It was gloriously sunny in Ireland today so I decided to take myself out for
a drive. I’d read in Cary Meehan’s Sacred
Ireland about a Sheela-na-gig on St. Munna’s Church, north east of Mullingar and about an hour
away from Athlone. The book instructed
me to “turn right in Crookedwood” and I found it easily.
Meehan says, “Munna is the local name for St. Fintan who founded a monastery
here in the 6th century. The present medieval church sits inside a
circular bank which would originally
have enclosed the monastery. “ She says that the Sheela-na-gig was
probably taken from another building, and goes on to describe it: “It looks like
the lower part of the sculpture has been broken off. Her face is broad with a
wide grinning mouth and broad nose. Her eyes are small circular depressions and
above them are two more depressions that give the appearance of another pair of
eyes. Her hands are displaying here
abdomen rather than her vulva, and there is another small depression lower down
the body, perhaps a navel.”
I don’t agree with Meehan’s reading of it, as I’ve seen Sheela’s holding
open vulvas that took up the whole central part of the body. That small depression below could be a
representation of the anus. Her mouth looks much more like a grimace than a
grin to me – she seems to be baring her teeth.
Too much information? Ah, well . .
.if you’d like more there’s a decent overview on Wikipedia. I’m most convinced by the idea that they are
representations of the Cailleach, the goddess in her hag aspect, whose presence
above doorways serves as a boundary marker.
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