The Pattern of Urlaur is an annual festival held on 4 August at Urlaur,
Kilmovee,
County Mayo since medieval times, to remember the
feast day of
Saint Dominic.
The Pattern
Patterns
A pattern is a regularity in the world, in human-made design, or in abstract ideas. As such, the elements of a pattern repeat in a predictable manner. A geometric pattern is a kind of pattern formed of geometric shapes and typically repeated li ...
were a traditional feature of rural Ireland, held to honour
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
s; "Pattern" being a corruption of "patron".
The Pattern of Urlaur is held near the ruins of Urlaur Abbey. The Abbey was founded around 1430 by the Anglo-Norman Nangle family for the
Dominicans, and was dedicated to St. Thomas Aquinas. It was built overlooking the banks of Loch Urlaur, but was destroyed in 1654 by Cromwellian soldiers.
Each year on 4 August, the traditional Feast Day of St Dominic, the people of the area gather to celebrate Mass in the "Abbey".
[Urlaur Pattern]
/ref> The annual 'Pattern Day' starts with a concelebrated Mass in the Abbey, followed by music, sports, novelty events etc.
At the Pattern, traditional food items can be purchased, like dilisk (duileasc), a seaweed.
Douglas Hyde's 1915 collection of ''Legends of Saints and Sinners'' contains a tale called "the Friars of Urlaur" that describes the difficulty they had with an evil spirit, disguised as a black boar, that dwelt in the Loch Urlaur.Elms, Lorna. "The Friars of Urlaur", Our Irish Heritage
/ref>
References
Festivals in Ireland
County Mayo
Summer events in the Republic of Ireland
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