02/05/2024

Yesterday's post introduced the festival of Bealtaine, the important quarter-day that introduces summer time in Ireland. I hope you all caught the early morning dew! Some lovely soul went around Bundoran last night and left beautiful flowers on the doorsteps of the town - it is really lovely to see these old traditions continue.
Go raibh maith agat, a chara!
Festivals like Bealtaine and Samhain and Lughnasa and Imbolc do mark a short period of instability in the pre-Christian belief system- and I think it's very interesting to reflect on how these traditions influenced the behaviour of people - these festivals are often celebrated by chaotic rituals, such as the Biddy Boys at Imbolc, and the lighting of bonfires and men dressing up in women's clothes or disguising themselves in costume- Johnny Dillon, curator of the duchas.ie folklore archive suggests that these festivals allowed a bit of disorder in society so that order was the norm - there was ordered disorder, planned and structured in the social calendar, and I think that's a constructive way to see how tradition and folklore can have a very subtle but effective role in culture. BTW if you want to hear more from Johnny and his guests, check out https://www.youtube.com/playlist... - it's excellent.
And so for today's ramble- we are wandering around a part of Donegal with some great place names- Tóin Dubh (Tonduff) which means 'Black Bottom' and Altnapaste, or 'Hill of the serpent'. Again, the folklore archive supplies us with great stories about these places-apparently Altnapaste was particularly subject to 'butter snatching' at Bealtaine, and the area was associated with the Kerrigans, the harpers to the O'Donnell family. The scenery is just fabulous up around here, and once again, the ramble is soundtracked by sheep and lambs, blackbirds and a cuckoo off in the hedge somewhere. Note the lamb who takes a nap on his Mammy's back! The sky was grey and overcast, which isn't ideal for the photos, but Donegal skies are often moody, and when you're under them, you don't mind at all.
Enjoy
#donegal #rambles