previously held among the saints of Ireland.
As Saint Catherine is considered, at least in Ireland, to be the patron saint of seafaring* it is natural that her cult has remained strongest in places like the coastal parishes of Killybegs in Donegal and Ventry in Kerry, both of which have Catherine as their patron saint. Saint Catherine’s Feast Day, 25 November, has continued to be observed in Killybegs and Ventry with pilgrimages and patrons at holy wells which, according to legend , were long ago blessed in Saint Catherine’s honour by survivors of shipwrecks, often monks, who believed the saint had intervened to spare them being drowned. In Killybegs there is also a more recent legend, dating from the middle of the nineteenth century, in which a Protestant rector named Lodge decided to fill the holy well with soil, in an effort to put a stop to the well worship in the area, only to discover that after doing so a spring shot up through the floor-board of his house flooding his drawing room, leading the rector to have the holy well restored to its previous state.
* Internationally and in the Roman Catholic tradition Saint Catherine of Alexandria is considered to be the patron saint of many occupations including unmarried women, millers and archivists, however to the best of my knowledge, seafaring is only ascribed to her in the Irish tradition.
Above photograph of Saint Catherine’s Well, Killybegs, County Donegal, circa 1940, Valentine Collection, National Library of Ireland.
The tradition of sacrificing a fowl or a farm animal on Saint Martin Eve was once observed in many parts of Ireland, and was still going strong into our grandparents’ times. The type of animal slaughtered depended on the means of the household; in wealthier households a pig, lamb, calf, or other animal was generally chosen, while in the majority of households, especially as the nineteenth century progressed, the slaughter of a fowl, generally a goose, gander, chicken, or duck became the most widespread offering to the saint. For those who could neither afford nor obtain a farm-animal – alternatives were often resorted to. In some coastal areas, for example, seabirds were known to be slaughtered in place of farm-animals on Saint Martin’s Eve, while for those who failed to procure an animal of any kind the spilling of blood was sometimes considered so essential that a member of the family would spill some of their own blood, usually by cutting a finger, to fulfil the obligation to the saint.
The slaughtering of the animal was the responsibility of the head of the household; if a fowl was to be slaughtered the woman of the house generally carried out the ritual, while if a mammal was to be slaughtered the man of the house was thought to be responsible for the ritual. Whether female or male, the head of the household would hold the animal in their hands and proclaim that the animal was been killed in honour of Saint Martin. Once the creature was slaughtered, to protect the household from evil and to encourage prosperity in the coming year, the blood was spilled and sprinkled over the threshold, about the windows, and in each corner of the dwelling. In some instances, the byre, stables and other outbuilding were protected in a similar manner. While, as a form of personal protection, blood from the animal was sometimes used to make the sign of a cross on the forehead of each member of the household. Ronald H. Buchanan tells us that ‘the head of the fowl was sometimes thrown over the roof of the house to ward off evil during the following year.’ While, according to Lady Augustus Gregory, the claw of a foul killed on Saint Martin’s Eve is worth retaining as it is thought to contain the power bring back a child that had been taken by the fairies.
There are many legends warning of the consequences of failing to make an offering to Saint Martin on Saint Martin’s Eve, for example, versions of following short County Leitrim legend were once well known in many parts of Ireland;
‘A man who, having nothing else, killed his only cow in honour of the saint, who rewarded him by increasing his riches in the following year, so that when St Martin’s Day came round again, he was the possessor of many beasts. Then in his plenty, he grudged even a fowl, and by the following 11th November was as poor as he ever was.’
The slaughtered fowl or beast was cooked and shared between the members of the family on Saint Martin’s Day, which along with Michaelmas and Christmas Day were the only holy days when the consumption of meat was permitted amongst the primarily Catholic population of Ireland.
Sources
Buchanan. Ronald H. “Calendar Customs.” Ulster Folklore. Volume 9. Belfast, 1963.
Duncan, Leland L; Whelan Barney; Whelan, Anne; Lynch, Michael; McVittie, Edward; and Drumkeeran. ‘Fairy Beliefs and other Folklore notes from County Leitrim.’ Folklore 7, no. 2 (June 1896), pp. 161-183.
As the first day of the week Mondays were traditionally believed to hold an ominous influence over the days that followed, with the old phrase ‘good Monday, good week, and bad Monday, bad week’ being universally popular throughout Ireland a century ago. In consequence of this belief it was deemed to be unlucky to perform particular tasks or activities on that day, for example, people objected to going into new situations or allowing anything to be borrowed on a Monday, from fear that in doing so they’d be giving away the week’s luck. The opening of graves on a Monday was avoided, whenever possible, as attending to a burial on a Monday was believed to encourage death during the remainder of the week. In County Leitrim, at least, it was considered unlucky to mention the Fairies on Mondays, if someone did mistakenly make reference to the fairies they should immediately say “My back to them and my face from them.” Many barbers still close their shops on a Monday and maybe it’s just as well as an old Irish belief claims that by getting your hair cut on a Monday you’re encouraging baldness, with the curse Lomradh an Luain ort, “the shearing of Monday on you” being well known throughout Kerry a couple of generations ago.
Monday’s sinister reputation is heightened by the similarities between the Irish words for Monday ‘Dia Luain’ and Doomsday ‘Lá an Luain,’ and many believed Monday was an ill-favoured day for contracting a marriage. Legend has it that when Saint Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland he barred their return until the Day of Judgement, but the confusion between Lá an Luain and Dia Luain resulted in a reluctance to get married on a Monday, as a Mrs Borland from Derrynane in County Kerry remarked just under a century ago, ‘what would be the use being married the day the snakes returned?’
A legend, with a similar theme, maintains that Lough Foyle means the borrowed lake, in this legend a witch from Ulster asked her younger sister from Connaught into allowing her borrow the lough until the following Monday. The younger sister agrees to this request, and rolls up the lake and carries it across mountains and valleys to her older sister in Ulster, but when Monday arrives the older sister refuses to return the lake insisting that she was promised the lake not just till Monday but until the day of judgement.
Well there’s always some good with the bad, and Monday was believed to be a favoured day for undertaking certain tasks and activities, for example, Lady Augusta Gregory noted that Monday was considered to be a favourable day for picking herbs. While Lady Jane Wilde found that Monday was a favoured day for faith healers to apply cures for many illnesses including depression and liver complaints, and even witchcraft.
Sources
Gregory, Lady Augusta. Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland. London, 1920.
Mac Lir, Mananaan. ‘The Folklore of Months’. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, (1895)
Wilde, Lady Jane, Ancient Cures, Charms and Usages in Ireland, London, 1890.
Various Issues of the Folklore Journal 1893-1920
Photograph is of Fairhead Village, County Galway, 1902
‘It is said that on this one day of the year the souls of the dead are allowed to re-visit their native districts; and if only the human eye had the power to see them, they would be observed about one on every side “as plenty as thranteens [long blades of grass] in an uncut meadow.”
At night time it is customary in every house to light a candle in memory of each member of a family who has died. They are placed in an unused room and allowed to burn till midnight, when, after praying for the souls of the dead, they are extinguished, as by that time the souls themselves have returned to rest.
At the last thing at night the hearth is swept clean, and on it are placed three cups of spring water.’
* That the souls of the dead can visit the living is often said of Hallowe’en, and sometimes extends for a two day period from Hallowe’en to All Souls’ Day.
Journal of the Kildare Historical and Archaeological Society, 1906-8.
Painting by William Gerald Barry (1864-1941), ‘An Old Woman and Children in a Cottage Interior’, 1887. (Crawford Art Gallery, Cork)
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