More Mead M’Lorad – Ireland’s Medieval Banquets
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The Earl of Thomond greets me and my two accompanying wenches — Carol and Mary — at the gate of Bunratty Castle. He points overhead: “If you misbehave hot oil will scald thee!” The Earl points down: “and you will fall through the trap door never to be heard from again!”
The medieval ages have returned to Ireland as the Earl of Thomond guides us up a serpentine stairway tunnel carved in the entrails of the limestone fortress, debouching into the Great Hall, or clan gathering place in the center of the Castle. The Ladies of the Castle await with warm medieval mugs of mead. A fire burns in the Great Hall pit. The Great Hall served as the gathering place for the great Celtic clans for over five hundred years. A harpist and violinist perform traditional Irish ballads as the ladies sing in cherubic synchrony. Each lady is replete with period costume, heavy purple, indigo, russet, burgundy, or maroon velvet gowns that move as gracefully as their lithe bodies.
Overhead hangs a huge ancient Great Irish Elk antler, extinct long before the Castle was built in 1425, but found in the local peat bogs, preserved because of the bog’s lack of oxygen.
A King and Queen of the medieval banquet are pulled from the visiting tourist crowd (maximum group during each banquet is 140) and they are seated on the royal throne. This hails “More Mead M' Lord!”, the fermented drink of choice, and the only fermented drink of choice, of the medieval ages. One of the Ladies of the Castle informs us that mead, made from honey, is served to newlyweds for a month, from one moon to the next, hence the name, “honeymoon!”
The Earl shouts, “More Mead!” The peasants respond: “Yes, More Mead M’ Lord.”
Thus begins a night of medieval debauchery, lecherous behavior, and gluttony.
The Clans gathered in the Great Hall.
The Castle Bunratty, often called Bunraite in ancient times, is the jewel of the west of Ireland, and the 26 acres surrounding the crenellated rectangular Keep, the finest of its type in Eire, includes a reconstructed Folk Park village. Such villages sprang up around castles, where the merchants, serfs, farmers, and peasants lived and supported the nobility with their wares and labors.
The Castle has two nightly banquets year around, but if you arrive in the summer you can take in the Ceili or traditional gathering with Irish music of the people that is as old as time. Ceili is a 18th/19th century Gaelic word meaning a gathering, coming together in the biggest barn in the district to sing, dance, and tell stories. At Bunratty Folk Park a Ceili is held every night from May to October. This is an evening of wild entertainment with a difference, no where else can you experience the fun of what the Irish do best — enjoy themselves.
Listen to the piper, fiddler, bodhran, singers, and watch the dancers weave the story of the tradition of the Celts. Enjoy home cooked food, excellent wine, and join in with song and dance. The Ceili is twice nightly (subject to demand), at 17:30 and 20:45. If you arrive at the Castle in early July you will see costumed knights on the grounds, cooking traditional foods, displaying superb swordsmanship, and fighting over the local and beautiful wenches.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park represent a microcosm of Irish history. At one end is the Castle, built in 1425 by the MacNamara Clan; the history of this beautiful building stretches over 500 years of turbulence. However, it was the Vikings who first set up a trading post in Bunratty in 950 AD. There have been four castles on the site. The Castle was acquired by the Anglo-Irish Studdart family in 1720, which lived there until the 19th century when they abandoned the Castle and built Bunratty House, which stands on a hill on the opposite end of the Folk Park.
It was in 1954 that Lord Gort purchased the Castle and restored it to its present and splendid condition. The huge stones under my feet in the Great Hall are not the original slabs, but imported from a villa in Italy, but from the same era. When Lord Gort purchased the Castle there was no roof and rain had pitted the floor. He also installed the finest collection of medieval furniture in the country, thereby preserving a vital part of the Celt past and heritage of County Clare. This is a living classic castle, with the period furniture, tapestries, and works of art on display. The reasons for tapestries were to cut down on the cold, winter draughts. In ancient days all merchants and noblemen filled their homes with wine, furniture, and iron from Spain and France, tapestries and bronze dishes from the Netherlands, leather and cloth from Germany and Italy, and spices from the Levant. Irish furniture and furnishings have vanished from castles and homes over the centuries. Only three or four Irish pieces dating to pre-1600 still exist, two of which are in Bunratty Castle.
Bunratty Castle stands on the former island of Tradaree, a spur of the beautiful Shannon River, the longest in Europe at 200 miles, still flowing in the vale in front of the Castle. During my afternoon visit to the Castle the views of the Shannon from the tower slit windows and battlements are magnificent, with cows grazing peacefully like they did hundreds of years ago in green lushness.
I think how great it would be to live in a castle, until I see one of the dank, smelly bedrooms, and think of the pests, lack of running water, and general unsanitary conditions. Even the Earl of Thomond slept on hay stuffed beds, so hence the term, hitting the hay!
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By Kriss Hammond, Editor, Jetsetters Magazine – Visit www.jetsettersmagazine.com
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Kriss Hammond, Editor, Jetsetters Magazine - Join the Travel Writers Network in the logo at www.jetsettersmagazine.com