Kerrigan Jo - Old ways, old secrets: pagan Ireland, myth * landscape * tradition

In Ireland, the Otherworld and its spirits are taken for granted. Wherever you go, you will find evidence of ancient beliefs, customs and traditions.

L iving in West Cork, and having travelled through every corner of Ireland, I am always struck by the natural way in which the Otherworld and its spirits are taken for granted. Wherever you go, you will find evidence of ancient beliefs, customs and traditions that continue to this day. Why do we still observe practices whose origin and purpose we have completely forgotten?

Or have we? Do the people of Ireland still, deep in the sub-conscious, retain beliefs that were already old when Christianity arrived on these shores? Do we still instinctively reach towards a time when nature and the cycle of the seasons were of paramount importance, and the spirits that governed the circle of the year were honoured as they should be?

In this book, I have presented evidence that the old ways are still very much with us. Festivals celebrated with great energy and enthusiasm may now bear the name of various saints, but they can be traced back to celebrations honouring older gods or goddesses. Pilgrimages to high mountains or remote lake islands once had far more to do with druids and oracles than with Christian observances.

All you have to do is lift the bright modern overlay, just a little, and peep underneath. You will find the old ways and the old beliefs are still there, as strong as ever. Come and explore. This book will start you on a journey. How far you travel is up to you.

Lift the bright modern overlay, just a little, and peep underneath. The old ways and the old beliefs are still there, as strong as ever.

O ver thousands of years, many different peoples have sought Irelands green land and gentle climate. Legend, folk memory and imagination are inextricably tangled with fact in texts such as the Leabhar Gabhla (Book of Invasions). The following is a rough chronology, which may be useful as a basic guide to our history of settlement.

Over thousands of years, many different peoples have sought Irelands fertile land and gentle climate.

According to the Leabhar Gabhla, Irelands first inhabitants were led by Parthalon, arriving from Greece about 300 years after the Deluge, and landing at the mouth of the Kenmare River in Kerry. Another 300 years later, it tells us that 9,000 of his people died in a single week on Sean Mhagh Ealta Edair (modern Tallaght in Dublin). Tellingly, the old name for Tallaght translates as the Plain of the Plague, adding strength to this brief record of a long-ago calamity.

Following this virtual wipeout of Parthalons descendants, Ireland was apparently left empty for 30 years. Perhaps the story of disease and sudden death spread along the seaways, and it was avoided. But then, from Scythia on the borders of Europe and Asia, came Nemed and his sons. If they were hoping for peace and quiet in their new home, however, they didnt get it. Soon after their arrival, the Nemedians were attacked by a particularly unpleasant band known as the Fomorians, who counted the terrifying Balor of the Evil Eye among their number. Balor, a kind of weapon of mass destruction who echoed the death-dealing abilities of the Greek Medusa, had only to look upon someone to kill instantaneously.

The Fomorians appear to have been sea pirates rather than settlers, descending on Ireland at regular intervals to loot and demand protection money. Legend suggests that they had an outpost on Tory Island off Donegal. Possibly early Norsemen, the Fomorians are the baddies of Irish legendary history, reappearing at intervals to create panic and havoc throughout several waves of settlers.

Discouraged by the rapacious demands of the Fomorians, the surviving Nemedians, we are told, emigrated in three separate directions: one group to northern Europe, one to Greece, and one to the neighbouring island of Britain. First to return was the Grecian group, who again settled Ireland and became known as the Fir Bolg, or Bag Men, from their sensible habit of carrying good, rich earth in woven bags wherever they went, so that they could be sure of making the land fertile. Small, dark, gentle farming folk, they cared for the land and worshipped the spirits of nature who made the rain fall, the sun shine, and the crops grow.

The Nemedians who had gone to the northern lands had spent their time perfecting the arts of divination, druidism and philosophy. (This does suggest that, even back in earliest times, such craft was known to be taught in the far North, in Scandinavia, perhaps even in Russia.) A couple of centuries later, these emigrants came back as the skilled, wise and powerful Tuatha D Danann, or people of Danu, the great earth goddess. Powerful in the arts of magic, they easily overcame the unwarlike Fir Bolg.

The time of the Tuatha D Danann in Ireland was a golden age of beauty and joy.