One man's journey to bring a sacred flame to Ireland's fire festivals

Brian Keane meets a the man who sailed for nine months across the ocean to bring a sacred flame to Ireland in time for the autumn equinox

Cooking a feast for the residents of the Direct Provision centre at the Skellig Accommodation Centre in Cahersiveen.

The sacred fire sits on an iron pan atop three short legs. The Atlantic wind off Ballyheigue Beach in north Kerry rushes up the golf fairway nourishing the flames and blowing smoke into Darragh Carroll’s blazing red head and beard.

The 26 year old chef adds another log. ‘The biggest challenge is keeping the fire lit,’ he turns the massive wild salmon donated by the locals. A dozen surround him to observe the feast cooking in a manner not seen here in many years.

Nature-loving Darragh, first sparked the sacred flame at an ancient stone circle in Norway and has collected and chopped wood to feed this same fire every day for almost a year. The journey to carry and care for the fire - including nine months on a boat in the North Sea - has his large hands destroyed in burns, cuts and scars.

Darragh sailed 1500 nautical miles in this traditional Norwegian sailboat.

Meditating one night at the Norse pagan site, Darragh, a Dublin native, received a vision which was later interpreted to mission by a Viking druid: to rebalance Ireland’s natural energy by carrying a fire of abundant life from Norway to the Hill of Uisneach in Co. Westmeath, a Neolithic ceremonial and burial site considered the mythological and sacred heart of Ireland.

‘The spirit of the fire – a spirit of balance in an eco-system, and within life itself – can be carried and transplanted to a place of need,’ Darragh’s vision revealed.

Confident most modern problems, including the Covid pandemic, stem from our disharmony with nature, Darragh believes when he finally completes his quest by extinguishing the fire using water from holy Irish wells, the alchemy of uniting these sacred elements will spark nature’s abundant healing power into the heart of the land and its people.

He planned to hold that ceremony on the autumnal equinox, falling on September 22nd this year, when day and night are in near perfect balance. However, Darragh and his small band of chefs and fire-keepers, follow no set route to Uisneach, leaving it to generosity of the locals along the way – in return for a field to pitch their tents they’ll cook up a feast. This means the journey is taking longer than expected. Instead, he will mark the equinox with a banquet for the homeless in Limerick city.

At Kell's Bay, Darragh assembled a crew of chefs to join him for the second leg of his quest - transporting the flame by horse and trap to Uisneach

His new ceremonial date for extinguishing the fire at Uisneach is October 31st, Samhain – Ireland’s traditional fire festival celebrating the end of the harvest season. This ancient pagan religious holiday also marks the beginning of winter – the dark half of the year.

‘This year Ireland will need all the light she can get,’ Darragh says.

On November 15th 2019, in a leaky, traditional Norwegian sailboat usually manned by three, Darragh cast off alone to face the North Sea. He had only basic sailing experience but believed if he protected the sacred flame it would keep him safe.

His winter voyage of 1,500 nautical miles includes all the trademarks of timeless legend: brutal storms; shipwrecks; assistance from mysterious strangers; and all the while keeping the fire burning. Halfway home in late March, Darragh observed as Covid 19 and the subsequent lockdown, strangled Ireland and the entire world.

Self-isolating in the North Sea, Darragh watched RTÉ news on-line: eternal bulletins presenting hard-science dictating the need for facemasks, sterilisation, and disconnection, and the true purpose of his absurd calling made sense - to help restore hope through community and connection.

‘Journeying with a fire is like journeying with an ancient teacher,’ Darragh says, believing the dedication to care for the fire through endless trials has grounded him - giving him the skills and wisdom necessary to complete his mission.

Darragh prepares a feast at Valentia island. 

After nine months at sea he brought the sacred flame to ground on Valentia Island, Co. Kerry, just in time for Lunghnasa, one of the four fire festivals of the Celtic year. There he assembled a crew of chefs to join him for the second leg of his quest - transporting the flame by horse and trap to Uisneach.

The first week the fire was on land it ignited a feast for the community on Valentia Island and two more in Caherciveen, including one for the refuges at the Skellig Star Hotel and Direct Provision Centre. Strictly observing Covid 19 guidelines all proved very popular, especially with the elderly.

‘The older generation respond well to the idea of bringing a fire of hope and wellbeing,’ Darragh says. ‘Sharing food, telling stories, singing songs around a fire, this was once a way of life commonplace in Ireland and intuitively understood to be medicine for the soul,’ he divvies up the food between fifteen plates - salmon, beef, potatoes, broccoli and peas all prepared on the small bonfire.

Observing the scene, Lady Captain of the golf club, 59 year old Mary O’ Halloran says:

‘I haven’t seen anything like this in years – on the long summer nights when I was young girl we would cook our tea over the turf fire before getting back to work on the bog.’ 

Darragh arriving by pony and trap. 

Darragh, who has worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant, hopes one day to travel around Ireland in a bow-top gypsy wagon customised as an open kitchen. He wants to: ‘Bring people out into nature, offer them wild cooking, and give them wild experiences.’ The owner of the Ballyheigue Castle Golf Club invited him, his crew, his old horse and 19th century French buggy, to make camp for a few days and cook for the people of the seaside-town.

Beneath the ruins of the old Crosby castle – used as a prison during the War of Independence and subsequently burnt-out by the locals – Ballyheigue residents take their dinner and find a spot on the grass, carefully keeping two-meters apart.

‘This is a fire of hope - the light within us all,’ Darragh says. ‘Now, more than ever, we must rekindle that inner fire and keep her lit.’ In folklore, fire often represents transformation and rebirth. In these difficult times, mental health can suffer and our inner light can diminish. Darragh’s story, in all its enchanted innocence, flickers like a memory from our ancient and mystical past and can help rekindle that inner flame.

• You can follow the ongoing adventure on Facebook at Darragh Carroll, or Instagram at #Livelifesexy