Donal Hickey: Never fear! The Puck King will return

Our feral goats descended from domestic populations brought here around 4,000 years ago.

Queen of 2019 Puck Fair Maeve McCarthy crowns a wild mountain as 'King Puck' on Gathering Day in Killorglin Co. Kerry. Picture: Don MacMonagle

In normal times, final preparations would have been made by now for one of the country’s most famous and oldest fairs. But, due to the pandemic, Puck Fair, in Killorglin, Co Kerry, has been cancelled for the second year running.

Believed by scholars to have its origins in pagan times when the goat was a symbol of fertility, the fair has this animal at its centre. A mountain goat is crowned King Puck and elevated to a high platform in the town square where it sits in a cage and presides over the shenanigans from August 10 to 12.