Milking the goat in the Slieve Blooms

Despite the wind chill, a great group of hardy souls travelled to the scenic Spink Hill, near Cadamstown, to keep an ancient Slieve Bloom tradition alive and welcome the spring at the beginning of this month.

The annual Milking of the Goat Festival organised by the Slieve Bloom Association marks Imbolc or Imbolg, which in the old Celtic year fell on February 1-2, midway between a solstice and an equinox. It marked the beginning of the return of Spring.

One of the major Celtic festivals, Imbolc, was the time when grass began to grow and the ewes began to lamb. There was again milk not just for the lambs but also for the table!

Members of the Slieve Bloom Association explained that as Gaeilge Imbolc means “in the belly” and refers to the ewes, cattle and goats who bear their young in spring. Life begins anew.

The Slieve Bloom tradition to mark Imbolc was to milk a goat and big crowds came together at a designated spot in years gone by to do just that, share news, and even start courtships.

 So great kudos goes to the Slieve Bloom Association who have been attempting to keep the local custom alive all these years later, and one that I and many others enjoyed participated in recently.

 There was great banter at Spink Hill among the crowd on the day, there was an opportunity to milk the Mammy goat and coo over two kids, named Monica and Rachel by two visitors from Kansas City who came to Cadamstown specially for the event as part of their Irish trip, and even a chance to taste her milk.

Afterwards, everyone convened in Dempsey's Cadamstown for some hearty, warming soup and refreshments, and plenty of friendly chat and stories prompted by our historic renactment of an old Offaly tradition which this local group deserve great praise for keeping some of the old ways alive in face of all encompassing modernity. I'm reminded of a quote by Gustav Mahler  “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”