Recreation
The pattern at Gougan Barra is still attended but in the past it was quite different. In the 18th Century and early 19th. Century patterns at holy wells or at Gougan Barra were very popular. In theory these were religious in practice they were a form of zealous recreation. In 1813, the folklorist Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–1854) attended a pattern at Gougan Barra on St.John's Eve the 23rd? June. There were large crowds on the shore of the lake multitudes in and around the chapels, those inside on their knees some with arms uplifted praying aloud others counting the beads on their rosaries or using a small pebble or cutting notches on a stick to indicate the number of prayers to be repeated. A rusty piece of iron was passed was passed from one pilgrim to the next and placed on the head three times, accompanied by a prayer. A man belonging to a mendicant order scratched the wall of the well with a piece of slate, following the imprint of the cross. The pieces of slate were sold to pilgrims afterwards as relics. Inside the door of the well were seven or eight people some with their arms some with their legs in the water exhibiting their sores. Outside little bottles of glass water were sold and applied to an infected part or sold on the spot. Women waited with naked infants to dip them into the waters of the well. On the shores of the lake were tents with whiskey porter and bread. In most tents was a piper and young people danced, the women choosing the partner. There were twenty or thirty people in each tent, drinking heavily singing rebellious songs which were greeted with howls of approval. By evening most were drunk, cudgels were brandished and there was general mayhem. He was impressed with the piety of the simple people but a confused uproar of prayers and oaths of sanctity and blasphemy sounded in the same instant of the ear. He noted the common loss of life due to faction fights at patterns. The Bishop of Cork, Dr. John Murphy banned the Gougan pattern in 1818. The Protestant clergyman Caesar Otway (1780–1842) visited in 1827 and counted 936 Paters, Aves and Credos.
Read more about this topic: Modern History Of Durrus And District
Famous quotes containing the word recreation:
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)