Today's
version of the Irish Shillelagh is a walking stick or cane
but, to the ancient Irish, the shillelagh was their
weapon of choice. The Gaelic bata, or fighting stick,
would have been made from oak, blackthorn, ash or holly.
It was
actually an English writer who coined the term 'shillelagh'.
The original stick gets its name from the Shillelagh
Forest in County Wicklow, where the forest was once famous
for its
stands of fine oak trees. Most of them were cut down
and exported to Western Europe for furniture making and,
sadly,
there are few oak trees remaining in Ireland.
Sometimes
the knob on the end was hollowed out and filled with molten
lead, which was known as a 'loaded stick'.
However,
in shillelaghs made of blackthorn, the knob was actually
the root, and it would not have been necessary to load
it as it
could pack a significant wallop. The bark is left on
for added strength and a metal end is attached to the bottom.
During
the curing and drying process, sticks would be buried
in
a manure pile or smeared with fat and placed in the chimney.
The
shillelagh is not considered a symbol of Ireland, as such,
but a badge of honor for those who carried it.
Very young Irish
boys were exposed to the traditions of the bata and,
when they became of age, their stick represented passage
into manhood.
Many
young Irishmen practiced with their shillelaghs regularly,
as they needed to stay fit and agile with
their techniques.
While a father would have taught his son to always
hold the bata tightly to his chest, a Maighistir
Prionnsa or fencing
master, would teach the young man the finer points
of
fighting.
Irishmen
would take their shillelagh just about everywhere they
went, however, it was at a fair, a wake or a
feast day celebration that it was most needed.
Up until the
great famine
of the 1840's, faction fighting was always present
at most social gatherings. The factions were mostly
members
of certain
families, political groups or territorial gangs.
Sometimes the fights would consist of hundreds
of men; women
would participate by wielding a stocking filled
with stones.
After the 1840's,
the faction fights gradually died off and the last
recorded one was held at a fair in Co. Tipperary
in 1887.
Shillelagh
fights were not always of the faction variety. Some were
sporting events, while others
were provoked
just for fun.
These were friendly fights sometimes ending up
somewhat rough, although it was rare for a participant
to
need the aid of a
doctor.
If
you have a shillelagh made of oak, ash, holly or blackthorn,
you do indeed have an authentic
shillelagh. The short,
stubby ones sold in souvenir shops are not
real shillelaghs, especially
when they are tied with a green bow and have
a painted shamrock on them.
