Festival of Lunasa

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matthewmacnamara
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Joined: Mon Mar 28, 2011 6:38 pm

Festival of Lunasa

Post by matthewmacnamara » Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:28 pm

Would any person know of places in Clare where people celebrated the Festival of Lunasa?
I never heard of it in Meelick,
a place from which the Irish language disappeared earlier than elsewhere.

Sduddy
Posts: 1819
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Festival of Lunasa

Post by Sduddy » Sat Aug 01, 2020 9:58 am

Hi Matthew

Today is the 1st of August, or Lúnasa, and I suppose that is what prompted you to ask about the Festival of Lúnasa. But I’m not sure that there is any particular occasion during the month that we can trace back to “The Festival of Lunasa.” August was a time for gatherings of various sorts and I remember Sports days and Agricultural shows, especially the Horse Show in Ennis, but those were the kinds of activities that took place in the Summer months in many other countries and were not peculiar to Ireland. I think there have been attempts to revive some ancient celebrations, but it would be a mistake to confuse these with the original thing (whatever that consisted of) and I don’t think there has been any attempt in Clare to revive a festival of Lúnasa. Here is a good article on the Festival of Lúnasa: http://atriptoireland.com/2013/07/30/lunasa/

You mention the Irish language, or lack of it, in Co. Clare and this piece, “James Delargy and the Storymen of North Clare,” by Michael MacMahon, donated to clarelibary.ie, shows how very little native Irish language remained in Co. Clare by the 1930s. If you go to the last piece (on Seán MacMathúna) you will see that Seán mentions going to the sports in Fahanlunaghta in August 1938 – maybe that was a remnant of a Festival of Lúnasa – hopefully someone will tell us more: http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... _index.htm

Sheila

Sduddy
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Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Festival of Lunasa

Post by Sduddy » Tue Jul 20, 2021 9:42 am

That reply, last year, re The Festival of Lughnasa was very poor, especially as the scholar most associated with research into the subject, Máire Mac Neill, lived for many years in Corofin, Co. Clare: She is the author of The Festival of Lughnasa (1962, 1983). Her burial place is Ruan (new) graveyard.
She explains that the Festival of Lughnasa was celebrated at the end of July, as well as in August – hence my atonement at the end of July this year for not mentioning her last year.
Clarelibrary.ie has this piece on her: https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/cocla ... cneill.htm

I haven’t read Máire Mac Neill’s book, but I see from this thesis by Seámus Mac Gabhann, that survivals of the ancient Lughnasa festival were identified by her at a hundred and ninety-five locations in Ireland. “In the case of ninety five of these, the celebrations took place on mountains or hills.” http://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/770/1/Landsmarks.pdf.
According to this Wikipedia entry on the Croagh Patrick pilgrimage, which traditionally takes place on the last Sunday of July, “MacNeill conjectured that the pilgrimage pre-dates Christianity and was originally a ritual associated with the festival of Lughnasagh but there is no archaeological evidence of this being true.”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croagh_Patrick. But I think it is reasonable to assume that the pilgrimage is remnant of the Festival of Lughnasa.
The names Garland Sunday and Bilberry Sunday are the names used in modern times, but, according to this piece, in ainm.ie, “Garland Sunday” was pronounced “Garlic Sunday” in county Clare (see second paragraph): https://www.ainm.ie/Bio.aspx?ID=1583

This Obituary for Máire Mac Neill, by Maureen Murphy, describes The Festival of Lughnasa as a magisterial study of the Celtic Harvest Festival: http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/NMAJ%2 ... embers.pdf

Sheila

Sduddy
Posts: 1819
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Festival of Lunasa

Post by Sduddy » Wed Jul 21, 2021 1:59 pm

Garland Sunday was celebrated even in the Workhouse - here is a snippet from a report on a meeting of the Ennis Board of Guardians:
Clare Journal and Ennis Advertiser, Thur 23 Jul 1863:
On the motion of Mr. Kerin, and carried unanimously, it was ordered that as in the kind provision of God, the potato crop cultivated in the grounds of the Board had been blessed abundantly this year, the inmates of the workhouse should be provided with a dinner of new potatoes and milk on Sunday next, it being “Garland Sunday.”
But Lahinch seems to have been a main place for Garland Sunday - here is a report in the Clare Freeman and Ennis Gazette, Sat 31 Jul 1858:
Lahinch, Monday. Pattern of Lahinch. Yesterday being Garland Sunday, (as termed by the natives), a large concourse of people, male and female, flocked into the village, as usual, but the assembly was not so large as on former occasions; neither was the profanation of the Lord’s day as gross as it used to be; which may perhaps be attributed to the vigilance of the police. Constable Thompson exerted himself vigourously in suppressing every species of gambling during the day. Late in the evening a hack race came off on the strand for a saddle, which terminated the scenes of the day and all separated peaceably.
Garland Sunday in Lahinch lasted until the 1960s according to Eddie Stack, who gives his memories of it here: https://ballylara.wordpress.com/2009/07 ... nd-sunday/

Sheila

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