The Intelligence authorities found it difficult to accept that parents whose eldest adult child had been executed for his role in the Easter Rising, and who moreover had two more sons Volunteers (initially sentenced to death but commuted to 10-year sentences), were not actively involved in the Rising. Continue reading
Filed under Irish Myths and Legends …
Community Gatherings in Ireland Old and New part one
. To this day, we have a saying in Irish ‘Bhí togha gacha bí agus rogha gacha dí le fail ann’, The finest of every food and the choice(st) of every drink was to be had there. This is believed to originally date from bards of one to two thousand years ago. As a chieftain or king, one’s reputation had to be maintained, or enhanced and these ‘songs of praise’, so to speak, were pivotal in this regard. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
St Patrick’s Day in South Australia
From the beginning of European settlement, St Patrick’s Day in South Australia has been commemorated annually as a rallying call to express Irish identity in a new land. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Before the Dawn by Michael Boyle
Not another house in Ireland
ever had had so many
Saint Brigit crosses made by
Cassie’s hand. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
What’s in the name ‘Sheila’? new research
According to Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, the name Sheila derives from Cecily, ‘the English form of the Latin name of the…virgin martyr St Cecilia…The Anglo-Normans brought the name to Ireland and in time it became in the Irish language Síle.. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Poems by David Harris
Today, on our morning swim together.
I watch her dive, hair streaming,
at home among the waves…
You won’t find these in the bush.
Thistles, nettles, tumbleweed,
three-cornered jacks, horehound, Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Mythology in the Irish Landscape
Thousands of commuters drive over the N4 that winds through the landscape of Contae Liatroma agus Sligeach* every day but I wonder how many take a moment to glimpse the foggy shores of Lough Arbhach and ponder the significance of the landscape. Continue reading
A Legacy of Myths
Book Review by James McCaughey Colm Toibin House of Names, Picador. May 2017 RRP: $29.99 h/b 261 pp ISBN: 978 1760 551421 The ancient Greeks have left us a legacy of myths. Some of them are still current – the stories of Oedipus or Antigone, for instance. Others, though less known, the story of Pygmalion say, have … Continue reading
Gods, Graves And Scholars
Williams refers to the Túatha as the ‘god-people’ to convey their indeterminate status between humanity and divinity Continue reading
Bringing the Táin bo Cuailnge to vivid life via its women
A feisty recreation of Ireland’s ancient epic. Continue reading