St. Sheelah's Day, in honor of St. Patrick's Wife

The day after St. Patrick's day isn't observed as a holiday anymore, but in pre-famine Ireland, people celebrated March 18th in honor of St. Sheela.

Shane Lehane of the Folklore and Ethnology/Béaloideas department at University College Cork discovered this lost folklore: 

Pre Famine, pre-1845, if you go back to the newspapers in Ireland they talk not just about Patrick's Day but also Sheelah's Day. So I wondered where this came from? You have Paddy's day on the 17th and it continues on to Sheelah's day. I came across numerous references that Sheelah was thought to be Patrick's wife. She was his other half. The folk tradition has no problem with such detail. The fact that we have Patrick and Sheelah together should be no surprise. Because that duality, that union of the male and female together, is one of the strongest images that we have in our mythology. ...

Sheelah represented, for women in particular, a go-to person because she represented the female. The Sheela-na-Gig is a really important part of medieval folk tradition. She is an important folk deity. The figure of Sheelah was perhaps much bigger than suggested by the scant mentions we find in the old newspaper accounts. She would have been massively important. She represents a folk personification, allied to, what can be termed, the female cosmic agency, and being such, would have played a major role in people’s everyday lives. It is a pity that the day has died out. But maybe we will revive it. I am sure Fáilte Ireland would be delighted with it. I think it would be a great idea! (source: UCC)

Lehane uncovered St. Sheela in old newspapers and a book by John Carr, A Stranger in Ireland.

Carr said that on the anniversary of St Patrick, the country people assembled in their nearest towns and villages and got very tipsy. "From a spirit of gallantry, these merry devotees continue drunk the greater part of the next day, viz., the 18th of March, all in honour of Sheelagh, St. Patrick’s wife."

Sheelagh, St. Patrick's wife, is old, like himself, and could be a version of the Cailleach, the winter witch. This goddess would be leaving the world around the time of her feast day and the Spring Equinox. When there is a light snowfall the day after St. Patrick's day, as often happens, it's called Sheela's brush.

Two years ago on March 18th we went to a Sheela-na-gig festival in Killanaboy, Co. Clare.

That day remains one of my favorite excursions in Ireland. The festival organizers' creativity shone in every aspect of the day. We learned the history and archeology of sheela-na-gig, but they also provided clay so we could make our own sculptures, cookie frosting at lunch, and a photographic scavenger hunt. 

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Killanaboy's sheela-na-gig still presides above the church entryway. 

Like many sheelas it is hard to see, even when you're right there and under it. 

Several years ago, a team began capturing Ireland's sheela-na-gig in 3D digital glory. 

The collection is online. 

My favorite part of the festival is this poem. 

 (I don't have the author's name to hand at the moment, but when I do I will update. )

We don't know what sheela-na-gigs "meant" to the people who carved them, nor to the generations who preserved them for a thousand years. But could the significance of these mysterious carvings be anything other than what is invoked with this meditation on everything female and old and powerful? 

I wish you a happy St. Sheelah's Day, and a lifetime of her blessings. 

My other posts on Sheela-na-gig:

Tipperary Sheela-na-gigs, found and lost

"figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva"
The Fantstown Tower
Ballyvourney Sheela-na-gig

Everything I May Write About St. Gobnait and Hints at What I Can't.