Mac na hÓige Slán – The Son of the Virgin is Safe

Mac na hÓige Slán – The Son of the Virgin is Safe
A popular tradition in Ireland is that when the cock crows on Easter Sunday
morning it says; Mac na hÓige Slán – The Son of the Virgin is safe!
This phrase comes from a legend which says that the soldiers who were
standing guard at the foot of the cross on which Christ was crucified were
cooking a cock for their supper. When Jesus had taken his last breath one
soldier said to the other ‘ they say he will rise again’. The other soldier
answered ‘ He will no more rise again than that cock will come out of this pot’.
At that moment the cock which they were cooking rose from the pot alive again
and crowing ‘ Mac na hÓige Slán’ – The Son of the Virgin is Safe’. The
image of the cock rising from the pot is found on all Irish Penal crosses and
remains a symbol of the Resurrection in the Gaelic tradition.