{"id":116507,"date":"2025-11-01T20:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T20:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/116507\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T20:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T20:01:08","slug":"at-the-sacred-centre-of-ireland-thousands-gather-as-manchan-magans-ashes-are-scattered-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/116507\/","title":{"rendered":"At the sacred centre of Ireland, thousands gather as Manch\u00e1n Magan\u2019s ashes are scattered \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the late Manch\u00e1n Magan<\/a>\u2019s books which composed his remarkable later output was Ninety-Nine Words for Rain and One for Sun. <\/p>\n

At the Hill of Uisneach in Co Westmeath<\/a> on Saturday, many of those rain-themed words he wrote of came to visit the crowd of some 2,500 people assembled for his month\u2019s memorial and scattering of his ashes. <\/p>\n

There was sleeting rain, sheeting rain, and rain turned to ice that fell in the form of furious hailstones.<\/p>\n

It was the most elemental of weather for those gathered there at Uisneach, the sacred centre of Ireland, to honour a man who chose to live his life woven tightly into nature. <\/p>\n

Throughout it all, among glowing green fields and the grey glint of a flooded pond, the crowd representing all ages stood steadfast. <\/p>\n

Those who came to walk up the hill were greeted first by being handed slices of bread and butter. The bread was made by Gerry Godley of Breadman Walking; in a tribute to Magan\u2019s much-toured show, Aran agus Im. Godley made the bread from some of Magan\u2019s own sourdough starter. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Manch\u00e1n Magan’s obituary Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\"AA rainbow appears at Month\u2019s mind for Manch\u00e1n Magan: Ashes and celebration of land and spirit, at the Hill of Uisneach, Westmeath. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill \"AA hawthorn bush with scores of pieces of cardboard, each with a word in Irish. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Halfway up the hill was a hawthorn bush, with scores of pieces of cardboard fluttering from it. Written on each was a word in Irish, with the English translation on the back. Spailp \u2013 surprise kiss. Long si \u2013 a phantom ship. Breacadh an lae \u2013 daybreak. <\/p>\n

In the huge field with its rustic bandstand decorated with oak boughs, Colm Mac Con Iomaire<\/a>, Liam \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed<\/a>, Fiachna \u00d3 Braon\u00e1in<\/a> and other musicians played traditional tunes. The hail finally stopped. Liam \u00d3 Maonla\u00ed sang the opening lines of I Can See Clearly Now the Rain has Gone, and the sodden crowd laughed and sang along. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis place has been a meeting place for centuries,\u201d David Clarke, the landowner, told the crowd. \u201cNow Manch\u00e1n\u2019s spirit will be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juli Malone, introduced as the Dingle Druid, addressed the crowd wearing a dark green velvet cloak. \u201cManch\u00e1n is with his ancestors now. He is an ancestor himself now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Month’sMonth\u2019s mind for Manch\u00e1n Magan. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

\"AislingAisling Rogerson scatters her late husband Manch\u00e1n’s ashes at his month\u2019s mind. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

Jo-Ann Saddleback, an elder of the North American First Nation, told people of her friendship with Magan. \u201cMy daughter had cancer too,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen she heard that Manch\u00e1n was soon going on his final journey, she said that the world would be less. It would be a less kind, generous, curious and gentle place.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of her tribute, Magan\u2019s wife, Aisling Rogerson, read an extract from the opening chapter of an as-yet unpublished book of his. \u201cSo many of us are feeling a stirring inside. A wish to reconnect to something deeper that our forebearer had, but which we may have lost … The best way of describing it is an impetus. An inner urging based on an uncertain sense that it is time to delve deeper into who and what we are. And reassert our connection to our ancestors, to the land and to the spirits that it holds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AislingAisling Rogerson , (Manch\u00e1n wife) and Ru\u00e1n Magan (brother) at the Hill of Uisneach. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

In the weeks before her husband died, Rogerson said, musician Steve Cooney wrote a piece for Magan and sent it to him. It was this tune, Planxty Manch\u00e1n Magan, that played as people were invited to start walking to the top of Uisneach, led by Rogerson and other members of Magan\u2019s family. <\/p>\n

At the top of the hill, drums played, a fire was lit and everyone fell silent. Magan\u2019s ashes were scattered in a circle, back to the Westmeath land he lived in so happily, and loved so well. Below, a double rainbow temporarily raised a benediction of two glowing arches. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the late Manch\u00e1n Magan\u2019s books which composed his remarkable later output was Ninety-Nine Words for Rain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[70000,93,69998,61,60,69999,24560,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-116507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-colm-mac-con-iomaire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fiachna-o-braonain","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-liam-o-maonlai","14":"tag-manchan-magan","15":"tag-westmeath"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}