The gate of the year

Figure on the left:

Statue in oak wood of Saint Gobnait, dating to the XIII century, in the Church of Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland. The statue is still nowadays exhibited on the altar of the Church on the day of the feast of the Saint, on February 11. In that day it is customary to take “Gobnait’s Measure”, that is hold a length of blue ribbon against the statue: the ribbons are afterwards taken with the worshipers to their home, where they are kept for their healing properties.
According to legend, Saint Gobnait fled from her family, due to the feud which ravaged her country and took refuge in the Aran Islands. But here the vision of an angel admonished her to leave and to look for a place where she should have seen nine white deer grazing. When she came to the place, which was called St. Gobnait’s Wood, she established a convent and became its abbess. According to tradition, the Saint dedicated herself to bee keeping, and she sent also a swarm of bees against a brigand who had stolen cattle, compelling him to give back what he had subtracted. In the sacred place there was a well, around which popular tradition narrated that sometimes it was possible to see the apparition of a white stag.

[Image: http://www.voicesfromthedawn.com/ballyvourney/]

Figure on the right:

Statue of Saint Gobnait, dating to the 1950s, near the Church of Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland. The decoration of the base represents bees, remembering the legend of the Saint and is associated with the healing properties of the holy place, where according to tradition the abbess cured the sick with the honey of her bees.
In the medieval treatises, the bees were admired for their capacity to live in ordered communities and for their industriousness. One characteristic of them remained however mysterious: it was believed that these insects did not mate and remained virgin for their entire life. How was it possible, then, that they reproduced themselves in such amount? The answer was that the bees were born from the carcasses of bovines: when the blood of the dead animal had been well fermented, worms came out of it, which afterwards turned into bees. In a similar way, the hornet and the bumblebee were born from dead horses and mules (Pastoureau 2012, p.277). Thus, it seems that the bee represented the life which emerges from death, the vital force that unendingly regenerates itself. Furthermore, the honey produced by the bees had therapeutic properties: it was employed to alleviate throat irritation and, smeared like a balsam, could heal many wounds.

[Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballyvourney]




Animals

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Figure on the left: Statue in oak wood of Saint Gobnait, dating to the XIII century, in the Church of Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland. The statue is still nowadays exhibited on the altar of the Church on the day of the feast of the Saint, on February 11. In that day it is customary to take “Gobnait’s Measure”, that is hold a length of blue ribbon against the statue: the ribbons are afterwards taken with the worshipers to their home, where they are kept for their healing properties. According to legend, Saint Gobnait fled from her family, due to the feud which ravaged her country and took refuge in the Aran Islands. But here the vision of an angel admonished her to leave and to look for a place where she should have seen nine white deer grazing. When she came to the place, which was called St. Gobnait’s Wood, she established a convent and became its abbess. According to tradition, the Saint dedicated herself to bee keeping, and she sent also a swarm of bees against a brigand who had stolen cattle, compelling him to give back what he had subtracted. In the sacred place there was a well, around which popular tradition narrated that sometimes it was possible to see the apparition of a white stag. [Image: http://www.voicesfromthedawn.com/ballyvourney/] Figure on the right: Statue of Saint Gobnait, dating to the 1950s, near the Church of Ballyvourney, County Cork, Ireland. The decoration of the base represents bees, remembering the legend of the Saint and is associated with the healing properties of the holy place, where according to tradition the abbess cured the sick with the honey of her bees. In the medieval treatises, the bees were admired for their capacity to live in ordered communities and for their industriousness. One characteristic of them remained however mysterious: it was believed that these insects did not mate and remained virgin for their entire life. How was it possible, then, that they reproduced themselves in such amount? The answer was that the bees were born from the carcasses of bovines: when the blood of the dead animal had been well fermented, worms came out of it, which afterwards turned into bees. In a similar way, the hornet and the bumblebee were born from dead horses and mules (Pastoureau 2012, p.277). Thus, it seems that the bee represented the life which emerges from death, the vital force that unendingly regenerates itself. Furthermore, the honey produced by the bees had therapeutic properties: it was employed to alleviate throat irritation and, smeared like a balsam, could heal many wounds. [Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballyvourney]