Information Text in Space 7

Popular devotion as well as personal spirituality at local ‘holy wells’ are part of a tradition that stretches back to the earliest societies in Ireland. After the Reformation, such places, often associated with special devotion to a local saint or to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and frequently having an association with ‘cures’ for certain ailments and illnesses, provided a relatively safe focus for prayer and piety.

Simple offerings, twists of cloth, small plaster statuettes of Mary, die-cast badges and medals and money, were often left by the well or hanging in a nearby blackthorn. At many such sites regular devotions held on special days, often the commemorative day of a local saint (hence the term ‘patron’) and associated with processions, prayers and blessings, were largely suppressed in the nineteenth century (principally as a move to eradicate popular superstition associated with the wells and as a result of the alleged rowdiness of even licentiousness occurring at the gatherings which had become venues for entertainment as well as devotion). However, a few wells continue to be a focus of community devotion and many continue as places of personal prayer and piety.

On September 8th, 2005, the statue of Mother Mary, which depicts this period, was  found and blessed  while on pilgrimage in Medugorje. It was brought back for this space in the Aistear and it symbolises the continuity of pilgrimage and devotion to Mary that still exists in many places around the world, including Ireland.

The common ash, which is widely distributed throughout Ireland and Europe and grows to a height of 30-35 metres, represents this period.  The ash is an important source of timber and is used widely in hurley making as well as for furniture and handles for tools and farm implements.