Reigion in rural Ireland is, quite literally, as old as the hills and dates back to the Druids. The landscape is littered with abbeys, convents, churches, shrines and holy mountains. Many have taken on iconic status with much recounted stories attached to them. County Mayo is overflowing with sites to fascinate even the most hardened nonbeliever.
Our Lady procession
Millions of pilgrims visit to walk in the footsteps of the likes of Saint Patrick, Saint Joseph, John the Evangelist and the Blessed Virgin Mary whose effigy is everywhere.
You don’t have to be religious to put your hands on a structure that was considered sacred in 400AD and be moved by the experience (though I’m sure it adds a deeper dimension). It’s the fact that the land and its people have preserved them even when others have tried to pull them down that makes Ireland and the Irish singularly remarkable. And it is all done in a quiet and modestly understated way. Like a collection of beloved ancient