Do you know what a Brideóg is? What could you cure if you licked a lizard nine times? Why is Whit Sunday the unluckiest day of the year? From the author of The Irish Cottage comes a new book, exploring old Irish customs and beliefs. Chapters focus on the quarter-day festivities that marked the commencement of each season: ‘Spring: Imbolc’; ‘Summer: Bealtaine’; ‘Autumn: Lughnasa’ and ‘Winter: Samhain’, and also major life events – ‘Births, Marriages and Death Customs’ – and general beliefs in ‘Spirituality and Well-Being’ and ‘The Supernatural’. Focusing on the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, Irish Customs and Rituals discusses a time during which many of the practices and beliefs in question went into decline. Many of these customs were rooted in residual pre-Christian beliefs that ran parallel to, and in spite of, conventional religion practised in the country. Some customs were so deep-rooted that despite continued disapproval from the Roman Catholic Church they remain with us today. It is wonderful to see so many traditions still with us, as many are worthwhile remembering, commemorating, or even reviving today. Irish Customs and Rituals will appeal to all those with an interest in Irish history, folklore, culture and social history. Marion McGarry is the author of The Irish Cottage: History, Culture and Design (2017). She has a PhD in Architectural History and an MA in History of Art and Design and is currently a lecturer at Galway–Mayo Institute of Technology. She frequently writes articles about Irish social history and customs.

First published in 1947, these celebrated lectures and introductions to the medieval and modern Gaelic-speaking culture form a primary source for generations of scholars and readers, Celticists and medievalists. This edition is accompanied by Professor Delargy's In Memoriam and an updated bibliography of Flower's works.

Charles Wright identifies the characteristic features of Irish Christian literature which influenced Anglo-Saxon vernacular authors. As a full-length study of Irish influence on Old English religious literature, the book will appeal to scholars in Old English literature, Anglo-Saxon studies, and Old and Middle Irish literature.

Ireland's rich culinary heritage is brought to life in this new edition of Darina's bestselling Irish Traditional Cooking. With 300 traditional dishes, including 100 new recipes, this is the most comprehensive and entertaining tome on the subject. Each recipe is complemented by tips, tales, historical insights and common Irish customs, many of which have been passed down from one generation to the next. Darina's fascination with Ireland's culinary heritage is illustrated with chapters on Broths & Soups, Fish, Game, Vegetables and Cakes & Biscuits. She uses the finest of Ireland's natural produce to give us recipes such as Sea Spinach Soup, Potted Ballycotton Shrimps with Melba Toast and Rhubarb Fool.

Belief in the existence of a parallel world and in otherworldly phenomena has long been established in Irish tradition, and facets of such belief continue to be found in contemporary Irish society. This book, with two accompanying compact discs, examines aspects of the enduring fascination the Irish imagination has with supernatural beings, encounters, and occurrences, as represented in song and music. The material contained in this publication, which includes recorded sound, photographs, and manuscript transcriptions, is drawn from National Folklore Collection/Cnuasach Bhealoideas Eireann at University College Dublin. The book addresses a number of illuminating aspects of popular tradition, such as: the connection between the supernatural and excellence in the performance of music and song * the dangers inherent in engaging with the fairies * the fear of abduction or loss * benign supernatural encounters * the existence of otherworldly creatures * the physical landscape, as perceived in inherited oral knowledge. There are encounters that reflect the blending of Christian and non-Christian ideas. The inclusion of contemporary performers alongside older archival material is testament to the fact that the National Folklore Collection continues to grow and remains the most important repository of Irish vernacular culture. The songs, music, and lore contained here are the foundation stone upon which the book rests, and the selected examples are illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs. There can be little doubt that the full spectrum of human experience is better comprehended with an understanding of traditional lore and belief. The Otherworld: Music & Song from Irish Tradition addresses an important aspect of that human experience and seeks to encourage just such an engagement. It is a book for both the general reader and scholars of folklore. (Series: Scribhinni Bealoidis / Folklore Studies - Vol. 21) *** "The book itself boasts an endlessly informative text and many resonant photographs of singers, musicians, collectors and -- most of all -- landscape features. The last of these record Ireland's unsettling countryside, home to fairies, banshees and ghosts, and serve to set already evocative songs and tunes in places that are of, at once, this world and the otherworld. If there is another compilation like this one, I have never heard of it, and I doubt that it could be as stimulating as this one, a unique and (almost literally) haunting excursion into mystery and melody." - Jerome Clark, Rambles.Net, May 18, 2013 *** "This remarkable book with its breathtaking old photos (and two magical CDs) offers Irish traditional music and song associated with fairies of the Otherworld... Material was gleaned from all over Ireland, and not just from professional musicians; most was collected from islanders, urbanites, farmers, students, teachers and Travellers... Most songs are sung a cappella, and most instrumentalists perform solo, offering intense listening experiences, as jigs, waltzes, laments, dirges, and recitations chronicle legends, local history, religion, and supernatural happenings." - The Celtic Connection, June 2013~

The Irish Celtic Magical Tradition explores the wealth of spiritual philosophy locked into Celtic legend in The Battle of Moytura (Cath Maige Tuired), a historical-mythological account of the conflict, both physical and Otherworldly, between the Fomoire and the Tuatha de Danann. This legend contains within it the essence of the Celtic spiritual and magical system, from Creation Myth to practical instruction and information. Alongside a translation of The Battle of Moytura, Steve Blamires provides a series of keys to facilitate understanding of the legend and sets out an effective magical system based upon it, including interpretations of the symbolism, meditation exercises and suggestions for its practical use. The book offers a powerful and illuminating method of working with ancient Celtic legendary material in the context of modern magic.