Puck Fair Lughnasadh with Columbia ADF
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Come celebrate Puck Fair with Columbia Grove, ADF! But first, a little bit of history!
Lughnasadh is both an ancient Celtic festival marking the beginning of the harvest, and the Gaelic name for the month we call August, a month filled with fairs and festivals, dances and racing, matchmaking and bonfires.
The festival of Lughnasadh dates back to the earliest times, and honors the god Lugh. Celebrated throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, it featured great gatherings with religious ceremonies and ritual athletic games, feasting, matchmaking and markets. Religious rites would include an offering of the first of the corn, a feast of the first harvest fruits, and ritual dance. Much of this would take place on high hilltops and mountains.
Ireland’s oldest fair, the raucous Puck Fair in Killorgan, Co Kerry, is believed to be descended from these old Lughnasadh festivals. In Gaelic, it is Aonach an Phoic, the Fair of the He-Goat, “poc” being Gaelic for a male goat, a pagan fertility symbol.
Every August, the townspeople head into the mountains around Killorgan, hunting for a wild goat that is crowned “King Puck” by the “Queen of Puck”, traditionally a local school girl.
Once King Puck is crowned, the festivities may begin!
Our ritual will honor Lugh and King Puck with games and gaiety. Do you have what it takes to take GOLD??
Lughnasadh is both an ancient Celtic festival marking the beginning of the harvest, and the Gaelic name for the month we call August, a month filled with fairs and festivals, dances and racing, matchmaking and bonfires.
The festival of Lughnasadh dates back to the earliest times, and honors the god Lugh. Celebrated throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, it featured great gatherings with religious ceremonies and ritual athletic games, feasting, matchmaking and markets. Religious rites would include an offering of the first of the corn, a feast of the first harvest fruits, and ritual dance. Much of this would take place on high hilltops and mountains.
Ireland’s oldest fair, the raucous Puck Fair in Killorgan, Co Kerry, is believed to be descended from these old Lughnasadh festivals. In Gaelic, it is Aonach an Phoic, the Fair of the He-Goat, “poc” being Gaelic for a male goat, a pagan fertility symbol.
Every August, the townspeople head into the mountains around Killorgan, hunting for a wild goat that is crowned “King Puck” by the “Queen of Puck”, traditionally a local school girl.
Once King Puck is crowned, the festivities may begin!
Our ritual will honor Lugh and King Puck with games and gaiety. Do you have what it takes to take GOLD??
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