The Pattern St Mullins County Carlow

The Mullichain Cafe

Published by Martin Obrien ·   · 

St Mullins Pattern takes place this Sunday 21st July 2024

There is something in the air when the Pattern in St Mullins is coming up, it’s a happening. The hedges on all the roads leading to the village are trimmed and manicured there isn’t a pothole to be seen, the councillors see to that. This is not a one-day event, I have never seen so much grass cut or flowers prepared to make the village sparkle in all its glory. A great whirring sound fills the air for weeks in advance as compressors work relentlessly to polish and shine tomb stones in the graveyard, sure you have to keep up the family image. Every grave is manicured and covered in flowers in memory of loved ones buried within. Traffic controls are put in place and silage is cut in the surrounding fields so they can be used as car parks for the huge crowds. Patterns were held all over Ireland and very much part of Irish tradition dating back to pagan times before we all became good Christians.

Ahh but the church was having no more of this pagan stuff so in the 1850s a Cardinal Cullen brought in reforms to ban all this native carry on. The clergy were shocked and horrified by the excesses of these popular festivals, the fighting, drunkenness and most of all the immorality. This was a time to stamp out heathen behaviour and kill off the popular pious belief in the magical powers of the wells and other holy sites. My mammy used to tell me that there was none of that immoral carry on when they were young, just good clean fun.

In the late eighteenth century bishops began to issue edicts forbidding the people to participate in such wild festivals and we thought Woodstock was bad! This was the beginning of the end of the patterns all over Ireland, well of course not in St Mullins.

“The Pattern Stirs the blood of the St Mullins Man”

A pattern day is a day when people come together to perform pilgrimage at a holy well or a saint’s grave usually on the saint’s feast day. Sunday begins with the blessing of the well waters by the parish priest followed by mass at the graveyard which was originally the grounds of St Moling’s monasteries. Following the blessing of the waters, the pilgrims drink water from the well and pray for a good year ahead. The waters are believed to have many great healing powers both of the body and the mind. This is a tradition that can be traced back to early medieval times. Today the pattern takes place on the last Sunday before the 25th July and prayers take place at the holy well and in the graveyard. The Holy well which is dedicated to St Moling has a pond to the rear which is filled by nine springs into which many a coin is tossed for good luck. The water flows from the pond into a roofless old chamber through two granite holes into a cut stone basin where the pilgrim drinks the water. The Chamber is entered through a narrow door, a bit of a squeeze for a large fellow. The water then flows out the door into the river Aughavaugh known as Turas or pilgrims Way.

This was the day that you first dug the new potatoes. Also a time to meet old friends and settle old scores.

There is a great cure for the tooth ache. When you come to the pattern visit Fr Daniel Kavanaghs grave and take some clay from below his tombstone. You put the clay in your mouth and off down with you to the holy well for a drink of water and bobs your uncle the tooth ache will have disappeared.

What is a Pattern Day many will ask? Why is it that in rural Ireland this tradition has managed to survive when all the old customs are fast disappearing? This is the day in the year when all the people in the area come together to pray at the holy well in St Mullins. This is a journey to a sacred place where you step away from daily life and pray for a better world, this type of practice happens in all religions around the world. This pilgrimage has been going on for centuries and has been a great time for St Mullins people from all over the world to return knowing they will meet their pals from school and other wandering souls that return for this celebration. While the mass is going on in the graveyard the craic is going on the other side of the green no one seems to mind

There is the religious side and the purely gathering side, Hawkers, Hurdy gurdies, swings, fish and chip vans, music and pints are all there for the crowd. The Old folk sit back and watch with amusement at the goings on and reminisce on what it was like in their day, the youngsters come to them for a chat and tell them what they are doing now, and bring them up to speed on their lives away from St Mullins. It’s a warm time when people stop and appreciate what a good life they have. Today most of the hawkers have disappeared with a few still hanging in and the Hurdy Gurdies are starting to show their age, held to together with bits of rope and sitting on beer barrels. Ryan Air can bring you home any time of the year. It was different back in the times of the ferry from Liverpool and the train and hitching a lift!! Old time religion and devotion is fading as is the devotion to the old ways, Fading into the mists of time.

Time moves on

Author Martin O’Brien

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The Great St Mullins Mullein

The Mullein Cures No37

Verbascum thapsus),

“So, you don’t know what a Mullein is, shame on you!” well they say it originated in St Mullins along with The Mullicháins long long ago in the mists of time. Walking down the hill from the monasteries in St Mullins over the summer you will see the Mullein along the road and in the fields beyond standing proudly.

The Mullein is a tall staff with a yellow flower that grows in sandy areas along the side of the road. The first year the plant grows beautiful velvety green leaves and stays close to the ground. The second year it shoots like a rocket to form a staff of bright yellow flowers six-foot-high you will see it from June to August. Sometimes it is called Aaron’s Rod. Flannel Worth, Poor Man’s Blanket because of its soft leaves which were also put into shoes to keep your feet warm. The Mullein was also known as “Hags Taper” because the superstitious Irish believed that witches used the wicks for their lamps and candles when casting spells.  

Every year when the flowers are gone and the rods dry out all you have to do is bang the rod off the wall and spread the seeds for next year, it’s a great bit of Craic (fun). Isn’t it great all the entertainment we have down in the Mystic Valley of St Mullins?

The Great Mullein features among the Irish folk medicine records down through the centuries with cures from consumption to tuberculosis, as a cough suppressant and for sore throats. Its Antiviral properties have been reported to work against herpes and influenza. It also cures inflammation of the eyes, heals wounds, cures asthma and Bronchitis. Sure, it would nearly put the pharmacy’s and miracle workers out of business and poor old St Moling would be demoted, no need for miracles anymore.

Now with all these herbal teas on the go Mullein tea isn’t getting a look in, I would suggest that our tea tasters try slurping the Mullein brew  with its wonderful aromatic flavour .The Mullein leaves make a great cup of Tea, sure haven’t we been using it for centuries until the tea bag arrived and Lyons and Barry’s tea took over .When the Irish go abroad all they can dream of is a proper cup of tea and that’s not English Breakfast tea .The Mullein is also used as a flavouring agent in alcoholic drinks, now there is one for the cocktail makers.

The Irish would smoke anything from turf to leaves of the Mullein plant that were dried and put in a clay pipe and smoked like tobacco. Smoking dried Mullein leaves was an Irish pastime with no health warnings given. Now the arrival of that American Tobacco brought from the new world by Sir Walter Raleigh took over and ruined the health of world. As a young fella I remember seeing an advertisement for Craven A cigarettes “for a real cough, smoke Craven A “.

This plant's leaves are food for the distinctive mullein moth caterpillar and the seed heads are wintering habitat for ladybirds all wrapped up and cosy.

  Country People in Ireland believed that carrying a mullein preserved the wearer from enchantments and witchcraft as well as the curses from the neighbours. 

The dry staff was soaked in tar and used as a torch right up to 1930s when party campaigners were out hustling for votes in the election and they needed protection from the local witches and the opposition.

Now the next time your out walking with your pal you can be the authority on Mulleinism, great new word for the dictionary. 

Author Martin O’Brien