Hello everyone! Today we had a very special ramble, as it is a special evening. It is the eve of Bealtaine, which is one of the four quarter days of the pre-Christian calendar. There is a massive amount of folklore and tradition that surrounds the festival of Bealtaine, so over the next few days, I will take you with me as we walk through some of the customs.
The first thing to explain is the quarter-days. These herald in the seasons as we understand them now- Imbolc is Spring, Bealtaine is the beginning of summer, Lughnasa is the Harvest season, and Samhain (Halloween) is the winter. Each of these quarter days mark the transition into a new season, and according to tradition, they are days where the boundaries or veils between the known world and the mysterious world are at their most porous- so you have to be careful! Also- these quarter days begin at sunset of the evening before the date, so Bealtaine begins tonight, my friends, when the sun sets, and you have things to do until noon tomorrow to protect yourself! To illustrate this, I wanted to ramble somewhere meaningful, and I found an old holy well which is always visited at Bealtaine- it is called 'Tobair na nAingeal' or the Well of the Angels, and there is a tradition of visiting the well, with a ritual involving stones, prayers and water that is undoubtedly Christian in symbol, but also has much of the pre-Christian traditions involving, well, stones, chants and water! Myself and Robinson set out to find this well, which is near Glenfin. As we walked the gorgeous back roads, the clutches of primroses reminded me of the custom of putting spring flowers at the door and windows of your house - to keep the otherworld folk from coming inside, so the folklore goes. We were neighbourly, and when we came to a beautiful old cottage, we left some bunches there. We had some difficulty finding the well, and two wonderful women came to our aid- sisters Helen and Susan were on their way there and not only gave us direction, but a full history of the area and some of the Well stories. I got a wee interview with Helen which I will post later. She's amazing! Helen told us that there was once a priest, during the Penal times in Ireland, when it was very dangerous to be a priest. He was spotted by the soldiers who were about to capture him, when a thick fog descended, and he managed to escape. He later returned, and blessed the nearby well. Another story from the folklore archive says that angels appeared to the soldiers and frightened them off. Helen told me that people come to the well all the time, but especially at Bealtaine, to use the water to heal whatever ailments are bothering them, and you could see from the many mementoes that it is a place of great consolation to visitors. But back to the pre-Christian traditions! According to folklore, May eve is a time of great risk to the home owner. Anything that is borrowed or stolen from you during May eve will cause you serious misery, as it will not return to you. You must keep your doors and windows closed- you don't even light a fire, as there is a curse/spell which can claim your possessions just by looking at the smoke from your chimney. You scatter your flowers and then it's inside with you, holding on to your milk and butter and water and refusing anyone who asks for them. A final tradition, which my Labrador must know about, is that if you rise in the morning and rub your face in the morning dew, you will look healthy and well for the rest of the year. Or, again, depending on which story you read, it will prevent you from 'looking yellow', which doesn't sound healthy. So now you know what to do this evening- get your wild flowers on the doorstep, don't loan anything, and get up early and get that sunrise dew onto yourself. I'll be back tomorrow with some more May / Bealtaine folklore. Enjoy. #donegal #findmyireland #may #bealtaine #folklore #ireland
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Our ramble today meanders around backroads in the much less travelled, but still stunningly scenic little townlands of Donegal. We are over between Trumman Lake and Rath Mountain, east of Laghey, West of Pettigo. These photos can not convey the serenity of actually walking these roads- the birdsong and the distant bleat of lambs and the buzzing of the bees were the only sounds, butterflies danced merrily, skirting off the dandelions and marsh marigolds, and when the odd tractor or van passed us by, it was with a friendly salute and possibly a ‘who’s this one now, with her dog and her camera’! You must put a walk on roads like this on your bucket list - no noise, no crowds, no queues, nothing but peace and tranquility. Donegal.
Ramble with us today along the Bluestacks - an incredibly scenic part of Donegal, but the many derelict cotttages are a testament to hard times. If these old stones could talk!
#donegal #bluestacks Today’s Donegal ramble is to one of the more remote edges of the Atlantic- we are out on Arranmore Island, down by the lighthouse and those steps that go from ‘Hey, great view’ to ‘Holy Moly’! The Sea Thrift flowers are just about to bloom, and the sunshine is splintered through the turquoise water, it’s sublime.
#donegal #studyabroadireland There is magic in the Donegal landscape, and it reveals itself all the time. Last evening, in grey and drizzly weather, I set out under ominous skies to walk somewhere not too far from home, as the prospect of a downpour seemed inevitable. So with no real plan in mind, I wandered around the back roads of Ballymagroarty, enjoying the primrose clusters and gorse bushes splashing the roadsides with yellows- the blackthorn is flowering now, and its white blossoms look like delicate snowflakes perched on the sturdy branches.
A signpost directing me to a ‘heritage site’ had to be followed ~ and to my delight, led me to an old ruin, which was where one of our oldest texts, a sixth century manuscript, was safely kept by the Mac Robhartaigh family ( Baile Mac Robhartaigh - BallyMagroarty) The manuscript is known as ‘The Cathach’ and it’s believed to have been authored by our local Donegal saint, Colm Cille. It’s always extremely difficult to ascertain how much of what we understand of early Christian personnel was constructed by later medieval hagiographers so I’m keen to emphasize the difference between history and folklore, but in terms of exploring the these old ruins, it is all about tradition, folklore, rituals, patterns and the inherent sense of magic that seems to inhabit the landscape. And as if to illustrate this latent but potent sense of the otherworldly, the dark sky was suddenly illuminated alive with an intense neon rainbow, and I was reminded yet again that there is nowhere as beautiful, any day, in any weather, as Donegal. Enjoy the ramble! #instituteofstudyabroadireland #findmyireland #donegal Today’s wee ramble is around North Sligo - The Horseshoe at Gleniff, and Mullaghmore ~ wild and wonderfu.
Today’s ramble in Donegal takes us down to Inver, and to the scenic old church ruins lodged between the pier, the ocean and the Eany river. Inver is another of those tiny Donegal townlands with an abundance of scenery, tradition and folklore, and on this spring day, the addition of frolicking lambs, and a bright red fishing boat lending a pop of colour to the misty day was almost an overload of beauty.
Inver’s old monastery is named after Naul (or Naille or Natillus) - he goes back to the time of Colm Cille, that’s sixth century ~ and the available information on these older saints always comes with either an overload of wondrous achievements (if written by later Christian scholars)- or some connection to the dark arts ( if written by our colonizers). According to one story, Naul arrived at Inver to meet Colm Cille, and Colm was embarrassed that he didn’t have food to offer the visitor. So the two men went to the ocean, blessed it- and suddenly, fish leapt out of the waves, begging to be gobbled up. But much later, Gerald of Wales tells a story of two wolves, who turn out to be humans who bear a curse cast by Naul. Gerald, who had little good to say about the native Irish, begins a trend in tagging the native Irish with epithets such as savage and subhuman - a trend continued by Messrs. Spencer, Shakespeare and Cromwell. Hmmm… It is very interesting to read the lives of the early Christian saints ( although none were canonized) - it’s a really entertaining mixture of snippets of history with gloriously bombastic achievements- many very similar to the miracles of the Bible. Brigid turns a bath full of water into beer, for example, and Patrick famously drives the snakes away~ so the stories go - but what’s lovely is that these old stories survived, and embedded themselves into the folklore and traditions of townland such as Inver, so a few old stones can easily conjure up all kind of past magic. Enjoy the ramble! #donegal #studyabroadireland Today’s Donegal ramble explores a tiny but vibrant community of fascinating creatures that you’ll find in most atlantic rock pools. While wandering along the edges of this impressive lagoon, we noticed these huge, colorful beadlet sea anemones, not only large tomato/colored ones but bright orange and dark green fellows too. Although they look like inert little blobs, they - like accountants- have a much more racy life than you may imagine. They feed by way of stinging their prey with poison and hoovering them in ~ they also can sting their anemone enemies to secure spaces in good feeding areas- and in a ridiculously cool move, anemones that are under attack can clone new blobs to protect them - so when you study the rock pools you can see who’s winning the battle for territory. These are brainless little jelly things with a military strategy (not the only ones, you say) but I’m not listening. My enemy’s anemone is my friend.
#StudyAbroadIreland #donegal We are fond of the old holy wells that are scattered around Donegal - they are almost always close to sites associated with pre~Christianity, skillfully appropriated under the name of an either obscure forgotten holy person or latched to a superstar saint, and the most striking thing about them is the devotion that still keeps these places maintained and sacred and valued. You will find the statues and rosaries but also wishing trees and scattered flowers and a range of mementoes from coins to photographs to - well, quite frankly, very odd things- today’s rambles to Doon Well and Ards Forest included discovery of a single sock, two wine bottles and a lego horse. But they are still very much a part of local tradition, and in some ways, more potent in the imagination than a font in a church, because of their scenic locations and homage to the landscape. The Irish word for a spring or well is ‘Tobar’ - it lends itself to many of the place names of Ireland, - Tubbercurry in Sligo, for example, and the well-known Tipperary. A fountain pen is also known in Irish as a ‘peann tobair’ - there’s your fun fact for today! Enjoy the ramble!
#holywells #donegal #StudyAbroadIreland Easter Monday- let’s visit a castle! This is Doe Castle- ancestral home of the Mac Suibhne or MxcSweeney family - but possibly the O’Donnells were there first - the McSweeneys were Scottish mercenaries who came to fight for the O’Donnells back around the fifteenth century. The castle overlooks Sheephaven Bay in Donegal, it’s an arresting sight! It’s also the location of Donegal’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ story- Ailish and Turlough may not run off the tongue as easily, but they were the star-crossed lovers of Doe. Turlough, deemed not good enough for Ailish, died either by flinging himself from the battlements or at the hands of Ailish’s father- and poor Ailish pined away, now a lonely ghost who prowls the bay, haunting visitors who have the audacity to leave their litter in the car park.
A beautiful and serene place, put it on your must-visit list. #donegal #doecastle #IrishCastles #StudyAbroadIreland |
Rambles in the Northwest -Niamh Hamill & companions Robinson (Labrador) and Higgins (Hound) ramble around Donegal and the surrounding counties Archives
January 2025
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