Rag Trees, Blessed Fish and Blind Horses: Some Traditions around Holy Wells in Ireland
Ireland has at least 3,000 wells that are, or were at least up until recently, looked upon as holy or blessed.
Ireland has at least 3,000 wells that are, or were at least up until recently, looked upon as holy or blessed.
This month, we’re delighted that the wonderful folks over at The Countryman magazine have kindly featured #FolkloreThursday in their January edition!
Each morning the sun rolls across the sky. In Estonia it was the hatched egg of the enchanted swallow bird, an emu’s egg bursting into flames in Australia, and a golden piece of bacon for the Nama people of South Africa. In the evening, it descends into the sea, as a bridegroom or warrior, golden rays transformed into spears or robes of light, hissing with heat as the waters close over it, before swimming back to the east. Sometimes in gloom-shrouded nights, we may imagine it will never return and we will be plunged into unyielding darkness, but still it rises and always will, at least for the next five billion years or so!
The winter solstice has been celebrated in some form all around the world for centuries. Individual human cultures often mixed magic with religion in acknowledgement and celebration of this important astronomical event. Here we briefly look at five of these festivities from around the world, before discussing why they were so important to our ancestors and concluding with what science has to say today.
According to some, leaving shoes on the table is a harbinger of death. This originates from the practice of honouring fatalities in the mining industry.
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