Irish American Mom

Celebrating Our Irish Heritage Together

Cnoc na dTobar Pilgrim’s Path in County Kerry

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Cnoc na dTobar, a mountain on the Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland’s ancient sacred sites.  To this very day pilgrims travel to this mountain to visit the holy well at its base, and to climb its slopes in contemplation.

Barb, a reader from Boston, recently returned from Ireland and on her trip she climbed to the top of this amazing mountain with camera in hand. The Kerry landscape did not disappoint, and I’m ever so grateful to her for sharing her photos with us today.

They clearly demonstrate that this spot is one of Ireland’s thin places.

So together let’s explore the history of this special mountain.

How To Pronounce Cnoc na dTobar:

 

Let’s first learn how to pronounce Cnoc na dTobar.

Phonetically it is pronounced kin-ook nah dhub-ber

Here’s a quick sound file to listen to the pronunciation.

Play to listen to pronunciation of Cnoc na dTobar

What Does The Name Mean?

 

The name literally means the hill of the well or wells.

Now, I’m not quite certain if the name refers to one or more wells. ‘Tobar’ is the Irish word for well. However, tobar is singular. However, if it was the hill of just one well it should be Cnoc an Tobar, and  if there are multiple wells, it should be Cnoc na dTobair.  An Irish language scholar will have to sort this one out for me.  My rusty Irish is definitely not up to the task.

Anyway, there definitely is at least one holy well to be found at the base of the mountain. It’s dedicated to St. Fursa, who walked these mountains way back in the sixth century. 

The well waters are known for their healing mineral properties, and locally are recommended for curing eye problems.

Where Is Cnoc na dTobar?

 

It lies a few miles from the town of Cahersiveen in the south west of County Kerry, often called the Skellig region on the Iveragh Peninsula.

The walk is aligned with the famous Skellig Rocks, which have become ever more famous after Luke Skywalker landed his space ship there.

As climbers gradually ascend the mountainside the magnificent vista of Skellig Michael and Skellig Beg comes into sight.

The trail is well marked, and if agile and healthy, people of all ages can at least make it part of the way.

Your soul may be cleansed of all your sins as you huff and puff your way up to the top of the mountain, but it is the magnificent landscape on a clear day, that will make your soul sing.

With spectacular views of the Kerry mountains, Dingle Bay, and Valentia Island, the Kerry coastline spans out before you.  On a good day you can even see as far as West Cork.

 

A Mountain with a Sacred Past:

 

Pagan pilgrims and medieval Christians flocked to this site for centuries.

In the days before St. Patrick brought Christianity to the Irish, the native Celts often assembled on this mountain to celebrate some of their seasonal feasts.  Lughnasa, their harvest festival, was often marked on this very mountain.  Here they would light fires, sing, dance and have a good old shindig when August came.

As the Celts adopted Christianity this mountain remained an important pilgrimage site.  In 1885 Canon Brosnan, the parish priest of Cahersiveen, instructed fourteen crosses be built to mark the Stations of the Cross along the ancient trail on the mountain.

Croagh Patrick is the most famous of Ireland’s mountainous Pilgrim Paths, but Mount Brandon and Cnoc na dTobar  in County Kerry were just as significant in days gone by.

Ireland is home to twelve official Pilgrim Paths.  You can read all about them on this Pilgrim Path website. 

More Information For Anyone Planning To Climb Cnoc na dTobar:

 

If Fido likes to walk with you, leave him at home.  No dogs are allowed to do the Stations of the Cross on this holy trail.

Dress for changing weather, which means wear layers you can peel off if the sun shines, and put back on if the heavens open.  You never know when it might start to rain on an Irish mountain side.

And there’s no need to park your car at the side of the road.  There’s a car park at the foot of the mountain, right where the trail begins.

For more information, you can contact The Old Barracks Heritage Centre in Cahersiveen.

 

Thanks for Sharing Your Photos:

 

Many thanks to Barb for giving me permission to publish her photos here.  Many readers dream of taking a trip to Ireland, but some must be content to be armchair travelers.  These photos will mean the world to those who love Ireland , but may never get there.  Thanks so much for your generosity, Barb.

And, for all the armchair travelers out there, here’s a little video also featuring Barb’s photos.

Learn more about this video here.

If you would like to submit your photos for publishing on this website, check out our photo submission form here.

Happy mountain trails to all who decide to undertake this Pilgrim Trail.

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

 

What Is A Bastible?

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Does anyone remember an Irish bastible?  My granny could cook the most amazing meals using a cast iron bastible suspended over an open fire.  

She even cooked bread in a bastible, without the aid of a fancy thermometer or convection fan oven.  Yes! My granny baked the most delicious loaves of Irish soda bread, in the simplest oven of all, a bastible pot.

And so today I thought I might share some photos of bastibles with you, so that when I reminisce about olden times in Ireland, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

In years gone by an open turf fire was the center of every Irish home.  The hearth was the heart of the home, where everyone gathered to share the warmth and light of the lapping flames.  But fires did not just burn at night.  The fire was watched and kindled all day long since few Irish rural cottages could boast a fancy oven for cooking.

No!  All the cooking was done over an open fire and the necessary tool to accomplish this task was of course, the bastible.

Bastibles were flat-bottomed pots and Irish women in days gone by were master bastible chefs.

This cast iron pot was the primary cooking tool in many an Irish kitchen in the nineteenth and early twentieth.  My granny used one right up until the 1960’s.

This simple pot could be used to roast a duck, a chicken or a goose, and of course, Irish soda bread was artfully baked in bastibles by our grannies and great grannies.

However baking and cooking over an open fire was no easy task and required skills passed down from generation to generation.  If the fire was too hot, burnt food was guaranteed.  An insipid fire could leave food undercooked.

Temperature was controlled by placing hot sods of turf on top of the lid. My granny knew exactly how many sods were needed for high or medium heat. Many years of practice ensured the perfect results every time.

The bastible was my granny’s oven. She also had a three legged, pot-bellied, cast iron pot that was used for boiling potatoes. The big difference between these pots was their shapes. A pot-bellied bottom was for boiling, while a flat bottom was for baking and roasting.

And then there was the griddle pan. This was thinner than a bastible, but also flat. It was used for making griddle cakes, potato cakes, and boxty.

I remember the day my uncle bought a range to replace the open fire in my granny’s old farmhouse kitchen.  It was a happy day as a little bit of modern convenience finally arrived in the old cottage. But even though I was only 5 or 6 years old, a pang of sorrow and nostalgia quivered through my soul, as the range was fitted in place, covering forever the spot where the turf fire had once brightened the hearth.

Modern times had come to my granny’s kitchen, but I missed the iron crane with the kettle hanging above the flames.  Despite my young years, I knew that life as we knew it was changing, never to return to how it once was.

Mellon Homestead in the Ulster American Folkpark

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And so, you may wonder how this simple pot got its name. ‘Bastible’ sounds like a derivative of an old Irish or Gaelic word.  However, the name is believed to have come from the town of Barnstable in England.  This type of cooking vessel is said to have been first made there.

I’m not sure if these pots had a different name in other regions of Ireland. Bastible was the term we used in County Cork.  Let me know in the comments section if you called these pots by a different name.

And there you have it!  A little trip down memory lane, with a quick look at the old Irish bastible.

Do you also feel a twinge of nostalgia when you see these old pots?  Oh, such fond memories of the good old days.

 

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

Why Celebrating New Year In January Is A Relatively New Custom In Ireland

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Did you know that marking the beginning of each new year on January 1st is a relatively new custom in Ireland? Believe it or not, this practice is less than 300 years old.

Until recent years New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations were very subdued in Ireland. The Irish national folklore archive does not hold much evidence of these dates being cause for major festivities in centuries past.

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Now let’s face it, the world just keeps on spinning around the sun, and takes a little over 365 days to accomplish this feat. The exact date when we decide this cycle begins and ends, and a new year should be celebrated, is completely arbitrary.

And so since today is officially New Year’s Eve in Ireland and America, I thought I would dedicate this blog post to the history of New Year celebrations, and how January 1st became the arbitrary day chosen to celebrate the New Year on both sides of the Atlantic.

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A New Year History Lesson:

 

It was not until 1752 that the New Year was officially decreed to start on January 1st in Ireland.  This was the year when Great Britain adopted the Gregorian calendar rather than the Julian calendar.  Since Ireland was ruled by England at that time, we too adopted the new date to mark the New Year. Up until then the New Year was legally declared to start on March 25th.

Now until Christianity took hold in Ireland the New Year had always been celebrated at Samhain or Halloween on the last day of October when the harvest had been gathered. Even after the church officially changed the start of the New Year to March 25th, many rural Irish folk continued to celebrate Samhain as the start of the Celtic new year, and St. Brigid’s Day on February 1st as the beginning of spring.

There are many old Irish customs and traditions associated with Halloween and St. Brigid’s Day, but they’re are relatively few associated with our celebration of the New Year.

 

January Vs. March For New Year Celebrations:

 

Originally Julius Ceasar decided January 1st was the perfect day to start the New Year since the month was named after the Roman god, Janus, who had two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward. Janus was also the god of doors and gates, so good ol’ Julius Caesar decided this symbolism was perfect for marking the New Year.

After Rome fell in the 5th century Christianity spread throughout Europe. Celebrating the new year on January 1st was seen as a pagan Roman tradition, so the powers that be in the Christian church decided to move the date to March 25th.  This was the feast of the Annunciation, when Mary was told by the Angel Gabriel that she was to be the mother of Jesus.

Now there was little unity back in those days.  Some countries chose Christmas Day, December 25th to mark the start of their new year, while others chose to change the day every year to coincide with Easter Sunday.

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Out Of Sync With The Solar Year:

 

But troubled times were a brewing for calendar watchers.  When Julius Caesar created his calendar based upon the astronomical spin of the world around the sun, he counted 365 days but failed to calculate the extra 6 hours required to complete the cycle.  Calendrical chaos ensued as the Julian calendar became misaligned with the solar year.

By 1582 the difference had grown to 10 days, requiring holidays and feasts to be changed frequently to match the solar year.  Pope Gregory XIII was fed up with having to re-set the date for the Spring Equinox and Easter each year.

And so he decided to devise a new calendrical system which implemented the addition of a single leap day every four years to keep the solar years and calendrical years all in sync. He also decided to restore January 1st as the official first day of each year.

Catholic countries, like France and Italy, adopted the new Gregorian calendar quickly. But Protestant countries like England were hesitant to accept the calendar created by a Roman Pope.

Since Ireland and America were ruled by England, the acceptance of January 1st as the day for celebrating the New Year did not occur until 1752.

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Old Irish New Year’s Customs:

 

And so you see, celebrating New Year in January is a custom less than 300 years old in Ireland.

To tell you the truth, in times gone by, the main thing Irish folks did on New Year’s day was simply nothing at all.

An old custom dictated that nothing should be brought into or out of a house on New Year’s Day. All water that might be required should be gathered from the well before sunset on New Year’s Eve. All water, both clean and dirty had to be kept inside the house until after the dawn of day on the 1st of January.

The night of December 31st was deemed the anniversary of the date Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana, and for this reason no water should be thrown out, or added overnight for fear the Lord would think the household greedy. 

In last year’s New Year’s post I shared some other customs like once again lighting a candle in the window, and how bread was thrown at the door to ward off hunger in the coming year.

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Foreseeing The Future At New Year:

 

It does not appear our forefathers made New Year’s resolutions as we do today.  They were not so keen on goal setting and planning, but seemed to trust their future to fate, and of course the weather, which dictated the destiny of a rural farming people, like the Irish.

One natural sign used as an omen of good and bad fortune at New Year was the water level of local rivers.  If the river was running high on New Year’s Day, it was a sign that commodities and food would be expensive that coming year. If the river ran low then necessities would be inexpensive.

Another old superstition dictated that no money should be spent on New Year’s Day for fear it would foretell a year of major expenses ahead.

If someone visited a house on New Year’s Day they should always bring a gift, since their lack of giving might indicate the house would be empty throughout the coming year.

As a result, little visiting was done on this date.  People believed that by giving away something from their own home they might be giving away their luck. It was safest to sit home and keep everything you possessed under your own roof, rather than visiting neighbors and sharing your luck.

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The Cycle Of Life:

 

And so, January 1st was a very quiet day in Ireland in olden times. Women’s Little Christmas, celebrated on January 6th, was marked with far more festivities.  Women were celebrated for all their work over the twelve days of Christmas.

Withered holly was put away and saved so that it could be burned in the fire on Pancake Tuesday, the day before Lent began.

Important Irish festivities were linked through ritual and January 1st did not feature much in this traditional holiday pattern.  After Christmas ended on January 6th, the next big day for celebration was February 1st, St. Brigid’s Day, when the coming of spring was welcomed, and the cycle of life was renewed by nature.

http://www.vintagerio.com/details.php?gid=82&pid=13069

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Celebrating The New Year Irish Style:

 

And so, if like me you find yourself a little under-awed by the razzmatazz and hoopla of New Year celebrations, don’t mentally beat yourself up.  

As you sit at home, watching the craziness of celebrations at College Green in Dublin, or at Times Square in New York, just raise a glass and toast your Irishness.

Let’s face it, our avoidance of setting resolutions we know we will fail to keep, and our inclination to sit back, relax and do nothing as we ring in the New Year, are simply expressions of our genetic inheritance.

The Irish have never done much to celebrate a January New Year, and so this year I plan to religiously adhere to that age old tradition.

 

Happy New Year To All!

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

A Candle In The Window – An Irish Christmas Tradition

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Lighting a candle in the window is a Christmas Eve memory I cherish from my Irish childhood.

Every Christmas Eve we placed a single red candle in the window.  My mother always told me we were lighting the way for Mary and Joseph on their way to find the stable in Bethlehem.

Our family candle lighting ritual signaled Christmas had finally arrived.

And now as I grow older I light a candle in the window with my children every Christmas Eve in the hope this wonderful Irish tradition will continue for generations to come.  

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This Christmas Eve, I thought we might explore this tradition a little further to discover it’s origins and meaning.

A candle in the window is a wonderful symbol of hospitality, a trait for which the Irish are renowned the world over.

But these Irish candles burning in the windows were not simply a beacon of hope for the Holy Family. They were also a sign of welcome for anyone, friend or stranger, who might be passing by on Christmas Eve.

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All were welcome to stay and share whatever an Irish family may have had for Christmas.  The Irish believed nobody should go without, especially at Christmas time.

This tradition was most widely practiced in the south of Ireland, especially in Munster. Since my family hail from County Cork, we continued the ancient rural tradition of lighting a candle in the window at Christmas time.

The candle was traditionally lit by a daughter called “Mary” or the youngest girl in the house. “Mary” was also called upon to extinguish the candle.

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Now this practice is predominantly part of an Irish Catholic heritage.  Many people from Ulster have never heard of this tradition.

The origins of lighting a candle in the window trace back to the 17th Century at the time of the Penal Laws in Ireland when the Catholic religion was suppressed. 

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Catholic churches were outlawed and priests hid in fear of their lives. They secretly said mass at secluded venues known as Mass Rocks.  Priests often visited homes in secrecy to bless a family and to say Mass.

Irish Catholic families hoped that at some time in their lifetime a priest might visit on Christmas Eve to celebrate Mass with them.

By lighting a candle in the window they signaled to any passing priest that this was a Catholic home.  The doors were unlocked allowing a priest to enter silently to join the family in prayer for Christmas. 

Now all these lighted candles dotted across the countryside not only alerted priests in the vicinity, but also drew the attention of English soldiers.

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The Irish needed to explain to the English authorities why they were lighting so many candles on Christmas Eve.

The rational that they were welcoming Mary and Joseph into their homes was a perfect solution. This Irish tradition or superstition was viewed as harmless by the English and created no undue alarm.

This tradition was born at a time of great upheaval for Irish Catholics. The need to signal a priest to our homes to say Mass may no longer exist, but I’m happy that we continue to light candles in the window to this very day, welcoming Mary and Joseph with open hearts.

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One reader’s brother is a priest in Illinois, Msgr. Eric R. Barr, STL.  He wrote a beautiful homily in 2010 called Candle Burning Warm, Candle Burning Bright, which tells the story of an Irish priest in Penal Times, and how this Irish candle lighting tradition began.  You can read his Christmas story here – scroll down about half way in the page to find it.

 

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And when I see lighted candles in the windows of American homes at Christmas, I know this Irish tradition crossed the Atlantic with our ancestors when they sought a welcome in a new land.

And so, whether you light a candle in the window this Christmas Eve, or simply light up your Christmas tree, I hope God’s spirit will reside within you as you pause and reflect upon the sacredness of this holiday.

 

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

 

Irish American Mom

Irish Cultural Artifacts

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Ireland is a country rich in heritage and culture, and is well known for its Celtic history, music, and time-honored clothing. From aran sweaters to claddagh rings, many of the patterns and designs used in traditional Irish clothing and jewelry have hidden symbolism and can be traced to intriguing Irish stories and legends.

In this info-graphic you will learn about the origins of some of the most well-known Irish clothing artifacts, how they were made in the past, and how these traditional crafts continue to this very day. The origins of Irish claddagh rings and tin whistles are also explored.

Here’s a wonderful informational graphic from Murphy of Ireland, illustrating the origins of these Irish cultural treasures……

http://www.murphyofireland.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Murphy-of-Ireland-Infographic.jpg

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Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

 

Disclaimer:  Irish American Mom does not have any business relationship with Murphy of Ireland. I really liked this info-graphic and the information it portrays, so I decided to share it with readers. I do not have an affiliate contract with this company. I hope you enjoy this image as much as I do, and thanks to Murphy of Ireland for creating it and promoting Irish crafts and small businesses.

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Previously Featured On Irish American Mom

https://www.irishamericanmom.com/2015/08/23/introducing-the-fairly-stillwart-chronicles-plus-a-giveaway/
https://www.irishamericanmom.com/2017/07/29/egg-salad-sandwiches-irish-style/

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