St. Michael's Carrots - The Feast of St. Michaels

Festival Location: All Areas, Ireland

Festival Type(s): Religious Events , Traditional Festivals , Cultural Festivals

St. Michael's Carrots - The Feast of St. Michaels

by © Bridget Haggerty 2008

On the afternoon of the Sunday preceding Michaelmas, women and girls in the Hebrides gather St. Michael's wild carrots. But they don't just dig them up haphazardly - a very special ritual must be observed.

First, triangular holes are dug with a three-pronged mattock; the holes represent St. Michael's shield and the mattock is symbolic of his trident. As the carrots are being dug, the following charm is recited:

Cleft, fruitful, fruitful, fruitful,
Joy of carrots surpassing upon me
Michael the brave endowing me
Bride* the fair be aiding me.

After the carrots are dug, they are tied into bunches with red thread. These are given as gifts to visitors on Michaelmas Day. Any carrots with forked roots are thought to be especially lucky.

St. Michael's Eve - September 28

As with many Celtic feast days, bonfires were lit on the night before and the traditional evening meal was roast lamb.

In Scotland, St. Michael was the patron saint of fisherman and horseman and in the Hebrides, the cult of an ancient pagan sea god was transferred upon him. There was feasting and dancing in the evening and a special cake called Struan Micheil was baked for the occasion. This was made from sheep's milk, eggs. butter and cereal and was usually created by the eldest daughter in the family, guided by her mother, and assisted by her eager sisters. As she moistened the meal with the milk, it was customary for the girl to say: Progeny and prosperity of family, Mystery of Michael, Protection of the Trinity.

When the struan was ready for baking, it was placed on a flat rock. The rock was covered by a lamb's skin and positioned on the edge of an open open fire made of rowan, oak and bramble. The blackthorn, wild fig, trembling aspen and other 'crossed' woods were always avoided. A cross was marked on each cake and a piece of it was broken off and thrown into the fire as an appeasement for Satan.

While the women were busy with the cakes, the men were out in the fields and stables guarding their horses against an old custom of "borrowing" a neighbor's steed. It was permissible on this night to appropriate a horse, wherever found and by whatever means, for tomorrow's "oda" or Michaelmas Ridings (races) and to perform "the circuiting" or customary visit to the graves of the dearly departed. As horse owners and borrowers tried to outwit each other, it was always obligatory to leave one horse so that its owner and his wife would have transportation for the events of the feast day. However, this was often the least desirable animal. In any event, stolen steeds were always returned the next day.

The Feast of St. Michael, September 29

Throughout the Celtic lands, Michaelmas marked the end of the harvest. This was the time that farm folk calculated how many animals they could afford to feed over the winter and how many would have to be sold or slaughtered and salted down in order to preserve the meat. In addition to livestock fairs, rural folk attended hiring fairs which were especially important for farm laborers looking for winter employment after the harvest. Michaelmas was also one of the regular quarter-days for settling rents and accounts; often, since this was also the time of the "geese harvest", many a farmer paid off his accounts with a brace or more of plump birds from the flock hatched in the spring. Traditionally, a roast goose dinner** was served on Michaelmas and in some parishes on the Isle of Skye, they had a procession on this day and baked a cake called St. Michael's Bannock.

In Ireland, Michaelmas marked the end of the fishing season, the beginning of the hunting season, the traditional time to pick apples and the time to make cider. In County Waterford, it was also the end of the tourist season. This gave rise to a strange custom observed by those in the holiday trade - they held a procession to the beach and cast an effigy of St. Michael into the sea as a symbolic protest against loss of earnings.

In many parts of Ireland, farmers gave geese as gifts to the poor and sold the down as fillings for mattresses and pillows. In several towns, Michaelmas was the day to elect a mayor. As the story goes, it was the tradition that the Mayor of Dublin could not be sworn in until after his counterpart in Drogheda. Where this custom came from, no-one seems to know.

As for the feast, not only were geese and carrots significant ingredients, finding a ring hidden in a Michaelmas pie meant that one would soon be married.

In Scotland, the feast of St. Michael featured a thanksgiving service for the fruits of fields and flocks. During the service, a lamb as well as a special cake were blessed. Afterwards, baskets were filled with cakes and pieces of roast lamb and taken around to the poor. Much of the day was then spent racing the horses along the sands, and pieces of sun-dried seaweed were used in place of whips to spur on the horses, which were ridden without saddles or bridles by their barefoot jockeys.

In the evening, as with the other Celtic nations, dancing, singing and feasting would conclude the days festivities.

* Bride is St. Brigid
** For a great roast goose recipe, click here: The Irish Kitchen

Pay a visit to Bridget's 3 wonderful sites at http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com, http://www.thecelticrealm.com and http://www.brittanyquest.com.

by Bridget Haggerty