Puck Fair
Page Module:Message box/ambox.css has no content.
This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2022) |
Template:DMCA Template:DMCA Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Hatnote list' not found.
The Puck Fair (Template:Langx, meaning "Fair of the He-Goat", Script error: No such module "Lang". being the Irish for a male goat)[1] is one of Ireland's oldest fairs. It takes place annually from 10–12 August in Killorglin, County Kerry.[2]
Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.
| Puck Fair Script error: No such module "Lang". | |
|---|---|
| Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found. Puck Fair circa 1900 | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Fair |
| DateTemplate:Pluralize from text | August 10–12 |
| Frequency | Annually |
| Venue | Streets, pubs |
| LocationTemplate:Pluralize from text | Killorglin, County Kerry |
| Coordinates | Lua error: callParserFunction: function "#coordinates" was not found. |
| Country | Ireland |
| Years active | 1613—present, perhaps older |
Activity | Wild goat capture and crowning, coronation parade, horse and cattle fairs, street markets, festivity, fireworks. |
| Website | puckfair |
Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".
Description
Every year a group of people go up into the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountain range and catch a feral goat.[3] The goat is brought back to the town and the "Queen of Puck", traditionally a young schoolgirl from one of the local primary schools, crowns the goat "King Puck".[4]
The goat is then put into a small cage on a high stand for three days, and on the third day of the fair, he is brought down to be led back to the mountains. In the middle of the town square, he is crowned and this signifies that the festivities may begin. The pubs stay open until 3 am, a legal exception from the usual 2 am closing time. This is a source of contention with the local police.[5]
More recently, following significant objections from animal rights groups, "King Puck" has only been displayed on the fair stand for a couple of hours rather than three whole days.[6]
Markets
Tradition dictates that a horse fair takes place on the first day and on the second day there is a cattle fair. There are usually many street vendors during the festival who advertise their wares to the large numbers of tourists who come to Killorglin for the fair.[7]
History
The fair itself is purported to be ancient but can only officially be traced back as far as 1613 when King James I issued a charter granting legal status to the existing fair in Killorglin. Despite this fact, its roots are still unknown, although there are several legends of its origins.
One of the legends of the fair is that the event pays tribute to a goat that broke away from its herd, while the rest of the herd headed towards the mountains, and warned the town's inhabitants while the “Roundheads” were pillaging the countryside around Shanara and Kilgobnet at the foot of the McGillycuddy Reeks. The advancing army of Oliver Cromwell during his conquest of Ireland in the 17th century triggered the pillages around the countryside. The goat's arrival alerted the inhabitants of danger, and they immediately set out to protect the town and their herds. Although the song An Puc ar Buile has become associated with this legend, the story of the song has nothing to do with it. The words were written by Dónall Ó Mulláin in 1940 and is set in 20th century rural Ireland.
Scholars speculate that the fair's origins stem from Pre-Christian Ireland, from the Celtic festival of Lughnasa which symbolised the beginning of the harvest season, and that the goat is a pagan fertility symbol.[8]
In 1905, that year's King Puck goat, named King Skellig Mör, was purchased by the Knights of Saint Brendan, a fraternal order of Irish-Americans. Following a legal dispute over the goat's ownership, it was donated to the USS Vermont to serve as its mascot.[9][10]
In 1931, Margaret Murray tied the Puck Fair into her version of the witch-cult hypothesis, asserting that it was a pre-Christian festival in honour of the Horned God.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found. However, historians Jeffrey B. Russell and Brooks Alexander have asserted that "Today, scholars are agreed that Murray was more than just wrong – she was completely and embarrassingly wrong on nearly all of her basic premises."Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Footnotes/anchor_id_list' not found.
In 1941, a ballet entitled Puck Fair, based on a poem about the fair by F. R. Higgins, was staged at the Gaiety Theatre. The ballet was choreographed by Cepta Cullen and composed by Elizabeth Maconchy, with set design by Mainie Jellett
In 1993 folk singer Christy Moore released the album King Puck.[11]
The 2020 and 2021 festivals were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the event returned in 2022. High temperatures necessitated taking the goat down from its high stand for a number of breaks.[12]
See also
References
Footnotes
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Day, Catharina (2007). Southwest Ireland, 5th - Catharina Day - Google Books. Cadogan Guides. ISBN 9781860113628. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Puck Fair". puckfair.ie. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Sat, Aug 06, 2011 - Give me a crash course in". The Irish Times. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Puck Fair: Ireland's Oldest Festival". Irish America. October 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Fri, Jul 11, 2008 - Judge refuses to curtail 3am pub closing times at Puck Fair". The Irish Times. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Animal rights group calls for Puck Fair tradition to be stopped". BreakingNews.ie. 10 August 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Puck Fair - Irelands Oldest Fair, every August 10th, 11th and 12th". Puckfair.ie. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Puck Fair - Irelands Oldest Fair, every August 10th, 11th and 12th". Puckfair.ie. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Warship Gets Famous Goat: After Long Litigation Irishmen Make a Gift of Skellig Mohr". The New York Times. 17 March 1909. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Who Owns the Goat? Skellig Mor in Dispute". The Boston Globe. 19 November 1907. pp. 1, 8.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Moore, Christy (2012). One Voice. Hodder & Stoughton.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Goat taken down from stand at King Puck festival again". RTÉ. 12 August 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
Sources
Page Template:Refbegin/styles.css has no content.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Murray, Margaret A. (1952) [1931]. The God of the Witches. London: Faber and Faber.
- Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Russell, Jeffrey B.; Alexander, Brooks (2007). A New History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-28634-0.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found. Template:Agricultural shows in Ireland
