Muff Fair is still magnet for visitors

The annual horse fair at Muff, just outside Kingscourt, is said to be the oldest traditional fair in the country and dating back to the twelfth century. It seems it was as popular as ever as crowds turned out and the sun shone for the 2010 fair last Thursday. Its reputation stretches far and wide with even the Wall Street Journal in New York expressing an interest in the event this year. What was once a week-long event is now confined to one day at the crossroads in the hamlet close to the east Cavan town. Stallholders arrive from all over the country to offer their wares on the approach roads to the fair, though where once many would have arrived in horse-drawn caravans, now the mode of transport tends to be mobile homes. Muff Fair is primarily an opportunity for selling horses and ponies. They came from as far away as Connemara to show off their ponies and make a sale, while enjoying the annual holiday, where the magic of one of the oldest fairs in Ireland was still evident and the good weather helped to swell the crowd. The fair has taken place in mid-August every year for 400 years. There used to be countless such fairs all over Ireland. From across the country, horse owners, from professional traders to the local smallholder with his trusty old mare, would gather over a drink or two, to negotiate terms and exchange a few observations on the state of the world. The Fair of Muff began in 1608, it is said, when King James I approved a licence to trade horses to a local merchant. The details may have changed over four centuries but the central plot and characters surely haven't. The real business here is the horse trading and hardy men ponder the transaction. It's fascinating to observe how the theatre of the trade hasn't changed much. Horse buyers and sellers gather here to strike deals, with the prospective buyer is peering into nostrils and inspecting the farrier's work. The event is famous for its old-style haggling and deal-making such as sellers giving a "luck penny" to the buyers. Muff Fair is conducted on the conventional carnival style, retaining much of its traditional popularity and continues to attract a large crowd. The Fair of Muff is one of the great traditional horse fairs in Ireland. It takes place in the townland of Muff near Kingscourt in County Cavan. Traders line the roads and serve sweets and snacks to the fair goers. From the mid-1900s the fair took place on one day only and the only livestock for sale were horses. The fair is also a special occasion for people from the travelling community. Last Thursday Muff was thronged with excited and expectant hordes of fun-seekers, bargain-hunters and social beings. They came from far and near. The fair has lost none of its originality with lovers of equines from the four provinces having assembled early with their horses, ponies and donkeys in a quite spectacular shop window display of a facet of Irish life not widely known to many Irish people of the current generation. There was a fine selection of animals at the show with full horses (stallions), mares, geldings, ponies, donkeys all looking resplendid in the warm morning sun. Cobs, trotters and hunters, full breds and half breds - all in great numbers, all standing stoically at this annointed spot where their ancestors would also have been shown down the previous four centuries. The fine weather facilitated the carnival atmosphere with all approaches to the crossroads and nearby fields lined with trade stands selling clothes, toys, tools, you name it. Muff Fair is a family day out for people from a wide catchment area. While it is primarily a horse fair, there are an array of other creatures for sale such as exotic pet rabbits, puppies, hens, chickens, guinea pigs and such like - all being petted and stroked by scores of children. Fairs like Muff have traditionally been very important events in the social calendar of the community and in more recent times have evolved to cater for a diverse cross section of people. This fair affords a great opportunity for rural and urban dwellers to mingle and enjoy a day out, while at the same time having an opportunity to appreciate all that is best in rural life in Ireland and a glimpse of days past.