Search


Blúiríní Béaloidis 02 - May Day Folklore
The first of May is marked in Ireland (and across Europe more broadly), as a day on which the summer is welcomed in; where garlands of...


Bealtaine, Fairies, and the Pleiades
In a previous post I wrote about the connection between our concepts of the similar patterns which appear throughout the universe,...


Blúiríní Béaloidis 08 - Wind & Storms In Folk Tradition
Owing to their impact on human affairs, weather occurrences of all sorts were a source of preoccupation for our forebears, who would look...


Blúiríní Béaloidis 12 - St. Patrick In Folk Tradition
The 17th of March sees countries the world over celebrate Saint Patrick's Day - a day which is commonly marked with large parades and...


Fairy Paths and Ghost Roads
A few posts back I wrote about the secret fairy-paths of the air, and how a person might inadvertently get whisked away being caught up...


Blúiriní Bealoidis 28 - Land & Language
Our guest for this edition of Bluiríní Béaloidis is writer and documentary maker Manchán Magan, whose recent book 'Thirty-Two Words For ...


Witch Bottles and Irish Folk-Magic Protection
I recently read Andrew Michael Hurley's novel, The Loney, which is a tale of folk-magic and superstition, as well as a dark coming of...


The Irish Keening Tradition: Singing the Soul Home
Keening, which was once an integral part of the Irish grieving process, began to vanish from before the 1880’s. In many academic papers...


The Sheela na Gig - An Ancient Fertility Goddess?
Sheela na Gig’s are stone carvings of women exposing their genitals which are found mostly on church buildings associated with the...


A February Goddess: Remembering The Little Things
February the 8th, is the Festival of Broken Needles in Shinto and Buddhist traditions. On this day, women will gather up all of the...


St Brigid: Dove Among Birds, Vine Among Trees, Sun Among Stars
Starting next year, we’ve been given a new National Holiday! February 1 is celebrated as St Brigid’s Day in Ireland and to honour our...


Blúiríní Béaloidis 18 - Brigid In Folk Tradition
St. Brigid’s Day falls on the first of February, and is traditionally understood as marking the beginning of spring in Irish custom....


Brigid: The Pagan Goddess(es) of Ireland?
Imbolc is a celebration of the returning light and Brigid herself is believed to be an incarnation of a Proto-Indo-European dawn goddess,...


Brigid of Kildare
February 1st is celebrated as Lá Féile Bríde (Saint Brigid's Day) in Ireland. St Brigid is the female patron saint of Ireland (together...


Ancient and Holy Wells of Ireland
The bullán (english: bullaun) you see above is situated in wild commonage on the Trafask townland on the Beara Peninsula. It comes with a...


Wren Day - December 26th
Going out on 'The Wran' was a strong tradition that I grew up with in the Mealagh Valley in West Cork. We would all dress up in all sorts...


Shetland folk tradition of Skelling, Skeklers and Guising
'For ‘a coarn o meal, a penny o money, ir a piece o flesh’ a handful of grain, penny of money, or piece of meat.' Any evidence of...


Flying Reindeer and the Fly Agaric
Santa and his fleet of flying reindeer can be traced back to a rather unlikely source: the hallucinogenic fly agaric mushroom, or Amanita...


Women of The Outer Hebrides - Waulking Songs
A selection of short films on waulking songs sung by women while finishing Harris tweed in the Outer Hebrides islands of Scotland. A...


The origins of Santa?
Let’s take a trip to the snow-covered fields of Lapland and Siberia, where the legend of Santa Claus may have originated. Hundreds of...
