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S.S. Titanic with its distinctive four funnels.

The sinking of the SS Titanic after colliding with an iceberg en route from Queenstown (Cobh) to New York, on Sunday night April 15th 1912 occurred 110 years ago this week,.  Newly launched from the Harland and Wolff Belfast docks, the Titanic was the pride of the White Star Line. The Titanic story has been told in newspapers, books and films over the years so it’s not my intention to repeat it here. Instead, we will look briefly at the Clare passengers aboard the Titanic and how they fared that fateful night.

Three individuals from Clare boarded the ship in Cobh on April 11thon the first leg to a new life in America. These wereMartin McMahon (20), Daniel Keane (35), and Mary Agatha Glynn (19).

Farm labourer Martin McMahon from Cragbrien, Tiermaclane, was a third-class passenger, while Daniel Keane from Gallows Hill in Cratloe was a second-class passenger on board the ship. Keane intended to travel on to St Louis, Missouri, after arriving in New York City.

McMahon was born in 1893 and was the son of Anthony and Honor (née Meaney) McMahon. Before leaving for America he worked on the farm of widow, Bridget Hurley, in Cloonmore, Lisheen.

Daniel Keane, who was born in 1876 to Timothy Keane and Honora O’Meara, had been working in Dublin as a tram conductor. Daniel was only one of seven Irish citizens who had second class tickets.

The third Clare passenger was Mary Agatha Glynn from Slieveanore, near Flagmount in East Clare. (Eileen Gallagher nee Guilfoyle, Quin Gardens, Quin is a second cousin of hers). She was born in 1893 to Patrick and Ellen Glynn and had worked in Duggan’s Hotel in Scariff. At the age of nineteen she decided to emigrate and join her cousin,Mrs. D. Courtney in Washington D.C. Mary boarded the ship with a third class ticket in Cobh.

She shared a cabin with three girls from Cavan.Following the collision, Mary and her companions were guided through the second class area of the ship by Martin Gallagher from Galway. Mary described Gallagher as a hero for his efforts in getting them from steerage to the deck. There they were able to join the sixty other occupants of Lifeboat 13, from which they were taken on board the rescue ship the ‘Carpathia’ the following day.

Because of the location of many of the steerage cabins close to the ship’s boilers, the lower decks were enormously hot. Mary and her colleagues were only lightly clad in nightclothes when they got into the lifeboat and were lucky not to have succumbed to hypothermia.

Sadly, Martin Gallagher, Martin McMahon and Daniel Keane all drowned that night. Of the 2,206 passengers and crew 1,503 died.

The subsequent inquiry pointed to so many flaws with passenger liners that the court’s recommendations greatly improved shipping safety for the future. One of the principal findings was that in an effort to create a new trans-Atlantic speed record, the ship was travelling too fast through iceberg-laden sections of ocean without due care.

Could a Titanic-style disaster happen again?

One has only to recall the recent disasters of Boeing 737 MAX planes, leading to the deaths of 346 people in two crashes. Like the Titanic, it was all about competition, proving themselves the quickest, fittest, and best, with little consideration for passenger safety. After a brief wringing of hands, the 737 MAX’s are flying again.

Mary Agatha Glynn eventually made it to Washington and went on to marry Patrick Joseph O’Donoghue from Kerry. She never returned to Ireland, as she was no longer comfortable travelling by ship. She died in 1955 at the age of 61.

Michael Houlihan

13th April 2022.

 

 

 

Seán na Gealaí

Halloween is the direct descendent of Samhain. It was the night when the gap between this world and the spirit world narrowed.  Known as Oiche Shamhna or ‘spirit night’, the souls of the dead were expected to return to the family home. The Church introduced the Feast of All Saints (Nov1) and the Feast of All Souls (Nov 2nd) to counter Samhain. Evil spirits were also thought to be abroad and people avoided travelling alone on this night.

   “Deireann na daoine go mbíonn sidheogaí amuigh oidhche Shamhna”, Schools’ Collection (NFCS 249).

Origins of Samhain

Contender 1- Tulsk, County Roscommon

Oweynagat Cave, Uaimh na gCat, meaning the ‘Cave of the Cats’ in Rath Croaghan. The Book of Leinster names it as dorus iffrin na Hérend – Ireland’s Gateway to Hell. Demons and all kinds of creatures emerge from here on Oiche Shamhna.

 Echtra Nerai (the Adventures of Nera) is first mentioned in the 10th century Cath Maige Mucrama story,  happening at Samhain.

Oweynagat Cave is also said to be the home of the Morrigan. She is portrayed as a goddess of battle and war, with the power to transform into crows or ravens. Her dreaded cry was frequently heard over battlefields.

Echtra Nerai, the Adventures of Nera

An Irish text taken from the Ulster Cycle, dating to the tenth century entitled ‘Nera and the Dead Man’, tells of the warrior Nera who accepts a dare during a dark and stormy Samhain night to tie a withy around the ankle of a hanging dead man. As he does so, the corpse suddenly comes to life and asks Nera to carry him on his back. Nera complies. After some adventures Nera gets the dead man back to his tree. All of this takes place at Samhain at Rath Croaghan/Cruachan, hence its association with Halloween.

Contender 2 – Tlachtga, Meath

The original Tlachtga was a druidess of considerable power and importance, the daughter of Mug Ruith who lived on Valentia Island in Kerry. He is said to have lived through the reign of nineteen kings, with his lifespan stretching back to the time of Christ on earth. Tlachtga and her father could travel the world on the Rath, a fabulous spinning wheel of fire that easily transported them. Mug Ruith sought out knowledge and learning like few before him and it was in this manner that he and Tlachtga travelled to study under Simon Magus (Simon the Sorcerer), who is mentioned in the Bible.

Simon Magus and Mug Ruith sent Tlachtga out into the world to gather as much knowledge as she could find. Upon her return they realized that her knowledge far surpassed their own!
They were outraged and such was their jealousy that they set the three sons of Simon Magus upon Tlachtga, who defiled her. She returned to Ireland where she gave birth to three sons, Dorb (Doirb), Cuma (Cumma) and Muach.

It was on the hill of Ward in county Meath that Tlachtga brought her three sons into the world, and it was there that she died, unable to sustain her life in the face of the utter grief and despair she felt at the indignity she had endured.

In recent years a renewal of the annual gathering on the hill of Ward now attracts hundreds of people at Halloween. A walk from Athboy up towards the Hill itself culminates with a celebration, with elaborate ceremonies and an acknowledgement of the cultural gift to Ireland and the world that Tlachtga represents.

In the ancient kingdom of Mide, Tlachtga was considered an important assembly place alongside Tara, Teiltun and Uisneach. These four ‘corners’ are recorded as having been the location of fortresses constructed by high king Tuathal Techmar at the foundation of Mide in the early decades of the first millennium AD.

‘Much of the (archaeological) evidence points towards a long history of ritual activity. Large quantities of animal bones – a sign of large scale feasting have been found throughout all phases of the site. The lack of evidence of any residential or day to day activity strengthens the idea that it most likely it was set aside purely for ritual or celebratory activity.

There have been finds in all three phases of the site, including scattered Bronze Age human remains and the skeleton of an infant between seven and ten months old… The child burial, next to a ritual deposit of cow bones, dates to AD 450 – around the time of the arrival of Christianity.

“The child was clearly buried with care and having not found any evidence of burials on the site, we’d have to guess that This child belonged to someone significant”.

Harvest knots and Guises

 

 

Homemade masks made by village boys calling to local houses on Oiche Shamhna

Outdoors

Unlike May when the fairies are active, November Eve brings malevolent spirits. It is the night for community bonfires, especially in housing estates in the cities and towns. Collecting the last handful of fruit and nuts.

Indoors

Families would attempt to have a celebratory supper on Oiche Shamhna. Family supper might be colcannon or pandy. They would first secure the house by sprinkling Holy Water and possibly placing a religious object in the thatch near the front door.

Typical Samhain Food included pancakes, stampy (a potato and apple cake, crusted with barley, enhanced with sea spinach and rock samphire & cooked with oil) apple cakes, nuts, blackberry pies.

An bairín breac/the barmbrack or the ‘speckled loaf’, containing oodles of dried autumn fruits is still a favourite treat, with lashings of butter.

Tokens inside the traditional loaf included the ring as a symbol of love and marriage,  a thimble (spinsterhood); a button (bachelorhood); a stick (to be beaten by the spouse); a rag (poverty); a coin (wealth) and a crucifix (the taking of religious orders).

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