How did the Church express itself against the tradition of the ‘merry wake’ in Ireland?

Résumé du document

The merry wake was a significant element of the Irish folklore and it was also quiet common throughout Europe. The merry wake was perceived as a way to allow ordinary people to challenge the Church, even if they came to mass. However, the merry wake was condemned by the Church for various reasons. How did the Church express itself against the merry wake? Firstly, we will focus on what was the merry wake. Then, we will emphasis on the reasons why the Church was against the merry wake. Later, we will deal with the means used by the Church in order to convince people to stop attending merry wakes and their effectiveness. The merry wake was recognized as deriving from a Celtic or pagan cosmological tradition and was still practiced fifty years ago. It occurred at the death of a person, whose body was usually left lying on a hag bed and relatives, friends and neighbors were invited to visit the house which was called the ‘wake house'.

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[...] Therefore, it appeared that even if the Church was seriously involved in this opposition of the merry wake, it did not manage to stop people from attending it. To conclude, we have seen that the merry wake was a very significant tradition in Irish society, as people did not agree to give it up. Even if the Church was strongly opposed to this event, it appeared obvious that the numerous attempts it made to put an end to the practice of the merry wake resulted in a failure. [...]

[...] Donnelly and Kerby A ‘Irish popular culture, 1650-1850' p.174 James S. Donnelly and Kerby A ‘Irish popular culture, 1650-1850' p James S. Donnelly and Kerby A ‘Irish popular culture, 1650-1850' p Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.146 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.146 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.146 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.147 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.147 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.147 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. ‘Irish wake amusements' p.150 Ó Súilleabháin, Seán. [...]

[...] We have now seen the numerous reasons explaining why the Church was against the merry wake. However, the Church didn't remain passive relation to the wake but consequently it issued various edicts in order to stop the wakes. As we have said before, the Church wanted to get rid of the wake and keep the Christian tradition of funerals prevailing. Consequently, “Roman catholic ecclesiastical authorities attempted to suppress the ‘excesses' of the merry wake over a period of at least three hundred years”[12] but it appeared that it would not be easy due to the fact that ritual in question was highly significant in the symbolic culture of population that practised However, the Church tried to convince people through numerous edicts. [...]

[...] All this shows that the Church tried to prevent people from attending merry wakes by using threats which included exclusions from the Church and public punishment. All this was done in order to persuade them that attending merry wakes was an act against god. Other punishments coming from the Church which appeared in the ‘Parish of Tydavnet, Co. Monaghan'[28] in 1832 provided “those who disobeyed the order would have to leave the choir”[29] and also perform “public repentance in church on a fixed Sunday”[30]. [...]

[...] How did the Church express itself against the tradition of the ‘merry wake' in Ireland? The merry wake was a significant element of the Irish folklore and it was also quiet common throughout Europe. The merry wake was perceived as a way to allow ordinary people to challenge the Church, even if they came to mass. However, the merry wake was condemned by the Church for various reasons. How did the Church express itself against the merry wake? Firstly, we will focus on what was the merry wake. [...]