Irish Folklore: Following The Pattern
In its most general term, a pattern is a religious devotion that usually occurs around the feast day
of a patron saint in Ireland. These days, the practice is nowhere near as popular as it used to be
but you can still find places where the ritual takes place if you make the effort to look. In the
attached photo, you can see one such site based on a small lake island in West Cork where St
Finbar (Cork’s patron saint) is celebrated. On the right hand side of the photo, are a number of
white crosses which have been etched into the gateway stone over many years. This marks this
area as one of the ‘prayer stations’ in the pattern.
The word ‘pattern’ is actually a derivation of the Latin word patrun (or patron – as in ‘patron
saint’). Despite the use of the Latin term, the ritual is very much older than that. In fact, patterns
usually take place in sites that were sacred for pre-Christian Irish religious rituals
(predominantly around holy wells and springs). When the Christian church came to Ireland – as
with many other places – it simply incorporated the existing religious festivals and rituals such as
the deiseal (walking a circle of patterns that followed the movement of the sun) and adopted
them as Christian events. Any of the magical elements traditionally associated with these sites
(such as healing powers) were subsequently attributed to Christian saints.
Patterns were a very popular rural tradition in Ireland not because of the religious element but
because of the very powerful social element. Pattern Days’ attracted huge crowds of people who,
having completed their religious devotion, would immediately partake in activities such as
drinking, singing, dancing, and horse racing. Some of these ‘patterns’ could last for days. From
the early 1600s (and possibly before), the patterns’ started to lose support from the Church (who
didn’t appreciate the earlier pagan rituals or the non-pious behaviour of the festivities after the
pattern). This was why, at the Synod of Tuam in 1660, a decree was announced as follows:
"Dancing, flute-playing, bands of music, riotous revels and other abuses in visiting
wells and other holy places are forbidden...
The English administration who, essentially ran most of the country from the 1600s onwards,
also saw ‘patterns’ as a potential threat to their authority in that the gatherings provided a hotbed
of opportunity for rebellious incitement. As a result, they instigated specific clauses in the Penal
Laws to forbid such activities.
For the most part, both the Penal Laws and the Synod of Tuam decree were pretty much ignored.
This was noted by Thomas Croften Croker (who visited this particular West Cork site in 1813) in a
fascinating description of the Pattern Day festivities from his book ’Researches in the South of
Ireland’.
"After having satisfied our mental craving, we felt it necessary to attend to our bodily
appetites, and for this purpose adjourned to a tent where some tempting slices of curdy
Kerry salmon had attracted our notice. In this tent, with the exception of almost half an
hour, we remained located from half-past seven in the evening, until two o'clock the
following morning, when we took our departure from Cork.
After discussing the merits of this salmon, and washing it down with some of "Beamish &
Crawford's Porter" we whiled away the time by drinking whiskey-punch, observing the
dancing to an excellent piper, and listening to the songs and story-telling which were going
on about us.
As night closed in, the tent became crowded almost to suffocation, and dancing being out of
the question, our piper left us for some other station, and a man, who I learned had served in
the Kerry militia, and had been flogged at Tralee about five years before as a White-boy,
began to take a prominent part in entertaining the assembly by singing Irish songs in a loud
and effective voice. These songs were received with shouts of applause, and as I was then
ignorant of the Irish language and anxious to know the meaning of what had elicited so
much popular approbation, I applied to an old woman near who I sat, for an explanation or
translation, which she readily gave me, and I found that these songs were rebellious in the
highest degree. Poor old King George was execrated without mercy; curses were also dealt
out wholesale on the Saxon oppressors of Banna the Blessed (an allegorical name for
Ireland); Bonaparte's achievement were extolled, and Irishmen were called upon to follow
the example of the French people."
Although the dissolution of such activities was a goal that both the Irish Church and the British
Colonial Administration were keen to achieve, in the end, it was the Famine and subsequent
emigration that did for the ‘patterns’. With entire regions laid waste by starvation and
‘pestilence’, survivors had neither the energy nor inclination to celebrate or venerate the saints
who were meant to be protecting them. Although, over time, the country recovered, the
subsequent emigration and pressure from Crown and church authorities continued to force its
decline.
These days when I visit the pattern sites, I’m always impressed by the overlap of Christian and
pre-Christian elements I find there. The crosses and rosary beads are always easy to find but the
water rituals and blessings for the dead are anything but Christian. It’s as though, even after all
this time, the local communities are reluctant to relinquish the old – the very old – ways.
Brian O’Sullivan is an Irish folklorist and author of ‘Beara: Dark Legends’ and other Irish
novels. Further information on Brian and his writing can be obtained at his website
irishimbasbooks.com.
© Brian O’Sullivan