Wild Irish Stags

Slí nua - A new way

I've been to my fair share of stags. I've danced on the tables, seen the strippers, sang it out with the best of them and stayed in the dingey hotel rooms.

But something was always missing.

It felt as though some people in the group just didn't belong.

It felt as though the stag was never honoured for the gravity of his transition.

The friendship was never acknowledged. The death of the single man never spoken about. A space worthy of the mans greatness never created.

A great friend contacted me a while ago wondering about the possibilities of hosting something for his best mate. There'd be cans and there'd be craic, but there'd also be something more, an acknowledgement, a chance to communicate with the stag, man to man.

We played hurling dressed up in flowery dresses and bonnets worthy of Ladies Day at the Galway races, but the hurling was intense. We retreated to a fire and we gave them the chance, over a glass of 12 year old scotch, to mark the moment. Every man stood their ground and the stag had the go ahead from his tribe of brothers.

From here Wild Irish Stags was born, an opportunity to have at least a small part of the day set aside to mark the transition, to honour the rite of passage. Be it a whole day of activities or just one small part of it, there are few things I've enjoyed as much as curating a Wild Irish Stag.