Category: Ireland
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Fired Up—
Bealtaine Celebrates Fire, Fertility, Festivities, and Faeries Bealtaine, the Gaelic May Day festival, celebrates the powerful Sun, the fertile Earth, new life, and the official start of summer. Celebrated about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, it is one of the four cross-quarter days and one of the eight seasonal celebrations of…
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Etched in Stone
Sprawled along the River Boyne, in County Meath, Ireland, is a complex of the largest passage tombs (burial mounds) in Western Europe. Comprising an eight-square mile UNESCO World Heritage site, and carbon-dated to circa 3200 BC, Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth are hundreds of years older than Stonehenge and the Giza pyramids. Some cultural anthropologists suggest…
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Skip the Groundhog—Milking the Origins of Imbolc
Part 2 of 2 Last month, we looked at Brigid, the goddess, warrior, and saint who is honored on February 2. This month we’ll explore Imbolc. Although commonly celebrated on February 1–2, Imbolc is a moveable feast that marks the beginning of spring. Since 1886, the United States and Canada have observed February 2 as…
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Heroism in Kilbaha
Come to think of it, everyone wants a hero in the family tree Admit it! You want a hero in your family tree. Someone “out where the lightning splits the sea, … a streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds,” at least according to Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler, who belted out “Holding Out for a…
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Lughnasadh—The Festival
Part 2 of 2 Warrior, King, Craftsman, God—Lugh is so big that explaining his festival, Lughnasadh (pronounced Loo-NAS-ah), which occurs on August 1, needs two parts. Last month, we delved into the god’s background in “Lugh is Huge”; this month, the rituals and customs associated with his celebration. History, Traditions, Rituals Although not as recognizable…