The kingdom where the goat is king

Thousands descended on Killorglin, Co Kerry to see a goat crowned king and trade horses, stories and whatever else you’re having

Sunshine smiled on the coronation of the king of the Puck Fair in Killorglin, Co Kerry yesterday “for the first time in years”, according to compere Declan Mangan, as thousands thronged the town’s square to watch the spectacle.

Twelve-year-old Cassie O’Grady was the latest queen of the Puck Fair, crowning Billy, a mountain goat from Co Antrim, and marking the highlight of the first day of the centuries-old, three-day fair.

The rain clouds lifted earlier in the day to allow horse dealers to show off their stock, while marketers in the grand open-air bazaar along the streets plied a bewildering array of wares.

Shortly after 5pm, the crowds gathered to watch a community parade that ended with Cassie surrounded by a phalanx of classmates dressed in robes and then a bemused Billy flanked by two boys in Greek warrior costume. Following a welcome by Cassie in Irish, English, French and German, this year’s Kerry Rose, Karen McGillycuddy, sang a newly-composed song, Killorglin, instead of the usual An Poc Ar Buile.

Then Billy, a wild goat from Fair Head, was crowned. His ordeal was finally over when he was winched on top of a three-storey stage where he will watch over the proceedings and revelry for the next two days before being returned to his home pastures.

Along with farmers came tourists, day-trippers, traders and Travellers to buy or sell at the festival, or simply enjoy the street entertainers and on-street or pub live music.

At the one-day horse fair, now held on a field at the town’s edge, business was slacker, thanks to the recession.

Philip Coffey from Killarney was trying to sell a four-year-old half-bred Connemara. “Trading is very quiet compared to years before,” he said. “I am asking €2,000 and I am getting nothing near it. He has half brothers and half sisters that are proven jumping ponies.”

Most of the stock is made up of “cobs and trotters”, said John O’Brien from Cappamore, who was trying to sell a coloured donkey mare for €700. “It is very slow. The horse is a dying trade. However, Willie Cash from Wexford was pleased with his purchase of a Falabella miniature horse for €1,000 from an English seller.

But Puck has survived for centuries and even weathered the foot-and-mouth clampdown of eight years ago. Stories last month that the Puck Fair would be without its puck for the first time in centuries proved to be exaggerated but provided much publicity for an event that hardly needs any.

A four-day animal-welfare passport was originally issued for the goat, much too short for Billy to enjoy his reign and travel to and from Northern Ireland. A bureaucratic heave resulted in the passport being extended to 13 days.

“There were a lot of hoops to get through but we managed, we got there,” said Frank Joy, the only man in Ireland with the title “chief goat catcher”. He lent his expertise to Moyle District Councillor Seamus Blaney in capturing Billy on Fair Head as part of a greater 30-year-old, cooperative effort between three of the oldest fairs in Ireland, Ould Lammas in Ballycastle, Ballinasloe and Killorglin’s Puck.

“There is a skill attached to it,” said Joy. “We have a farm and I am used to handling animals but the puck is different. They are waiting to injure you no matter how long you have them. You can train them but you cannot tame them.”

This wild strain gives the song associated with the fair its name, An Poc Ar Buile, The Mad Billy Goat, and also one of the legends associated with the tradition: that a marauding Cromwellian army upset a herd of goats that, in turn, alerted the Killorglin townspeople to the danger.

But Declan Mangan, composer of the song Killorglin and festival committee chairman, believes Puck has its origins as “a Celtic, pagan, start-of-autumn festival.

“The abiding memory I have of why people go is the wonderful sense of levity and feeling of goodwill and a great atmosphere of fun and games,” said Mangan. “What makes Puck is the attitude of people towards each other. It is like that Christmas Day feeling. People feel very well behaved towards their fellow man.”

Mangan first took on the role of chairman in 1964. “Everything in Killorglin is measured before Puck or after Puck.” Back then, Travellers had their colourful barrel-topped wagons parked along the road while the farmers wore suits and a collar and tie.

“The main ingredient is still the very same: the parade with the goat and the crowning of the goat and people enjoying a Mardi Gras-type atmosphere for the three days. Killorglin people who don’t get home for Puck, they still celebrate the three days no matter where they are,” Mangan added.

For Gaelle Croisier, from Brittany but living in Cork, and her three friends visiting from home, the festival had a special flavour. “It is very traditional, very rural. It is another kind of tourism, countryside tourism.”