calendar custom

calendar custom, the celebration of an annual cycle of festivals, was an important part of rural sociability. In Catholic popular culture the four main festivals of the Celtic year continued to be observed. Imbolg, the start of the agricultural year, had become St Bridget's Day (1 Feb.), marked by weaving rush crosses that were hung in dwelling houses and agricultural buildings to provide protection for the coming season. Bealtaine, the beginning of summer, continued as May Day, marked by local communities preparing a bush decorated with ribbons, often the cause of raids and fighting between the men of neighbouring districts, and by lighting bonfires. Lughnasa, marking the beginning of harvest, continued in the form of late summer festive gatherings, often on hilltops, some of which (like those at Croagh Patrick) had been converted into religious pilgrimages. Samhain survived, in Ireland as elsewhere, as November Eve or Hallowe'en, when the spirits of the dead were released on earth. There was also St John's Eve (23 June), the midsummer festival, when bonfires provided the focus for energetic communal festivities. Two other festivals, St Patrick's Day (17 Mar.) and the Assumption (15 Aug.), had their roots more in the ecclesiastical calendar than in popular tradition, and increasingly took on the status of political anniversaries. To these fixed festivals were added Christmas and Easter, as well as the patterns celebrated on local saints' days.

The Protestant festive calendar was more limited and more secular in character. In Ulster, and also in some towns of Leinster and the midlands, May Day was celebrated by decorating, not a bush, but a maypole on the English model. St John's Eve was celebrated in some areas by processions of freemasons. Other seasonal holidays were Christmas and Easter, with Easter Monday in particular being a major occasion for dancing, sports, and cock fighting across much of Ulster. To these could be added political anniversaries (23 Oct., 12 July). For all denominations fairs provided not just a commercial venue but a further important addition to the annual cycle of sociability and recreation.