Summer Festivals

Last Sunday was ‘Reek Sunday’ (Domhnach na Cruaiche), a Catholic day of pilgrimage which involves the faithful climbing a steep pyramid-like mountain called Craogh Patrick — the most pious walk it barefoot! The mountain was originally called Cruachán Aigle/Cruachan Aigli, which approximately translates as Eagle’s Peak. It was renamed Craogh Patrick during the mid-14th century to commemorate St. Patrick.

This feast day is also known as Domhnach Chrom Dubh (Crom Dubh’s Sunday), named after Crom Dubh/Crom Cruach (the Dark Stooped One), who was depicted as an evil god who opposed the strapping sunny-faced Lugh. They fight at this time of the year, with Lugh vanquishing Crom Dubh by the end.

This replicates a chthonic myth represented in many lands, where the ‘Summer God’ defeats the ‘Winter God’ so the harvest can be brought in. This contest is annual, because these traditions understand that longer, dark nights will creep back soon enough.

We harvest the crops soon, but the seasonal cycle moves forward relentlessly. Feast while you can, for lean periods follow.

Over a thousand years ago, Lughnasadh was also marked by the Tailteann Games (Áenach Tailteann or Aonach Tailteann) held in honour of Lugh’s foster mother, Tailtiu. Her story represents a land in transition, with ancient gods being displaced by newer gods. The more things change, the more they stay the same!

Tailtiu was an agricultural Goddess/Queen of the Fir Bolg, a people who had been conquered by the invading Tuatha Dé Danann. Lugh was a hunted infant of prophesy and could not be raised by his parents (neither of whom were Fir Bolg), so Tailtiu fostered Lugh. She was an exceptional, loving mother, who raised Lugh with tender care and provided him with extensive training as a scholar, a mystic, and a warrior. They were devoted to each other.

Tailtiu is famous for her extraordinary act of single-handedly clearing the plains of Ireland to prepare the land for farming. This feat exhausted her utterly, and she could not recover. No doubt this represented a symbolic end to an old era as a new regime took hold. Her deathbed request to her grieving son was that he establish annual games in her honour. This festival (at Tailtiu’s burial place in modern-day Teltown) became the ancient Tailteann Games during Lughnasadh.

While it might seem strange to us, the idea of having ‘funeral games’ is not unique to Ireland. For instance, it was also a Greek tradition, and is famously depicted in Homer’s Iliad when a guilt-ravaged Achilles holds funeral games in honour of the death of his dearest companion, Patroclus. The competitions had multiple functions: they let the participants honour the dead by demonstrating heroic values, they offer catharsis to an army consumed by their on-going conflict, and they allowed Achilles to exorcise his grief through physical trials.

According to The Aonac Tailteann and the Tailteann games: their origin, history, and ancient associations by T. H. Nally, published in 1921, the Aonach became an Irish national event with three key functions: ‘to do honour to the illustrious dead; secondly, to promulgate laws; and, finally, to entertain the people.’

Nally asserted that the event began with solemn mourning rituals led by Druids that included chants and the Cepóg, an improvised dirge by druids and poets that praised the lineage and triumphant deeds of the deceased. This was followed by cremation ceremonies of the valiant departed. These rites could last from one to three days.

After this, the High King led a formal assembly attended by nobles and declared a Royal Truce, which was supposed to set aside grudges or current tribal disputes. The Chief Ollamh (the highest status poet, historian, and keeper of tradition) recited the kingdom’s laws in poetic form to ensure everyone understood their rights and duties.

The event concluded with funeral games that included foot, horse, and chariot races, wrestling, boxing, spear-throwing, and archery as well as artistic competitions for music, poetry, and storytelling, alongside social activities like markets and matchmaking.

The Tailteann Games were considered ‘the Irish Olympics’ due to their social significance, and the last recorded Games were held under High King Rory O’Connor in 1169/1171 CE. It’s not a coincidence that the first invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans occurred in 1169 CE.

After Irish independence and a bitter civil war (which ended in 1923), the games were revived to bring together a divided people, to celebrate Irish identity and culture, and to establish the Irish Free State on a global stage. The games were held in 1924, 1928, and 1932 and were deliberately timed to coincide with the Summer Olympics so that international athletes could attend both.

The 1924 reimagined games included traditional Irish sports and modern games, the arts, and exhibitions, even a biplane flyover by the newly established Irish Air Corps, and drew competitors of Irish descent from across the world (including a number of famous invitees to boost interest).

The big athletic events took place in Croke Park in Dublin, where thirty-thousand people attended, and it was kicked off by a formal processions of the competitors and a big fireworks display. The entire city was occupied with the event: there was motorcycle racing in the Phoenix Park, a Horse Show in Ballsbridge, Opera at the Theatre Royal, Yachting in Dun Laoghaire, golf at clubs around the city, rowing at Island Bridge, along with art contests, chess matches, storytelling competitions, dancing and musical sessions in whatever space was available. Thousands of visitors poured into the city, and it rivalled the Paris Olympics in scale that year.

Eighteen months beforehand the country had been convulsed with violence; the 1924 Tailtean Games was an incredible organisational achievement and helped Irish citizens recover from their difficult turmoil and consider their nation anew.

In 2006 the Irish language television channel, TG4, produced a documentary about the games, which you can watch on YouTube at the moment.

Sadly, the advent of World War II halted further games and they have never been staged since. It is a missed opportunity to re-establish an Irish tradition that celebrated such a wide variety of cultural expressions.

Yet… when I consider the evident passion for festivals in this country I wonder if we have eshewed the mega-festival in favour of multiplying and specialising our desire to come together to celebrate all human endeavours.

Every year there are over 120 different arts, film, music, poetry, literature, jazz, games, matchmaking, theatre, sailing, opera, horseracing, and comedy festivals across every city, town and hamlet in the country. If you’re obsessed with a niche interest, you can throw a festival in Ireland to celebrate it!

Right now in Galway we’re on the last lap of four weeks dedicated to three different festivals.

We have not forgotten you, Tailtu, if anything, you began a tradition of communal celebration that has become a national obsession!