Souvenirs and offerings left at the shrine of St. Brigid’s Well in killare, Co. Westmeath, beside the hill of Uisneach.
Long before Christianity arrived on Irish shores, the first of May was a day of celebration. The feast of Bealtaine was a true celebration of life – heralding the arrival of the growing season. According to Rionach uí Ógáin, May Eve was a time when mortals made contact with the immortals and Cary Meehan speculates that the word Bealtaine (which is also the Irish word for May) is derived from ‘fires of Bal’ (in Irish, tine means fire).
Lighting bonfires, particularly on hilltops, was and remains a custom in rural Ireland [in urban areas, torching cars now seems to be the custom], and May would also be the first month that farmers could reasonably expect the weather to be good enough to use fires to burn off undergrowth in preparation for crop cultivation or grazing land.
Fires were certainly lit on the Hill of Uisneach at Bealtaine. Uisneach is said to be the centre of Ireland – admittedly, there are a few places in Offaly and Westmeath that claim this distinction. I wrote about the Hill of Uisneach back in 2004, but I recently visited a site practically at the foot of the Hill – St. Brigid’s Well at Killare (it’s beside the Uisneach Inn, a pub that overlooks the Hill of Uisneach).
There are plenty of sites, and holy wells, that bear Brigid’s name, and the connection with the well at Killare is tenuous – the original church at the well was actually founded by St. Hugh, who also founded the church in my own parish area, Rahugh (Rath Aodh – Aodh is Irish for Hugh) in the sixth century. It’s easy to see why the site at Killare was chosen – it’s on a gentle rise facing Uisneach, and a steady stream of clear water still issues from the well there. In more recent times, the veneration of Brigid has become subsumed into the veneration of the Virgin Mary, and a statue of the Virgin stands above the well at Killare. [The ancient saint Brigid is associated with the festival of Imbolc, celebrated on february 1st, which precedes Bealtaine.]
People still go to the well, to say prayers and to leave keepsakes or tie pieces of cloth to the ash tree beside the well. Amongst the rosary beads and holy medals, one item caught my eye. It was a purse bearing the image of Cliff Richard. I’m not sure what’s more amazing – a picture of Cliff Richard as a religious relic, or the fact that Cliff seems not to have aged a day since the late Fifties.
You can find a gallery of pictures from St Brigid’s Well (including a St. Bridgid’s Cross) here, and be sure not to confuse either Imbolc or Bealtaine with the better known Festivus.