The Skelligs Michael (the bigger of the two islands) was a place of pilgrimage and penance for many years. In the 16th century it was a prime place of public penance. Two centuries later pilgrims were coming from all over Europe and Ireland at Easter-time to say the stations of the cross before finally kissing a stone carving over-hanging the sea at the ‘Needles Eye’.

Many tales have been told about various pilgrims to the island; some funny, others serious, but all interesting. Over the years the nature of the pilgrims changed dramatically. The religious ceremonies were now almost attended entirely by girls and young men eligible for marriage. These couples instead of fasting went to the Skelligs to court, dance and have a good time. These goings on lead to the famous ‘Skelligs List’ which were both defamatory and humorous poems common all over Kerry and beyond in the 19th and early 20th century. Many of these poems can now be seen in the Archives of the Dept., of Irish Folklore in U.C.D.