The hill of Uisneach lies almost exactly at the geographical center of Ireland. Remarkably, a fraction at least of the ancient Irish population was aware of that fact. There is no doubt that the place of Uisneach in Irish mythology, and more broadly speaking the Celtic world, was of utmost importance: Uisneach was – and probably still is – best defined as a sacred hill at the center of Ireland, possibly the sacred hill of the center of Ireland. Uisneach or the Center of Ireland explores the medieval documents connected with the hill and compares them with both archeological data and modern Irish folklore. In the early 21st century, a Fire Festival started being held on Uisneach in connection with the festival of Bealtaine, in early May, arguably in an attempt to echo more ancient traditions: the celebration was attended by Michael D. Higgins, the current president of Ireland, who lit the fire of Uisneach on 6 May 2017. This book argues that the symbolic significance of the hill has echoed the evolution of Irish society through time, be it in political, spiritual and religious terms or, perhaps more accurately, in terms of identity and Irishness. It is relevant for scholars and advanced students in the fields of cultural history, Irish history and cultural studies.

Presents an illustrated A to Z reference containing over 1,000 entries providing information on Celtic myths, fables and legends from Ireland, Scotland, Celtic Britain, Wales, Brittany, central France, and Galicia.

When Patricia Monaghan traveled to Ireland seeking her roots, what she found was much more than her physical ancestors. This is the story of her journey and the legends, landmarks, and mystical lore she encountered. Her poetic stories elucidate the ways that myth reveals the truth of human experience as well as the contradictions that are embodied in women's lives. This book is an extensive exploration of goddess mythology in Ireland, from Brigit, the Celtic goddess of water, fire, and transformation, to the historical figure of Granueille, a pirate queen.

The Ultimate Guide to The Witch’s Wheel of the Year offers a complete guide to celebrating the eight Wiccan sabbats as part of your spiritual practice. Anjou Kiernan—named “One of the Magical Women You Should be Following on Instagram” by Refinery 29—guides you through the history of the holidays, their pagan roots, and how to merge these sacred cycles and celebrations with today's traditions and holidays. Lavishly illustrated and photographed, The Ultimate Guide to The Witch’s Wheel of the Year illustrates spells and practices that will help you incorporate the old magick of the seasons into your modern life. Accompanying each turn of the Wheel as it cycles through the holidays of Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, and Samhain are: Feast recipes Fertility spells Protection amulets Home wards Divination rituals Prosperity charms And more From the bright blessings of the Yuletide solstice to the fertile flower magick of Beltane to the thinning of the veil on Samhain, each transition lends itself to a unique catalog of spells, altars, and practices that you can use all year long. The Ultimate Guide to… series offers comprehensive beginner’s guides to discovering a range of mind, body, spirit topics, including tarot, divination, crystal grids, numerology, aromatherapy, chakras, and more. Filled with beautiful illustrations and designed to give easy access to the information you’re looking for, each of these references provides simple-to-follow expert guidance as you learn and master your practice.

In 1919, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland noted that “there is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes.” For better or worse, Ireland has frequently been defined by its relationship with its neighbor to the east. And for centuries, English monarchs and governments have struggled with what they came to term “the Irish Question.” Through 76 primary source documents, contextualized by informative introductions and annotations, this volume explores the political, economic, and cultural impacts of the relationship between Ireland and England.

Feasting seems to be an inseparable element of peoples’—especially their collective—lives. ___|___ The proposed volume consists of original unpublished texts in which their Authors search for the answers to the following questions: How far have we gone astray from the primeval idea of celebrating the feast, from understanding tradition in terms of the Romanian historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, or the French sociologist, Émile Durkheim? Are there still any traditional, in its very meaning, feasts? If not—if they are invented (Hobsbawm and Ranger [1983] 1992)—why are they called “traditional”? What elements have changed and why? What has had the greatest impact on celebrating feasts? What are the new factors influencing the course of a feast’s celebration? ___|___ It was difficult to categorize the texts contained in this book because the subjects discussed in them very often overlap. Still, it was possible to recognize several accentuated aspects that served as the basis for the division of the book into three sections: 1) Culture and Identity; 2) Ritual and Cultural Values; 3) Culture and Policy. The contributors are scholars who represent various international institutions and fields of research, and use different approaches and methodologies to study the subject of the feast. This publication is an opportunity to bring the results of their research together in one book. The volume contains chapters in which various aspects of feasts, festivals, and festivities perceived as a mirror of social and cultural changes in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries are presented. It provides a unique and rich resource in the fields of culture, folklore, religion, anthropology, sociology, as well as politics and other cultural and social sciences. In the future, we hope to broaden the scope of our research and to include more ethnic groups and their cultures in order to see the changes they have undergone and factors that caused them. _____ TABLE OF CONTENTS _____ Frédéric Armao (University of Toulon, France), Uisneach: from the Ancient Assembly to the Fire Festival 2017 | Key words: Bealtaine, folklore, Irish festivals, mythology, Uisneach _____ Bożena Gierek (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland), Lajkonik (Hobby Horse) as Theatrum of the Period of Corpus Christi in Kraków (Poland) | Key words: Corpus Christi, feast, Lajkonik, raftsmen, theatrum _____ Tatiana Minniyakhmetova (University of Tartu, Estonia), Manifestation of Various Values in Traditional Udmurt Feasts | Key words: “beestings,” feast, porridge-meat, symbols, Udmurts _____ László Mód (University of Szeged, Hungary), Grape Harvest Feast as an Attempt to Develop Local Identity and Cultural Heritage. The Hungarian Case | Key words: cultural heritage, grape harvest feast, invented tradition, local identity _____ Marek Moroń (Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland), The Use of Sacrifice Feast of Eid ul-Adha in Bengal as an Instrument of Promoting Communal Violence for Political Purposes. The Situation in the 1920s, 1930s and 2017 | Key words: Bengal, cow sacrifice, Eid ul Adha, Hindu, Muslim, politics _____ Ewa Nowicka (University of Warsaw, Poland), Performing Ethnicity: Buryat Ethnofestivals and a Rediscovered Tradition | Key words: Buryatia, cultural canon, ethnofestival, identity, rediscovered tradition _____ Alīna Romanovska (Daugavpils University, Latvia), Diaspora Festivals as a Way for Development of Cultural Identity in the Regional City: the Case of Daugavpils (Latvia) | Key words: creolization, diaspora, festival, identity, regional city _____ Monika Salzbrunn (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), The Swiss Carnivals of Payerne and Lausanne: Place-making between the mise en scène of Self and the Other(s) | Key words: Brandons, carnival, Othering, performance, place-making, wordplay _____ Tigran Simyan (Yerevan State University, Armenia) and Ilze Kačāne (Daugavpils University, Latvia), Transformations of New Year Celebration in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Era: the Cases of Armenia and Latvia | Key words: Christmas (New Year) tree, Ded Moroz, New Year, post-Soviet, Santa Claus, Soviet, transformation _____ Kiyoshi Umeya (Kobe University, Japan / University of Cape Town, South Africa), Feasts to Send-off the Dead: with Special Reference to the Jopadhola of Eastern Uganda | Key words: agency of the dead, feast, funeral rites, Jopadhola, modernity, Uganda

In his third book, Strauss delves into the mysterious process whereby an idea is born in the mind and materialized through the hand in the expression of an artwork. How exactly does this happen? It's a question so basic, an act so fundamental to art-making, that it has rarely received attention. It makes an ideal topic for Strauss, a writer with an exceptional ability to animate art's philosophical dimensions in a clear, persuasive manner. During this time when craft and the direct manipulation of materials by the artist appear to be in eclipse, Strauss comes to their defense in a spirited cri de coeur. Featuring over 35 illustrations, the book examines a wide variety of media and individual examples. It explores the works of sculptors Martin Puryear, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Donald Lipski; painters Leon Golub and Ron Gorchov; and writers Robert Duncan, Robert Kelly, Guy Davenport, John Berger, and Leo Steinberg. In addition, there are essays on Joseph Beuys's 7000 Oaks in Ireland, contemporary Haida carvers Reg Davidson and Jim Hart, Cecilia Vicuña's "memory of the fingers," and the influence of curators Harald Szeemann and Walter Hopps on the staging of contemporary art exhibitions. Known primarily for his writings on photography and politics, Strauss here focuses on the least mediated arts--painting, sculpture, and writing. His claims are supported by a series of close readings which succeed in recovering the immediacy of the hand and revitalizing contemporary art's connection to the past.