The Penal Days and The Mass Rocks - 'An raibh tú ar an gCarraig?'
An Raibh tú ar an gCarraig?
This gem of a song is a precious part of our heritage. It comes to us from the Penal Days of the 18th century when priests and uilleann pipers were hanged on sight and there was a standing bounty of £5 for the head of a wolf - or of a priest. This story is accurate in every detail.
One day in the town of Carrick-on-Suir in Co. Waterford a priest, on his way back from a secret Mass at the Mass Rock, lost the wallet containing the Blessed Sacrament reserved. He wandered, apparently aimlessly, among the townfolk, singing, apparently to himself, these improvised words to a tune that was already very ancient: “An raibh tú ar an gCarraig, nó an bhfacaís féin mo ghrá?” Now any English or Protestant Irish who happened to know some Irish would have understood him to be singing “Were you at (the town of) Carrick, or have you seen my love?” But the natives, knowing him to be a priest and accustomed to the poetic ways of expression so common in the Irish language, knew he was asking them something very different. For Carraig is the Irish word for 'rock.' He was asking them: “Have you been at THE ROCK (Carraig = the Mass Rock) or have you seen the Body of Christ, my Beloved?” Here is how he continued:
An raibh tú ar an gCarraig, nó an bhfacaís féin mo ghrá?
Nó an bhfaca tú an ghile agus finne agus scéimh na mná?
Nó an bhfaca tú an t-úll ba chumhra is ba mhilse bláth?
Nó an bhfaca tú mo Vailintín, nó an bhfuil sí dá cloí mar ’táim?
Have you been at THE ROCK , or have you seen my Beloved?
Or have you seen the brightness and the clearness and the beauty beyond all women?
Or have you seen the (round white) apple, that was the most fragrant and sweetest of tasting?
Or have you seen my Valentine, or is she as downtrodden as I?
The good people of the townland understood the hidden meanings of the priest and went hunting for the round white Treasure, sweetest of tasting, in high road and the oft road: in the the lanes and fields and ditches. At length one man approached the priest, and sang these words to the same tune: –
Do bhíos-sa ar an gCarraig, is do chonac féin do ghrá!
Do chonac féin an ghile agus finne agus scéimh na mná.
Do chonac féin an t-úll ba chumhra is ba mhilse bláth.
Is do chonac féin do Vailintín, agus níl sí dá cloí mar ’táir.
Yes, I was at THE ROCK, and indeed have I seen thy Beloved!
Yes, I saw the brightness and the fairness and the beauty beyond all women.
Yes, I have seen the (round white) apple, most fragrant and sweetest of tasting.
And I have seen thy Valentine, and she is not as downtrodden as thou.
...and as he did so, he pressed a small brown wallet into the hands of the priest.