Sure I knew that yet still it was mysmerric.
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I could listen to him all day. He has a lovely way about him. My grandmother was a great woman for telling us stories of the fairies and her encounters with them and also of Biddy Early. No more than yourself, I was enthralled.
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You’re not wrong there…
That was a great ten minutes.
When I was young lad a former neighbour was well regarded as a story teller. Their house at the time was in front of a fairy fort and when I’d be over with his son he would tell us loads of different fairy stories. He’d use local fellas, places and names which would give the stories real resonance and still stick in the head today.
Sean Quinn disturbed a fairy fort and look what happened him.
There’s a lot to be said about it. We’ve a fairy fort down by the house and the father doesn’t care about anything but that. Grandad before him too. There must be something in it.
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I’ve a very conservative catholic aunt. So conservative she’s a nun. Lovely woman, amazing with kids and not in the least bit superstitious (unless you count believing in God).
She messed with a fairy tree when she was a kid. She was fine for a few days, until the first day of the school summer holidays. Then she fell ill, in bed for the entire two months- fit for nothing but puking her guts up. The doctor couldn’t find a thing wrong with her.
The evening before school started the sickness lifted.
I shit you not. She’s the sort of woman who’d view a stick of incense with suspicion. But she’ll not deny the story, nor say a word against the little folk.
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Happy Imbolg or Imbolc! The ancient Irish festival falls on February 3rd in 2021 it is the festival marking the beginning of spring. The main ancient Irish festivals all fall on cross quarter days which are days which mark the midpoint between solstices and equinoxes. The four festivals are named Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine and Lughnasa and each also mark the beginning of a season. For millennia these astronomical events not calendrical events, i.e. based on night sky observation rather than a date predicted by a calendar. Nowadays, we benefit from a reliable calendar and so Imbolg has been mistakenly assigned to the first of February thereby causing it to clash with St. Bridget’s Day.
The actual astronomical event can fall between the 2nd & 7th of February. This year 2021 it will occur at 14:40 (2:40pm) on February 3rd in Ireland. While lands in lands to the east, like Australia and Japan the event occurs on February 4th due to time zones. In the lands “down under” with a reversed calendar, it is Lughnasa, the beginning of autumn. Happy Lughnasa to all our friends down under.
The exact meaning of the word Imbolc remains unclear, some think it derives from the Old Irish í mBolc meaning “in the belly” and this has given rise to various speculative theories. It is a time when ewes begin to lactate and give birth, an outward sign that winter has ended and the summer is about to be born. Thus the “in the belly” is believed by some to refer to pregnancy of sheep. Others believe that it refers to milk because of its similarity to the word “oimelc/oí melg” used in the 10th century Sanas Cormaic (Cormac’s Glossary). Others have taken this to mean “sheep’s milk”. The word “melg” meaning ‘milk’ comes from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) (the ancestor language of most European languages) word “melg” which means “to wipe, to rub off” which is what one does when hand milking an animal.
Purification/cleansing was an important aspect of many ancient festivals and “oí melg” is not milking but rubbing, as in the act of cleansing. Further evidence of cleansing comes from the Roman festival of Februalia. The Old Irish word for February is ‘febra’, ‘febrae’ from Latin ‘Februarius’ which in turn comes from ‘februa’ meaning purifications. However, if we accept that í mBolc is referring to pregnancy it might not be connected to sheep at all. It is the time of year when the ground is prepared to be impregnated with seed. Therefore í mBolc could have been used figuratively as the term for planting time or the planting season. The term spring clean survives to this day and it is strongly associated with imbolc therefore imbolc could also be an old term for the spring clean.
The word ‘spring’ on the other hand derives from the Old English ‘springan’ meaning ‘to leap, burst forth, fly up; spread, grow’.
What we know for sure is that the cross quarter days were of importance to the inhabitants of Ireland since the Stone Age from astronomical alignments of ancient monuments. At the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara, the rising sun at Imbolc illuminates the chamber and also again at Samhain. The structure approximately 5,000 years old dated from between 3000 and 2500BC which means it predates the arrival of Celtic culture in Ireland.
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I heard the Banshee last night… It was absolutely terrifying.
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Are you sure it was her?
Who else could it be at that hour… It wasn’t human anyway, that’s for sure. The sound of the cry was blood curdling.
Definitely her so. Or some poor rabbit in the jaws of a fox…most likely cats squaring up to one another…my money is still on the Banshee
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I know what cats sound like mate, I have one… Not many rabbits in an urban estate… This was chilling… I’m not right at all after it.
Do a quick stock take on all your close relatives lad.
Cats have a whole repertoire of funny noises that we rarely hear. And they’re welcome in this and the other place. The cat might well know more than your Banshee…
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It. Was. A. Banshee.
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I’d say twas a fox.
See my previous post mate.
I noticed your overly punctuated post and decided to disregard it.
Your loss. Keep believing in foxes.