View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Oregon Scholars' Bank THE CROAGH PATRICK PILGRIMAGE: IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AND SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE AT IRELAND’S HOLY MOUNTAIN by MIRA C. JOHNSON A THESIS Presented to the Folklore Program and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2011 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Mira C. Johnson Title: The Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage: Identity Construction and Spiritual Experience at Ireland’s Holy Mountain This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Folklore Program by: Lisa Gilman Chairperson Dianne Dugaw Member Phil Scher Member and Richard Linton Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2011 ii © 2011 Mira C. Johnson iii THESIS ABSTRACT Mira C. Johnson Master of Arts Folklore Program June 2011 Title: The Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage: Identity Construction and Spiritual Experience at Ireland’s Holy Mountain Approved: ___________________________________________________ Dr. Lisa Gilman, Chair Approved: ___________________________________________________ Dr. Dianne Dugaw Approved: ___________________________________________________ Dr. Phil Scher The Reek Sunday Pilgrimage at Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland is a syncretic event that incorporates official Catholic religious narratives of Saint Patrick, folk narratives of the site’s Celtic pagan significance, local histories of the Great Irish Famine of the 19th century and personal narratives with a physical engagement with the landscape to create a spiritual experience. The pilgrimage serves as a performative event that allows participants to formulate and perform alternative spiritualities and identities, blurring the distinctions between pilgrim and tourist, sacred and profane. An emerging tradition at Croagh Patrick illustrates this by emphasizing the historical and national significance of the famine villages along the ancient pilgrimage path, the Tochar Phadraig, embracing these sites, and pilgrimage to them, as sacred. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Mira C. Johnson GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Folklore, 2011, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy, History of Math and Science, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Contemporary Pilgrimage and Tourism Individual and Community Identity Construction PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Intern, Center for Intercultural Dialogue, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2010-2011 Teaching Assistant, Religious Studies Department, University of Oregon, Eugene, 2009-2011 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Religious Studies, 2009 to present v PUBLICATIONS: Johnson, M., Swartz, A.L., & Tisdell, E.J. “An Irish Spiritual Pilgrimage and the Potential for Transformation.” Proceedings of the 51st Adult Education Research Conference. June 3-6, California State University, Sacramento. Eds. P. Gandy, S. Tieszen, C. Taylor-Hunt, D. Flowers, & V. Sheared. Sacramento, CA: Sacramento State University, 2010. 212-218. Print. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Professors Lisa Gilman, Dianne Dugaw and Phil Scher for the time, support and insight they offered in the preparation of this thesis. I also thank Father Frank Fahey of Ballintubber Abbey for inviting me to join his guided group pilgrimage on Reek Sunday and the many pilgrims who shared their stories and friendship along the way. Finally, very special thanks to my colleagues, friends and family, Ann Swartz, Alec Johnson and Libby Tisdell, for their valuable contributions to this project. vii For my editor, collaborator, travel partner and mother, and my Grandma Christine who sent me to Ireland. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................... 1 Rationale and Points of Analysis........................................................................... 2 Literature Review .................................................................................................. 3 Croagh Patrick’s History and Folklore............................................................ 4 Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism....................................................... 5 ‘Lived Religion’ and Embodiment .................................................................. 6 Folk Narratives and Folk Groups .................................................................... 6 Methodology.......................................................................................................... 7 Thesis Overview .................................................................................................... 11 II. THE ROLE OF SYNCRETIC TRADITIONS AND THE EMBODIED SITE IN CROAGH PATRICK’S SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE................................... 12 Sacredness of the Mountain................................................................................... 14 Pre-Christian and Catholic Syncretic Traditions ................................................... 17 Pre-Christian Sacred Landscape and Ritual Movement .................................. 17 Catholicism’s Engagement and the Seeds of Syncretism................................ 21 Celtic Pagan / Christian Syncretism in Contemporary Ritual ......................... 25 The Embodied Site ................................................................................................ 27 ix Chapter Page III. PILGRIMAGE AS PERFORMANCE.................................................................. 31 Theoretical Background......................................................................................... 31 Anthropological Perspectives on Pilgrimage................................................... 31 Performance Theory ........................................................................................ 33 Intersecting Aspects of Pilgrimage Performance................................................. 36 Caheny’s Account of Reek Sunday Ascent from Murrisk .............................. 36 My Findings from the Reek Sunday Tochar Phadraig Pilgrimage ................ 39 Communal Performance, National Identity and Ethnic Solidarity.................. 45 Sacred Connection with the Ancients.............................................................. 48 Blending Many Identities ................................................................................ 50 IV. PERSONAL AND COMMUNITY NARRATIVES OF THE PILGRIMAGE ... 52 Setting the Stage .................................................................................................... 52 The Participant’s (Pre-Observer) Narrative..................................................... 53 Landscape and Spirituality .............................................................................. 56 Narrative ................................................................................................................ 58 Embedded Narratives on the Day of the Tochar Phadraig Pilgrimage................. 60 The Tochar Phadraig Pilgrimage.................................................................... 62 Dancora............................................................................................................ 64 Famine Villages and Sites ............................................................................... 66 Boheh Stone..................................................................................................... 68 Pilgrims Merging with Landscape and Narrative............................................ 71 “Irishness”........................................................................................................ 73 x Chapter Page V. PILGRIM, TOURIST AND ETHNOGRAPHER IDENTITIES .......................... 75 Beginning with Questions about Identities............................................................ 75 Theoretical Models of Pilgrimage and Tourism.................................................... 77 Historical Evolution from Pilgrim to Tourist .................................................. 78 Time Perception and Myth in Distinguishing the Sacred ............................... 80 Cohen’s Distinction Between the Tourist and Pilgrim .................................. 82 Rethinking Pilgrim and Tourist Identities ............................................................ 83 Identity Formation through the Folk Group ......................................................... 86 The Ethnographer / Autoethnographer ................................................................. 89 VI. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................... 92 Spiritual Experience Informed by Embodied Interaction with the Landscape ..... 92 Place, Folk Practices and Narrative Contributions to Identity Formation............. 94 Emergent, Vernacular Religious Tradition ........................................................... 95 Implications for Further Research ........................................................................ 96 REFERENCES CITED ............................................................................................... 98 xi LIST