Reek Sunday climb: Why Croagh Patrick still draws pilgrims despite Ireland’s secular shift

Pilgrims of all ages are expected to scale Croagh Patrick this weekend, continuing a 1,600-year-old tradition of faith and resilience

A pilgrim walks fifteen times round the church in a clockwise direction as part of the second station on the sumit of Croagh Patrick for The annual Reek Sunday Pilgrimage which returned to the traditional format as pilgrims from all over Ireland came to make the climb of Ireland’s holy mountain. Pic: Michael Mc Laughlin

Come rain, hail, or shine on Sunday, thousands of people will take to one of Ireland’s most well-known mountains to undertake the annual pilgrimage known as the Reek.

For more than 1,600 years, pilgrims have gathered at Croagh Patrick near Westport, Mayo, to climb the mountain as part of a spiritual and religious journey over 2,502ft. Known as Ireland’s "Holy Mountain", the peak attracts people of all ages year after year — despite Ireland’s increasingly secular society.