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Puck Fair is the oldest gathering in Ireland – a fair that has been running for over 400 years- held annually on the 10th, 11th and 13th August in Killorglin, County Kerry.
One of the legends around the origins of the festival tells that a group of Cromwell men were raiding Kerry County. During the raid they met a herd of goat. The male of the herd, scared, didn’t follow the herd toward the mountains, but took a different route. He arrived in Killorglin, where the villagers, seeing the wild goat scared and tired, understood that there was something wrong and prepared to defend the village.
Since that moment, every year, Killorglin celebrate the goat that saved the village, crowning him King for three days.
How to choose royalty
Every year, a goat catcher wanders around Kerry Mountains, trying to find a suitable candidate for the title of King.
The requisites for the title are:
– being a male
– being a wild goat
And do you know how is called in Irish a male goat? Poc, or transliterated, Puck.
When he finds the Puck, the goat catcher captures him, and brings him back to Killorglin. On the day of the gathering, the 10th of August, the Puck is crown king and paraded thought the town. King Puck will spend the entire length of the festival on the top of a high stand in the main square, to reign over his people.
Every King needs a Queen, and the Queen of Puck Fair is a special one. Not only she has a court of 10 assistant ladies, who can be admired in their gowns during the festival, but she has the honour to crown King Puck, marking the beginning of the festival. The Queen has also the role to remove the crown at the end celebration, on the 13th of August. Did I mention that the Queen and her court are chosen among all the students of the Primary school of the surroundings?
What happen to the goat at the end of the festival? He’s set free and come back to his mountains, coming back to his busy schedule made of eating grass and jumping from rock to rock.
Are you afraid for the welfare of the goat? No need to be. As every King deserves, King Pucks has his own personal doctor, a veterinary that is responsible for the physical and mental health of the goat for the duration of the festival. The veterinary is not hired by the fair committee.
Not only goats
As in any respectable fair, at Puck Fair you will not have time to get bored: in the program you’ll find music, food, street performer, family entertainment and an amusement park.
Remaining loyal to its tradition, during Puck Fair a horse fair and a cattle fair are organised. Horse and cattle owners can buy and sell bovines, horses, ponies and donkeys: an ancient tradition of the Irish countryside.
Would you like to be one of Puck citizens? Then you can go to the fair and buy one of the passports, which “grant” you the citizenship for the duration of the festival.
You can check the entire program of the festival at the official website
