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John Arnold: I poured holy water on calves to mark the merry month of May

9 1
09.05.2025

Last Thursday morning, I was up early. It was the first day of the month of May - May Day, a very special day and date in Ireland, especially in ancient times.

What is ancient? What is modern? Often, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

So, on May morning I was up and out in the haggard in stocking-less feet at half past five; Yes, it was chilly, but what about it?

I knelt on the grass in the middle of the yard and, with cupped hands, I washed my face ‘in the May morning dew’ as generations have done before me.

On the Wednesday evening, I’d been fencing until near dark. I came back to the farmyard then and took a bottle of holy water and set off around the fields. The holy water came from Lourdes - it was ‘left over’ in Cork Airport about five years ago when we returned from pilgrimage in June and I brought it home.

I had left calves out for the first time that day in the Orchard Field so I sprinkled them all.

The tradition of blessing the gaps and gates on a farm with holy water is to try and ensure good luck for all humans and animals that pass through during the coming year.

Similarly, the tradition of the face-washing in the May morning dew is said to ward off evil and keep the ‘good spirits’ onside.

The cold dew is also said to be beneficial for one’s facial complexion – though I met a man later in a shop and he said he didn’t see any great improvement in my visage!

By coincidence, just last week I got a present of Jo Kerrigan and Richard Mills’ new book Irish Fairy Forts -Portals To The Past. It’s a wonderful and magical publication. I dipped into its 250 pages -just flicking through; as a special treat for myself I’ve put it a way for the moment. When I get enough time to read it in one ‘sitting’, I’ll be ‘ar mhuinn na muice’ - on the pig’s back entirely.

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