History of Reek Sunday
Every last Sunday in July, at least 25,000 – 40,000 people climb the 764 meter tall Croagh Patrick near Westport in County Mayo, Ireland. The day that this hike takes place on is called Reek Sunday but it is also called Garland Sunday. The day that this hike takes place on is called Reek Sunday but it is also called Garland Sunday. This pilgrimage is done in honour of Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick who was said to have spent 40 days on the mountain in the 5th century fasting in the year 441AD/CE. Despite that, the pilgrimage is said to be older than the presence of Christianity in Ireland and may roots from similar albeit Pre-Christian and Pagan traditions connected to the old Celtic festival of Lughnasadh/ Lúnasa. Either way, it’s a 1,500 year old tradition to climb Croagh Patrick.
An 1113 record from the Annals of Ulster details the earliest surviving mention of a Croagh Patrick pilgrimage with the mentions of “a ball of fire [that] came on the night of the Feast of Patrick on Cruacháin Aighle and destroyed thirty of those fasting”. Cruacháin Aighle was a name once used for Croagh Patrick. 1432 saw Pope Eugene IV issue a 2-year indulgence and two quarantines of “enjoined penance to penitents who visit and give alms for the repair of a chapel on the summit of Croagh Patrick. The day’s name of Reek Sunday originates from a nickname that the mountain has “The Reek” which has Irish roots with an English twist to words like rick which mean a stack or pile and it refers back to the mountain’s conical shape. In Irish, Croagh Patrick is called Cruach Phádraig (Patrick’s Stack).
The climb is about 7.2 kilometers long and it takes 3-4 hours to climb up and down Croagh Patrick. Each year, climbers are at risk of suffering from hypothermia and cardiac arrest when climbing the mountain which sees the presence of emergency personnel close to the mountain. In 2015, bad weather forced the hike to be called off but not without 10 people ignoring the warnings not to climb and ending up with hypothermia as a result. In 2022, RTÉ news correspondent and documentary maker Charlie Bird climbed Croagh Patrick along with other Irish celebrities as part of Climb for Charlie which saw the raising of €3 million for charity.