Scratch an Irish Catholic and you will find a pagan. On any given Sunday, people all over the country visit 'shrines' or holy wells looking for favours, offering thanksgiving or paying penance.
For many people, it is simply a day out but the custom of visiting holy wells goes back a long way, way past Christianity and into the mists of Celtic mythology and druidism. The healing power of water is recorded in the earliest sagas. After the battle of Moytura, Dian Cecht, a healer, created a magic pool to treat the wounded.
This power was Christianised in the 13th Century when legends associated with wells were incorporated into the lives of Irish saints. These wells then became the focal point for the celebration of the 'patron' or saint associated with a townland.
Brigid was a goddess but the cult of St Brigid developed alongside the cult of The Virgin, a blending of pagan and Christian beliefs that is typical of many Irish saints.
Dabhach Bhride (Brigid's Well) is located near the Cliffs of Moher. It is one of the most popular shrines in Ireland and it has all the features associated with holy wells: the promise of a cure, a rag tree, votive offerings and the rite, a complex pattern of prayers to be performed by each pilgrim.
There are four pattern days associated with the well but the biggest took place on Domhnach Crom Dubh, the last Sunday in July. It attracted people from all over Clare and the Aran Islands.
People gathered the night before and held a vigil. After the pattern they headed for Lahinch for games and races in the ancient tradition of the aenach.
These occasions were notorious for their 'debauchery' and this led to the suppression of many patterns in the 1800s. Some survive, The Pattern in Ballyheigue and Puck Fair in Killorglin, for instance.
Location plays a big part in the popularity of Brigid's Well but Manchan's Well in Co Offaly is more typical of the isolation sought by the monks of the 6th and 7th Centuries.
He dreamt of a little hut in the wilderness, with a clear, cleansing pool and a beautiful wood filled with many-voiced birds. The church he founded stands in the middle of a field in the townland of Lemonaghan. The well is blessed and is associated with cures for toothache, headache and warts.
Manchan died of plague in 661 or 664 and his bones were put in a box of yew and bronze in the 12th Century. The shrine was stolen in June of this year but was quickly recovered.
The shock generated by the theft highlighted the archaeological importance of these sites, as much as the unbroken spell of holy wells.
There are around 3,000 wells in Ireland. They may seem like a rural tradition but there are 118 wells in Dublin city and county. Some of these were in the heart of the city -- Stones Well on the corner of Frederick St and Danes' Well in Drumcondra.
These have disappeared but St Patrick's Well in Trinity survives and the site of St Catherine's Well in Drumcondra is preserved.
This was used as a municipal dump until the 1930s when Griffith Park was developed.