Day One?

Day one… Wow, what an incredibly exhausting… day…? Two days…? First experience of this pilgrimage. We safely landed in Dublin and were driven by our kind driver, Michael, to a tour of a 5,000-year-old stone structure, which was built, according to the tour guide, either as a potential worship space, or a tomb. Despite the misty weather, the tour was quite enjoyable. It was interesting, and the structure was incredible. It was amazing to see that a structure made entirely of stacked stones could still be standing after little to no alterations to the original structure itself.

                Whilst in the fortitude of stone, we were informed by our guide that the people who built the structure enabled natural light to seep in, which seemed impossible given that the only chamber in the structure was about 30 feet from the entrance, and was at a higher elevation than the entrance itself due to the natural slight inclination of the hill on which the structure was built. The entrance was built as to face the same point on the horizon from which the sun rises on December 21^st, allowing the natural light to get in a small hole above the door, called the “roof box”, which, because of its position above the entrance, is exactly ground level with the floor of the large chamber. The sun, of course, was not shining, due to the clouds which brought rain and mist, also, it is not December 21^st, but during repairs to the structure, electric lights that aligned with where the sunlight would be were installed in the tunnel so that the event could be reproduced. It surprised me that even deep within the darkness of the stone structure, natural light could still shine through, even if only for 17 minutes.

                After the tour, we headed to the Causey Farm, where we were greeted by the lovely Maria, who accompanied us for the duration of our time at the farm. The point of this pilgrimage is for us, the pilgrims, to be together and experience God together through what we do and how we do it. We did not do anything complicated or out of the ordinary. Well, at least not for farmers in Ireland… But I believe that God worked through Maria, and enabled us to become more united in performing simple tasks. She brought us together and helped us to understand that God was with us as we grew closer. Maria welcomed us, taught us, lead us, and even broke bread with us (perhaps quite literally), and through her, I saw God working to bring all of us together in one place to work together and grow stronger in our spiritual fellowship. Upon arriving at the farm, we baked Irish soda bread, which we would eat later, with other food. We milked a cow named Ursula, and we caught chickens. We held puppies, and we hopped fences to hang out with pigs. We fed horses and donkeys, and we pet calves. Amidst all of the activity, we ate our bread, accompanied by cheese, chutney (made by Maria), scones (also made by Maria), and had tea and coffee. After our rejuvenation, we changed into our throw-away clothes and headed for the bog… I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew what a bog was, and I knew what peat was, but I never expected that hurling ourselves into a large pool of it could be fun. However, it may have turned out to be the favorite part of most of the pilgrims’ day. It was messy, dirty, and downright fun, and the important part was that we experienced it together. I can definitely feel that bonds between us are growing stronger and we are learning how to be together, learn together, work together, and worship together as young, fervently wild youth should.

 After the bog jumping, we returned to the farm to have a dance lesson. It went surprisingly well. We managed to all get the steps down pretty well, but there is always one in every group that gets a little too excited with anticipation… After dancing, we received some instruction on how to play the bodrhán, which is a flat, circular drum played with a stick. When it comes to growing closer in fellowship, there is nothing quite like experiencing and making music with one another. All of this, aided by the hands of Maria, was a good way to revert back to a simpler lifestyle in which God can be felt simply by doing some labour, or making some music… Or even jumping into a bog repeatedly. We were taught today to appreciate God’s work of bringing us closer to one another by being together through various activities. Beginning this journey in this way shows us that the next 9 days can only promise better things as we grow stronger in our faith, and go together in love.

Alex Hodges