The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs Book

This book by Kevin Danaher describes how the round of the year, with its cycle of festivals and seasonal work, was observed in the Ireland of yesterday. We follow the rhythm of the year from New Year to Easter, May Day to Harvest and Christmas along the chain of highdays and feastdays, St Brighid's Day, The Borrowed Days, Midsummer, St Swithin's Day, Lunasa, The Pattern Day, Samhain, Martinmas and Christmas. The rich and warm life of Irish folk tradition unfolds, the work of farm and fishing boat - belief and usage - feasting and merrymaking. Picturesque customs are revealed - some forgotten, some forbidden, some still familiar, such as 'the making of St Brighid's cross - marriage divinations - watching the dancing of the sun on a hilltop on Easter morning - going to the Skelligs - cock-throwing - bullbaiting - herring processions - the swimming of the horses on Lunasa - and many others. A multi-coloured tapestry. Kevin Danaher has drawn on a wide variety of sources and on more than thirty years experience of research into Irish folk tradition. Kevin Danaher was educated at Mungret College, at University College, Dublin and at the Universities of Berlin and Leipzig. Having entered the Irish army as a volunteer gunner, he left the army with the rank of Captain to resume his research in Irish rural life and tradition. He is the author of In Ireland Long Ago, Gentle Places and Simple Things, Irish Country People, Folktales of the Irish Countryside, The Pleasant Land of Ireland and has contributed to numerous learned journals in Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Britain and America. He edited The Irish Sword, the journal of the Military History Society of Ireland from 1960 to 1971. He was a lecturer in Irish Folklore at University College, Dublin.Read More