Halloween comes home: New 'Púca' festival could attract 100,000 visitors

Fáilte Ireland is investing €1.5 million in a festival bringing Halloween back to its roots, reports Pól Ó Conghaile

Read more here.

Sheelah's Day

"Halloween in Irish Folklore" by Irish Archaeology

"Halloween in Irish Folklore", a blog, by Irish Archaeology, filled to the brim with excerpts, and well worth the reading:

"These folklore accounts detail some of superstitions and festivities which once surrounded Halloween in Ireland. They are based on information supplied by schoolchildren to the Irish Folklore Commission in the late 1930s."

Halloween by Dúchas.ie

A downloadable presentation:

"From earliest recorded history in Ireland, Halloween (All Hallows Eve), or Oíche Shamhna was considered a turning point in the calendar. 

Samhain (November 1st), meant the start of winter, when cattle were brought down from summer pastures, tributes and rents paid, and other business contracted.

Samhain, marks the close of the season of light and the beginning of the dark half of the year, and was therefore perceived as a liminal moment in time when movement between the otherworld and this world was possible. ... "

Déithe na Spéire | Baile | Seinnteoir | TG4

A Science/History documentary from TG4 gives viewers a revolutionary new insight into Ireland's ancient sites: Déithe na Spéire | Baile | Seinnteoir | TG4

Irish Myths: The Children of Lir

Irish Myths: The Children of Lir

Today we have a featured story from The Emerald Isle, and Dee Dee Chainey talks to Ronan Burke, who runs the website – a great place to find stories of Ireland and its legends! - See more at: Folklore Thursday

Today we have a featured story from The Emerald Isle, and Dee Dee Chainey talks to Ronan Burke, who runs the website – a great place to find stories of Ireland and its legends! - See more at: http://folklorethursday.com/myths/the-children-of-lir/#sthash.MoSpAuKi.uDww3Ny2.dpuf

Today we have a featured story from The Emerald Isle, and Dee Dee Chainey talks to Ronan Burke, who runs the website – a great place to find stories of Ireland and its legends! - See more at: Folklore Thursday

Today we have a featured story from The Emerald Isle, and Dee Dee Chainey talks to Ronan Burke, who runs the website – a great place to find stories of Ireland and its legends!

Read it here: Folklore Thursday.

In Search of the Irish Dreamtime: Archaeology and Early Irish Literature by JP Mallory review

"In Search of the Irish Dreamtime: Archaeology and Early Irish Literature" a review by JP Mallory.

JP Mallory describes this book as a companion to his The Origins of the Irish,
from 2013, in which he sketched the emergence in the early medieval
period of a people who were recognisably Irish. In that book he briefly
examined the legendary history of Ireland as written down in
early-medieval times by clerical scholars who prized the vernacular
traditions of poetry, myth and legend and gave them an honoured place
side by side with the Latin learning of the church.

 He returns to that subject in this latest valuable study written in his characteristic accessible and witty style.

Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks: 1969 – The Táin, by Thomas Kinsella and Louis le Brocquy

The poet and the artist collaborated to produce a blunt, muscular reimagining of the Ulster legend of the Cooley cattle raid 

One of the odder effects of the explosion of youth culture in the 1960s and early 1970s was what might be called a second Celtic Revival in Ireland. In the search for an alternative, anti-establishment aesthetic, the notion of a pre-Christian “Celtic” world promised a kind of authenticity that dovetailed with the international counterculture. It manifested itself in everything from jewellery to the graphic art of Jim Fitzpatrick (see 1968) to the invention of “Celtic rock”. 

This interest in turn gave an unexpectedly contemporary energy to one of the most prestigious high-art projects of the era: the collaboration between the poet Thomas Kinsella and the painter Louis le Brocquy (see 1951) on a translation of the old Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley).

The Táin is the centrepiece of the Ulster Cycle of legends, describing the mythic conflict that erupts when Queen Medb of Connacht invades Ulster to capture its most prized treasure, a great brown bull. Ulster is defended by its youthful champion, Cúchulainn.

Read the entire article at The Irish Times.

 

 

The Prophecy of the Morrígan - Badb's Prayer for Peace

Quote in relation to Fairies on the Hunt

“The fairies often go out hunting. In the calm summer evening the faint sound of tiny horns, the baying of hounds, the galloping of horses, the cracking of whips, and the shouts of the hunters may be distinctly heard, whilst their rapid motion through the air occasions a noise resembling the loud humming of bees when swarming from a hive.” 

 

—	Excerpt From: Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory), 1847-1917. “Traces of the elder faiths of Ireland; a folklore sketch; a handbook of Irish pre-Christian traditions.” London, New York and Bombay : Longmans, Green, and co., 1902. (via sachairimaccaba)

Quote on Libations

“A libation of some of the thick new milk given by a cow after calving, if poured on the ground, more especially in the interior of a rath or fort, is supposed to appease the anger of the offended fairies. Before drinking, a peasant will in many cases, spill a small portion of the draught on the earth, as a complimentary libation to the good people.”

—	Excerpt From: Wood-Martin, W. G. (William Gregory), 1847-1917. “Traces of the elder faiths of Ireland; a folklore sketch; a handbook of Irish pre-Christian traditions.” (via spiritualbrainstorms)

Quotation regarding the Morrigan

“At first glance the fertility aspect of the Morrigan does not seem as evident. It is an essential part of her character, however. Celtic goddesses combine destructive characteristics with those of nurturing, sexual power, and fertility. Although the juxtaposition seems strange, there is logic in it. Since the goddess is to preserve the tuath, she must be able to protect it in war as well as to provide it with the fruits of the earth, and increase both its cattle and people.” 

 

Clark, Rosalind. “Aspects of the Morrigan in Early Irish Literature.” Irish University Review 17.2 (Autumn 1987): 228-229, JSTOR. (via diary-of-demosthenes).

The Waves of Manannán mac Lir, the Irish God of the Sea

Author:  Charles W. MacQuarrie
ISBN: 1907945296 / 9781907945298



Why did I read it?  I was searching out a reasonably priced copy of "The Biography of the Irish God of the Sea from the Voyage of Bran (700 A.D.) to Finnegans Wake (1939): The Waves of Manannán" by Charles W. MacQuarrie when I stumbled upon this children's book by the Isle of Man based publishers, Lily Publications Limited.   Given there are few books out there for children on the Irish myths - most are out of print and hard to come by - I thought I should like to read it.


What's it about? This collection of stories about Manannán mac Lir has been translated and freely adapted by the author with the intention of being suitable for children. In these stories Manannán serves as a tester, and a teacher to the mortals he encounters. Sometimes he appears as a nobleman, and sometimes as a churl; sometimes he imparts his wisdom gently, and sometimes gingerly; sometimes he teaches philosophy, and sometimes good manners, but he always seems to have the best interests of civilization at heart.

What did I like?  Although this collection is aimed at children, I found it difficult to discern which age group.   The book is a very quick read, containing four tales, along with intermittent illustrations in the form of watercolours.  It took me less than an hour to read all 54 pages, even with distractions. The stories are heavily condensed, and easily digestible on the whole.  

What didn't I like?  There is a mix of English dialects within the text: American, English, and Irish, and I found this somewhat jarring, along with some obvious editorial mistakes, and strange, seemingly out-of-place sentences, which might be the result of translation issues(?).   I also struggled with one or two words in the text, though I fortunately had an online dictionary nearby.   Two, consecutive tales where Manannán meets Finn may have parents answering some awkward questions about how Finn can end up dead in the first story, but walking in the forest on the next page, in the next tale as though nothing has happened.

Would I recommend it? Yes.  It's a rarity.  However, I do so with the caveat of not knowing for which age group the material is suitable.

Rating: 4.5/5

Single, pagan and resident in the UK?

If so, and you are a member of Facebook, a new group where you can mingle has just been started, a break-away from a rather successful, and fun international group for single pagans.   If it follows in its international parent's footsteps, UK Pagan Dating will be a sociable group rather than just a hook-up and/or dating site, i.e. there is not a lot of pressure to find "the one", but to mingle and get to know other singles, perhaps even meet up at various events.

The UK Pagan Dating group is not linked, or affiliated in any way to any dating sites, and there is no fee, or payment to be made.  Just turn up, have fun, and play nice.

So, if you are, or know someone who is single (or even in a relationship but perhaps poly-amorous), and a member of Facebook, and living in the United Kingdom, though I imagine anyone in the Republic of Ireland would also be very welcome, consider the UK Pagan Dating. 

The more the merrier!

Quote on Manannán mac Lir

Greatest of all the water spirits, the sea god, Manannan mac Lir, has occasionally appeared, usually on some errand of mercy on the coast of Co. Mayo and he, or his son (or double), Oirbsen, of Loch Oirbsen (Loch Corrib), on the coast of Galway Bay. He has sometimes come to warn of the approach of a storm.

No doubt the pagan ancestors of the shore dwellers, worshipped him of old; and his reverence lingered when his. godhead was forgotten. The people live by the gifts of the sea, its fish, timber and seaweed, so naturally the gracious side of the-god was most felt, but there are also suggestions that his fierce cruelty was once felt. Anything that falls into the sea should not be retrieved : a hat blows off and Aran boatmen have refused to go after it.

A curious ceremony where young men naked on horseback are driven into Galway Bay and for some time kept from coming to land is very suggestive of a symbolic sacrifice. I am told that this has been in use near Spiddal, to. the west of Galway, in very recent years. Some fifty years ago I heard from Lord Kilannin that his father and others had to go to the rescue of some shipwrecked men whom the peasantry would neither help nor permit to land.

His relatives were eagerly warned of the disasters to which they might be liable for saving anyone from the sea.  

~ Journal of Folklore (via echtrai).

Quote on Irish Fairy Lore

"If an oat-cake be baked and left for the next day it should have a piece broken out of it, and should not remain whole, because if the fairies came in the night and saw a whole cake they would surely take it, but they would not touch a broken one, or take your leavings."

"This has now come to be applied to all cakes. Many of the old people used to leave potatoes ready cooked and pieces of bread for them of a night. In the morning these were given to the fowls and never eaten by the people of the house, because since it is, as it were, the spiritual part of the food that is taken, it would not be known whether the fairies had touched it."

"If milk be spilt no annoyance should be expressed, but you should say: "There’s a dry heart waiting for it," since the Good People may have been Awanting it, and caused it to be spilt."

"Should one come out of a house at night whilst eating, a portion should be thrown on the ground for the fairies"

— Folklore Journal, notes on Irish fairy lore. (via charlottesarahrichards)

A Repost

I kind of felt the need to reblog one of my own posts from 2011:  "9th Century Irish Myth and the Internet".   It came to mind after witness several (non-)discussions on internet groups.

~¦~

I read this and thought it needed reblogging, because it is an inspired connection between the Irish myth and the internet of today.

From Mo Thearmann:

This always comes to mind when I see people acting like idiots online. It's from Tecosca Cormaic (The Instructions of King Cormac).

"O Cormac, grandson of Conn", said Carbery, "What is the worst pleading and arguing?"

"Not hard to tell", said Cormac.
"Contending against knowledge,
contending without proofs
taking refuge in bad language
a stiff delivery,
a muttering speech
hair-splitting
uncertain proofs,
despising books
turning against custom
shifting one's pleading
inciting the mob
blowing one's own trumpet
shouting at the top of one's voice."

Irish Pagan Culture: Witchcraft, Wicca, Druidry - Presentation at UCC

"The Curse of Macha"

Big Chris Lennon of Belfast-based Digital Mist Productions will begin shooting his brainchild ‘The Curse of Macha’ this August, a feature-length production inspired by ancient Irish myths and legends including the ‘Táin Bó Cúailgne’. The film is currently in pre-production based on the screenplay Chris co-wrote with Paul Micheal.

In all seriousness though, the story is set during 4th Century Ireland and focuses on a woman named Emer who is forced to face the horror of her missing children when her village is set ablaze amid an invasion.

Source:  Bad Haven.

Change of Address

As readers of this blog may have noticed, the url address has changed.  It is now located at http://www.ancestral-gael.com/  So, why the change?

Over the last few years, I have been refining my polytheist leanings and focussing on one particular area, more particularly polytheist traditions of the highlands of Scotland.  Also, I continued to undertake genealogical research, discovering the majority of my ancestors originate from the south-west of Ireland, but also, it seems there are links to Scotland and the Northern Ireland plantation settlers.   In light of this, I felt I better understood the pull that the north-west, particularly Wester-Ross, has on me. 

I also attempted to learn Scots Gaelic, was forced to take a break shortly after I started, but I hope to return to it.   I also started reading blogs and books by Gaelic Polytheists and felt this better suited me, too.  To that end, I still  read around Irish and other related myths, and I continue to learn more about Irish witchcraft traditions as there is very little on the polytheist and magical practices of Gaelic Scotland, presumably because it is thought the language, and culture(?) originated with northern Irish settlers/invaders some time in the fourth century [correct me if I am wrong].

In all this, I learned that the word "celtic" was generally applied only to the languages, and not necessarily the modern cultures most people refer to when they use the word.  So, I decided "gael" was a more appropriate word to apply to my user name.   It has taken some time to make the change - it's never as easy as you think - and change links, domains, email, etc.  The look and appearance of this blog have not changed because that is simply too technical for me, and I'm just not that creative.

My hope is that this doesn't inconvenience readers, and followers of this blog too much; and I hope, too, that the change is understandable.