Super quick little something squeezed in this morning for the day that's in it:
Domhnach Crom Crъaich (Crom Cruach Sunday). I am not at all happy with this but I told myself I was going to do *something* for today come hell or high water, and by dad I did! haha.
A big forewarning that I am not an expert on these subjects! I have spent an awful long time researching them, but new theories are always being proposed and - every now and then - new discoveries made. There are often things that fall outside the scope of my little microscope and the stories I was raised with. Always feel free to correct me and/or to discuss opposing ideas!Etymology: Crom (
crooked, bent) Crъaich (
head, chief -or- pile/mound of harvested material), also associated with Crom Dubh (
dubh means black. This is a later figure in folklore vs Crъaich).
He is believed to be a significant pre-Christian pagan god associated with the harvest. Outside of Ireland, he is probably most famous for his cameo in Brendan and the Secret of Kells, where he appears as a gigantic serpent and is responsible for a whole bunch of awfulness. Growing up I always imagined him as a shape-shifting shadowy figure that would gobble you up if you want into the wrong cave or glen, or out traipsing in a dense mist - though supposedly St Patrick banished him to keep all of Ireland safe from his cruelty forever more, I still worried in the back of my mind!
Crom is supposedly the God of all Gods - all-knowing, wise, and to be rightly feared. A golden idol of him supposedly stood atop Magh Slйcht in Cavan, surrounded by twelve bronze (or sometimes stone) figures. At this place it was said people made sacrifices of 'one third of their healthy issue' (human and animal) to him in return for good harvest yields, particularly of milk, wheat, or corn. Supposedly there were special worships made to him on Samhain, which would make perfect sense for any figure associated with harvest. It is St. Patrick who is said to have been his undoing, often in different ways. The core of each story is that the saint cast him into hell and smashed the aforementioned idol into dust with his bachall (staff), and those who followed the god (Crom's cult) converted to Christianity afterward. Some believe the Killycluggin stone is associated with Crom as well. He is further associated with Mt Brandon in Kerry and Croagh Patrick in Mayo (specifically in these places as Crom Dubh, a human figure of folklore, rather than Crom Crъaich - more on this below).
However, the truth in regards to Crom is very elusive! (isn't this the way with all Irish pre-christian beliefs? /cries)
When looking at the primary sources, there are no (that I know of) mentions of Crom before the coming of St Patrick; the only stories we have of Crom are hagiographical - ones focusing on the life of St Patrick, in which the Saint causes either his demise or conversion, and he does not appear in the texts associated with the pantheon and stories of pre-Christian Ireland. For what is often considered to be the "
God of all Gods," this is very suspect - surely such a figure would've been mentioned in the stories of the Tuatha Dй/Fir Bolg/Fomуir,
somewhere in Irish creation myths. As well, there is absolutely no reference to him - in neither myth nor folklore - in some of the 'hotbeds' of folkloric tradition (such as in North-west Donegal).
So, it begs one to question whether he is actually a pre-Christian figure, whose stories have either been lost or not recorded, or if he had been inserted into the texts by the monks as a
Dia brйige (false god), a method of illustrating the power of Christianity; all their gods had been killed or banished or converted by various superior Catholic figures. For anyone not familiar with Irish mythology, the only sources we have are texts recorded by Christian monks - some as primary sources, some as secondary copies/translations/interpretations of pre-existing texts that have since been lost. It is widely accepted that the monks have twisted the mythology in order to make the indigenous systems more Christian-like so that adapting to Christianty was more palatable (ie
so many Gods in these recordings die - which, well, being immortal gods, shouldn't really be possible and used to drive me batty as a child).
Nevertheless, Crom pops up in folklore (removed from myth) in a few locations as Crom Dubh or "Black Crom" - sort of the Lite Human Version of Crom Crъaich. This man has interactions with St Patrick which vary depending on the location the story comes from. The vast majority of these stories focus on his conversion to Christianity.
Domhnach Crom Crъaich or Domnach Crom Dubh commemorates this day and action. In parts of Mayo, it falls in the autumn on a friday (Aoine Crom Dubh) and it is argued that the pilgrimage up Croagh Patrick should be done on this day, rather than on the Saint's own day in March, but in most other areas it falls either on the last Sunday of July or the first sunday of August (which is interesting in itself, as this is also the start of Lъnasa, vs Mayo which would be closer to Samhain). Bбbуga (dolls) of wheat or rushes are often made on this day.
On Friday, Dъchas posted this
neat little tidbit from the schools' collection, alongside
this photograph of a carving of Crom Dubh's head in the side of old church ruins in Clochбn, Kerry. Sadly, as related to my last upload, that head was stolen from the wall in the 90's and has not yet shown up again :<
Today they posted
this gem from Carna. It is in Irish and hard to read: Crom sent his servent with a quarter of meat to St Patrick. St Patrick heartily thanks the servant ("Deo ghrбistнos" - forever grateful) who returns to Crom. Crom asks the servant "So, did he thank you?" and the servant shrugs and said he did not understand the words (likely because Crom is a miser and never expressed gratitude to his own servant). He repeats this another two or three times - sending the servant with meat, and the servant returning and shrugging. Crom becomes so upset with Patrick's ingratitude that he decides to go and kill him. Patrick, when meeting him, tells him to put his quarter of meat on a scale, and at the other end places a piece of paper with "Deo ghrбistнos" written thrice on it. The paper weighed more than the meat, so Crom and his people converted.
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Many stories feature bulls being weighed against St Patrick's prayers (or bulls that are ferocious which Crom offers to the people, thinking the bulls will kill them when instead their Christianness turns the bulls very docile -
this one is interesting [TW: a little further along in the article is an image showing animal sacrifice]). Since we don't know what Crom looked like (as Crъaich), and I have a perpetual obsession with the bull's relevance in Irish lore, myth, and history, I decided to draw a twisted bull in his place, atop a 'heap' of stones surrounded by standing stones, and pieces of wheat throughout (with the lost head from Clochбn as well).
https://www.deviantart.com/fiachmara/art/Domhnach-Crom-Cruaich-849987875
Korieku was only mentioned under the nickname "The collector" in AzureHowl on the site. Now he's worked out for the reboot! You can expect an appearance for the future first episode! 
