Crom Dubh

Crom Dubh (also called Crum Dubh or Dark Crom) is a figure from Irish myth and folklore, rooted in the earlier god Crom Cruach, who appears in the 12th-century dinnseanchas of Magh Slécht. The name translates from Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic as "black crooked one."

In one folktale, the saint Cainnech of Aghaboe spotted a group of demons flying past. He asked where they were going, and a demon replied that Crom Dubh had died and they were off to claim his soul. Cainnech told the demon to report back on how things went. Later, the demon returned, badly limping, and explained that just as they were about to seize the soul, Saint Patrick arrived with a host of angels and saints and drove them off. Crom Dubh’s good deeds had outweighed his sins.

Another story places the confrontation at Downpatrick Head in County Mayo. Saint Patrick came there to face Crom Dubh, who is described variously as a pagan chieftain, a god, a pirate, or a robber. Crom Dubh tried to hurl Patrick into an eternal fire, but Patrick drew a cross on a stone and cast it into the flames, creating Poll a' Sean Tine—the hole of the old fire. Patrick then drove Crom Dubh into his home, Dun Briste, and separated the rock from the mainland by striking the ground with his crozier. Downpatrick Head later became a site of ritual and pilgrimage during the Lughnasadh festival, much like Croagh Patrick. Alternate names for Crom Dubh in this area include Cormac Dubh, Geodrisg, Deodrisg, and Leodrisg. In other versions of the tale, Patrick banishes all of Ireland’s snakes to Dun Briste.

A different local folktale portrays Crom Dubh as a servant of Saint Patrick who gathered wood so the saint could cook for the needy. One day, on what became known as Crom Dubh Sunday, Crom Dubh interrupted Patrick during Mass to ask when the Sluagh Sidhe (the fairy host) would enter Paradise. Patrick replied that they would not go there until the Last Judgment. Before that day, people could leave their sickles in the corn and their spades in the ground, and the invisible Sidhfir would do the agricultural work. After that day, the Sidhfir would no longer help.

Crom Dubh Sunday (Dé Domhnaigh Crum-Dubh) was traditionally observed on the last Sunday of July or the first Sunday of August, also called Garland Sunday or Lammas Sunday. The gathering on this day was known as Comthineol Chruim Duibh, or the Congregation of Crom Dubh. Families would hold a feast of the first fruits, including new bacon, new cabbage, and new potatoes. Any man unable to provide food for his household was called a "wind farmer." Crom Dubh was understood as a god of sacrifice, and on Crom Dubh Sunday, celebrants left flowers at the Altóir na Greine, or Altar of the Sun. A festival called Buaile na Greine was held for several days around that Sunday on Mount Callan, featuring feasting, drinking, racing, hurling, singing, and dancing. This festival was later replaced by a Christian one dedicated to Saint Muchan, which included prayers at a holy well. The Altóir na Greine was destroyed by a farmer in the 1800s to build a wall, and its stones were later reused for other construction.