All hail King Puck
To this day, historians dispute the exact origins of Ireland’s centuries-old Puck Fair Festival. Held annually from 10 to 12 August in Killorglin, a small town on the Laune River in southwestern Ireland, the festival is said to date to either the early 1600s, at the end of the Gaelic period, or the early 1650s, when Oliver Cromwell plundered Irish lands during the English Civil War. One of the more popular legends surrounding the festival’s start tells of a lone male goat that broke away from his herd at the foot of the MacGillycuddy Reeks mountain range, alerting the Killorglin villagers about the invading “Roundheads”, supporters of the English Parliament. Records show that the first acknowledgement of the celebrations lies somewhere in between: in 1613, King James I honoured the Killorglin fair in a charter. On the first day of the festivities, aptly named “Gathering Day”, volunteers called “goat catchers” capture a puck – a wild male mountain goat – and bring it back to town. The goat is then placed on a float decorated with purple heather and led into the centre of Killorglin during the Coronation Parade, where he is crowned as king to reign for three days. (Jeff Mauritzen/National Geographic Creative)


Yep, them's my peeps! Lol