Next Saturday is our Michaelmas market day in Holycross. October 2nd marks our celebration of St Michael, who is the patron Saint of our national school, Scoil Michéal Naofa. It is our hope to recreate some old traditions on the day and have some fun with games of old and tales of times gone by.
Michaelmas, which began as an equinox and harvest festival in the middle ages, is also a feast to honour the Archangel Michael. Michael is an Archangel in Christianity, Judaism and Islam and, in all traditions, he is a symbolic leader of the force of good over evil and courage over cowardice. In Holycross the Abbey, known as the Abbey of the Holy Cross, was dedicated by the monks to the Archangel Michael. In the abbey there are three bells one of which rings loud across the land for Michael. The celebration of Michaelmas teaches the importance of overcoming fear and strengthening resolve.
Michaelmas is celebrated on the 29th of September every year near the autumn equinox, when the weather is rapidly changing, the days are noticeably shorter, and we feel a natural instinct to prepare for the colder months ahead. It marks the end of the harvest and the season when we feel the impulse to turn inward after the long warm days of summer and gather up strength and fortitude to face the colder days and long nights of the winter ahead.
The Michaelmas fair was originally a medieval hiring day on which new servants were hired or land was exchanged and debts were paid.
St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels.
Traditionally, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:“Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day, Want not for money all the year”.
The Michaelmas Daisy which flowers late in the growing season between late August and early October, provides colour and warmth to gardens at a time when the majority of flowers are coming to an end. We look forward to seeing you all next Saturday to join our festival and help us celebrate with fun, games and music as well as the usual market fare.