The Great Pagan Famine?
The Tucson Weekly, looking for a different angle on the typical St. Patrick’s day celebrations, interviews Irish Catholic priests who emigrated to America. One interesting claim made in the article is that the Great Famine of the 19th century helped eliminate the last clinging vestiges of Irish paganism and tradition and solidified the hold of Catholicism on the island.
“If the pre-Famine priests had to compete with the old Gaelic culture, with its remnants of pagan harvest festivals, priests now had little trouble convincing the decimated population to be wary of sexuality, and even to delay marriage to limit the number of new mouths the land would have to feed. The Irish became, in the words of Miller, “the world’s most faithfully practicing and sexually controlled Catholics.” The devout flooded the churches, and their sons flooded the seminaries. In 1840, before the Famine, Ireland had one priest for every 3,000 people; by 1900, the ratio had dropped to an astonishing 1 for every 900.”
Of course Ireland was thoroughly Christian by that point. I think the increase in priests had a lot more to do with a lack of resources and food, instead of a final contest between pre-Christian tradition and the dominant Catholicism. In any event “pagan” harvest festivals in Ireland continue and church attendance in Ireland is falling (partially due to Catholic priest abuse scandals), so I guess the lesson here is to never count pre-Christian tradition and lore gone for good. Here’s hoping it’s enough to save Tara.
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