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You Are Not Alone

1/1/2021

I have seen signs for The Samaritans at very many locations where I have thought the message could be interpreted as suggestive in a counter-intended direction – railway platforms; quays; waterways.

To me these signs put a thought in my mind that had not been there prior to reading the sign.

Maybe that is just the way I am wired…

Yesterday, while walking around the Tank Field, I observed a different approach from Pieta House.

I have often gifted a tree, most often a cherry blossom, as a remembrance of a bereaved relative; the arrival of a new birth; and, the occupation of a new house. So I was pleasantly surprised to see the new addition on my walk.

The use of the R.E.M. lyrics made the smile wider.

Reed's Square, Cork

'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand
Oh, no
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you're not alone

R.E.M.

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Where the Covid-world met the Folklore-world

20/12/2020

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On Tuesday, I observed how the modern Covid-world met the folklore-world. Initially, I was surprised, but really I ought not to have been, and should have expected it.

At many of the Holy Wells that I have visited, there has been a Rag Tree, upon which visitors would tie a piece of cloth. As I understand the practice, the visitor rubs the cloth on that part of the body with an affliction prior to fixing the cloth to the Rag Tree hoping to transfer the affliction to the cloth/rag and to leave the affliction behind at the Rag Tree when the visitor departs for home.

Today I listened to the RTE Archive clip on Fr. Moore’s Well which is located just outside Kildare town, on the road to Milltown. On Tuesday, the well had very many items which would have been encountered at other Holy Wells that I have visited – a sign describing how to perform the stations/rounds; a donation box; a memorial card, and, a Rag Tree. Fr.Moore’s Well provided all of these and more. It had a crutch – whether cast aside in hope, in recovery, or, for effect is unknown. But it was the Rag Tree, or more particularly, the rags, that brought the tradition upto the year 2020.

Among the items tied to the tree were, not just one, but two face masks – one was disposal-type of the medical sky-blue colour; the other was a reuseable-type of a bright purple colour with what appeared to be the initials ‘S.Q.’.

A used face-mask is a perfect example of ‘only of value as homage’ and proof of the continuation of tradition.

‘Yet, a large part of the business of visiting a holy well is to come for a cure. Many wells are named specifically for the particular body part or illness they reputedly cured, such as eye wells or wart wells, though many were relatively panaceal (Logan 1980). Linked to this a range of healing rituals emerged, the most prominent of which was the leaving of offerings on rag bushes or trees. This ritual was (and is) a mix of the embodied, symbolic and performative wherein an object that should have touched the body (such as a strip of cloth from a petticoat), was dipped in the well water, rubbed on the affected part and left on the tree to let nature take the now disembodied illness away.’
Ronan Foley - Small health pilgrimages: Place and practice at the holy well

‘At a number of wells the tree (or occasionally a bush) is used to secure a cloth placed there by a pilgrim. The range of trees varies greatly. A.T. Lucas took a closer look at holy well trees. He visited 210 holy wells in Cork in the 1960’s and found whitethorns (103) predominated, with ash (75), oak (7) and a mixture of other species making up the remaining 25.’
Michael Houlihan – The Holy Wells of County Clare.

‘Early in the nineteenth century, a hostile witness wrote a description of a pilgrimage to Devenish Island, Co. Fermanagh. In it he mentioned the holy well dedicated to St. Molaisse
In it people with sore eyes, and back going children wash for a cure making what is called a station (a thing that I know nothing about) and tye a rag on the thorn according to custom.’

The Holy Wells of Ireland – Patrick Logan

‘It is right, on visiting a well, to make offerings of small objects, only as value as homage. Rag offerings are naturally most frequent where there is a ‘blessed bush’ at the well, but they are frequently hung on a bramble, or even, on the Atlantic coast, kept in place by stones. Rags abounded, with other offerings, at Gleninagh, at least till 1899, being tied to the twigs of an elder bush. They were hung in quantities on the stunted old hawthorn at Oughtmama well, and were found at Tobersraheen, at Aglish graveyard at Ogonello, and on the fallen hawthorn near the basin at Kiltinanlea. They were often accompanied by rosaries, religious medals, necklaces and ribbons, broken or whole plaster and china figures and vessels, and glass, buttons, pins, and nails.’
T. J. Westropp – Folklore of Clare

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John Flanagan Was Killed

19/12/2020

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Grey Abbey, Kildare

An rud is annamh is iontach is an Irish saying which translates as ‘that what is rare, is wonderful’.

The word ‘killed’ is a rarity found on headstones, from my experience of visits to cemeteries. It does cause this writer to step back, consider, and, in the case of John Flanagen, do some further investigartion.

‘Kill - to make a person or other living thing die (transitive/intransitive verb)’ – Macmillan Dictionary

‘Kill - to cause the death of (an animal or person); to put someone to death; to murder; to slaughter; to destroy someone or something (transitive/intransitive verb)’ – Chambers Dictionary

Kill – ‘If a person, animal, or other living thing is killed, something or someone causes them to die’ – Collins Dictionary

‘Murder - to commit the crime of killing someone deliberately (transitive verb)’ – Macmillan Dictionary

‘Murder - to kill someone unlawfully and intentionally’ – Chambers Dictionary

‘Murder - To murder someone means to commit the crime of killing them deliberately.’ Collins Dictionary

I was unable to find any press report as to the traffic incident or the inquest. The death cert and the headstone differ slightly – Jackie derives from Jack which in turn derives from John – so that is understandable.

I have previously written as to the use of the word ‘kill’. I had difficulty in its use in a non-intentional setting. It is interesting that among the options available as to outcome of an inquest, the only ‘kill’ is ‘unlawful killing’ – that is one way of avoiding any confusion as to the interpretation of the word ‘kill’.

Some enjoy a visit to Kildare Village. My preference, by far, would be the adjoining cemetery.

The adjacent headstone is to Evelyn Flanagan, who died aged 7 weeks, in August 1934. If Evelyn was Jackie’s sister, one family would have lost two children in less than three years which may be enough to use ‘kill’ rather than ‘died’.

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MIXED MESSAGES.

You Are Not Alone

Where the Covid-world met the Folklore-world

John Flanagan Was Killed

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