Pagan custom will be alive and well and living in Killorglin, when the annual Puck Fair Festival begins today. Running over three days, the event attracts upwards of 100,000 people into the Co Kerry town, which has a population of just 1,500, and involves mass devotion to a goat and the crowning of a queen.
Worth over €6 million to the local economy, the festival can be traced back to a charter in 1603 by King James I granting legal status to the existing fair in Killorglin. It has been suggested that the festival has roots in pre-Christian celebrations of a fruitful harvest and that the male goat, or "Puck", was a pagan symbol of fertility, like the pagan god Pan.
Evidence suggests that the fair existed long before written record, and is one of the three oldest fairs in the country, along with the Ballinsaloe Horse Fair and the Auld Lammas Fair in Ballycastle, in Co Antrim.
The Houlihans, from Killorglin have a long and deep involvement with the famous festival. Jacinta Houlihan was Puck Queen in 1966 while her father, Patrick, has opened a Puck museum. Her brother, Michael, has published a history of Puck.
"So for as long as I can remember our family has had an involvement with Puck," says Jacinta, now Mrs Browne. "My dad is, if you like, the official Puck historian. He is 88 and has a large amount of memorabilia collected over the years and a great memory. His father, my grandfather, used to be responsible for catching the goat and putting up bunting around the town or getting the float ready for Puck."
Mrs Browne has vivid memories of being brought to Puck as a child, and in particular witnessing first-hand the catching of the Puck goat every year.
"I think one of earliest memories is being brought down to a stall holder in the square called Whacker Don. He used to have a stall where you paid to turn a wheel and could win a prize. I remember clearly the sound of the wheel turning and the assortment of prizes he had. Also every June bank holiday my father would go up the mountains to look at prospective goats.
"We'd go with a man called Seán O'Se, who would bring the goats down to the lower part. If a goat was passed then he and my father would catch the goat and put it into the back of the van with us kids all the way back to Killorglin."
Along with choosing a goat to be King Puck, every year a Puck queen is selected from the local residents. In 1966 Jacinta was selected and became a queen for a weekend. It's a memory she still cherishes.
"I remember being in bed and my dad coming home from a Puck meeting. He came up to my room and woke me and said I was to be the Puck Queen. The excitement of it was unreal; it was a feeling of being plucked out of the ordinary and becoming a queen, which is every little girl's dream. I'm sure it will be the same for this year's queen - Kelley Moriarty (12). You get to wear the dress and crown, which was passed from winner to winner. I also got my photo taken and was interviewed by the newspapers. I was the envy of my friends, and I always remember the crowds cheering as I came up the square."
In 2001, the residents of Killorglin pooled their resources and erected a permanent monument to Puck at the entrance to the town - a fund-raising operation was needed to raise the €100,000 to commission the sculpture, which is is a fitting tribute to a town's unwavering belief in tradition.
