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

Natural Histories: The Nightshades

Natural Histories: The Nightshades

Listen to BBC Radio 4's programme, in partnership with the Natural History Museum, on this group of fascinating plants.

It is hard to think of a more diverse and wonderful group of plants. They enchant us, poison us, make us feel sexy, give us hallucinations, heal us and feed us.  The screaming mandrakes in Harry Potter and the shamanistic dreams of tribal elders eating giant trumpet flowers testify to the magical powers of this group.

Its culinary properties enhance the ever intricate flavours of modern cuisine while its fatal attractions have been used by murderers, most famously Dr Crippen.

This is the group that contains mandrake, potatoes, chillies, aubergines, deadly nightshade and tomatoes. These are the plants that have entered our culture through food and medicine, drugs and love.

It is strange that the European plants in the group are mainly poisonous yet those that grow in the New World are often spicy and enriching.

Fearing anything that looked like nightshade the first plants that were brought here from the New World were regarded with suspicion, yet quickly we adopted them, so much so that it is impossible to conceive of Italian food without tomatoes or Friday night fish and chips, yet they are aliens in a strange land. We have a lot to thank this group for.

It soothed us before anaesthetics, sent our imaginations flying and tempted us with alluring flavours - and they are still pushing the frontiers of both medicine and food today.

Tha fios fithich agad

The Craft of Scottish Witches

I have decided to treat myself and attend this lecture.  It has been such a long time since I been to Treadwells, and, well, the subject of Scottish Witches is of particular interest to me.

Samhain

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)

To Watch

I have added some videos to my "to be watched" list:

• Lá Fhéile Bríde – Detailing the lore and traditions associated with the festival that marks the first flourish of Spring
• Là na Caillich – The Day of the Cailleach in Scotland, which falls on March 25th and marks the beginning of the Cailleach’s rest period, until she reawakens in winter
• Bealtaine – Focusing on the traditions and customs of the festival of Summer
• Midsummer: Áine and Grian – Introducing the Midsummer traditions in Ireland, and the issue of solar deities in Gaelic tradition
• Midsummer: Manannán mac Lir – Taking a look at the Midsummer tradition of “paying the rent to Manannán mac Lir, which originates on the Isle of Man