u/TheOtherIrelandPod

I spotted this little visitor today and couldn't help thinking how fairy-like a dragonfly can look.

With its delicate, almost transparent wings, long body and strange ability to hover before suddenly darting away. It's easy to imagine how a glimpse of one from a distance might once have seemed like something from the Otherworld.

Ireland has a long tradition of belief in the fairy folk, or Aos Sí, particularly around the wild places of the landscape.

Dragonflies themselves have also picked up associations with the fairy world in folklore, including stories of fairies using them for travel or even appearing in their form.

There's no evidence that dragonflies actually created our belief in fairies. But watching one dance through the air, especially from a distance, you can understand how the natural world helped ignite the imaginations of generations before us.

Sometimes, you only have to look at nature through the eyes of those who came before us to understand how folklore could begin.

This week, we chat all things banshee in Ireland with Dr Gillian Kenny

Traditionally, the banshee is known as a death messenger. She does not cause the death. She warns of a death to come.

Pop culture at the moment is changing the characteristics of this well known figure in Irish folklore.

To get down to who or what the banshee is, my guest for this week is Irish historian and writer Dr Gillian Kenny.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts.

#banshee #irishfolklore #IrishFolkTales #DeathMessenger

Yesterday, I came across this tree in Donadea Forest Park in Kildare, Ireland.

It was covered with children's soothers hanging from it. I have never seen a tree like this and I didn't know it was a thing.

I met a man later on out walking his dog who knew a lot about the forest. He told me this tree is known as The Dodie or Fairy Tree.

That when children are ready to give up their last dodie (known locally as soothers, dummys, dodies) some families will hang up the last one as an offering to the fairies.

Yesterday, I came across a tree full of children's soothers hanging from it at Donadea Forest Park in Kildare, Ireland.

I have never seen a tree like this. I wasn't aware it was a thing.

Later on, I met a man out walking his dog who knew a lot about the forest.

He told me the tree was called The Dodie or Fairy Tree. That when a child is ready to give up their last dodie (known locally as dodies, dummies or soothers), some families will hang up the dodie as an offering to the fairies.

"Hi Nick, thank you so much for sending this on. I just had a chance to listen there and wow. Well done. That is the best and most detailed account of the story that I have ever heard. I have read the book by Angela Bourke and many many other resources but I felt after listening that all the unanswered questions I had were answered."

- A member of Bridget Cleary’s extended family

#bridgetcleary #theotherirelandpodcast

Episode 4: Bridget Cleary — The Woman Behind the Folklore

In March 1895, 26-year-old Bridget Cleary was killed in her own home in Ballyvadlea, County Tipperary.

In the years since, her death has become forever intertwined with stories of fairies, changelings and the so-called "last witch burned in Ireland".

But behind the folklore was a real woman.

In this episode of The Other Ireland, I look at Bridget's life, the beliefs surrounding her death, what happened inside the Cleary cottage, and the aftermath of the case.

I also speak with Tipperary filmmaker Anne Williamson, co-writer of the short film Bridget, and visit Ballyvadlea to retrace the places at the centre of the story.

Episode 4: Bridget Cleary - The Woman Behind the Folklore is out now.

Listen to The Other Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.

#BridgetCleary #IrishFolklore #IrishHistory #IrishPodcast #Tipperary

Hi,

My name is Nick and I host The Other Ireland podcast. It is a new podcast with the sole aim of preserving Ireland's rich oral storytelling tradition.

I am looking for stories about Irish folklore, local legends, myths, superstitions, or any story a person from Ireland thinks is worth preserving.

The story does not have to be supernatural. I am seeking story submissions from people who are willing to be recorded or they have the option of staying anonymous.

I have put together a submission form. I'm sharing this here in the hope of finding Irish stories worth preserving.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd8ML6C4s_9gkeCKR9N6uEYsbvgbhGJzHsJ3ouCjNb-ZRW5CQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Thanks for reading.

Regards,

Nick

I dropped up to my Grandad over the week. To play him a bit of the third episode of The Other Ireland. And seen as the storyteller in the third episode is of his generation. To catch up with him.

The older I get, the more I realise time is precious. When I phoned him to make arrangements to drop up, he said "Nick, let me tell you something, what you write about is heavy. What I write about is light".

Indeed, my Grandad enjoys his Irish history and looking into family heritage. As do I. As The Other Ireland evolves, I think capturing people's memories and stories from a different angle is also worth preserving.

After all, it doesn't all have to be dark. In a world where many dark things can be heard on the news, sometimes it's good to add a bit of light.

My Grandad showed me 1 of 3 scrapbooks he has filled with old memories. He was quite a handsome looking bloke back in the day.

In the pictures above, you can see his parent's house at Weaver's Square in The Liberties, Dublin. He told me his grandparents came from Tipperary and my Nana's mother and father came from Kilkenny. I joked that there's been a lot of county hopping in our family.

In another picture you can see where his first job was, The Evening Mail, a daily evening newspaper published in Dublin from 1823 until 1962.

I'm very thankful to still have my Grandad here. Until next time, keep The Other Ireland alive.

#irishmemories #dublinmemories #irishhistory #localstories

41s - The card game I grew up with

There are certain things that just feel like Ireland. For me, one of them is sitting around a table and playing cards.

Every summer growing up, when we'd go to Ballybunion, I remember playing cards with my Dad's side of the family. I always wanted to be paired up with my Nana who was a card "shark".

Recently, we taught my fiancée how to play 41s. She won her first three games against us!

From what I have gathered, 41s is played in certain parts of Kerry and West Limerick.

Cards have been part of social life across the country for generations. Played in homes, pubs, local meeting halls and at gatherings.

Games such as 25s, 45s and many local variations became part of everyday Irish life. And then there's the folklore, a common story told time and time again.

I only spoke to a woman from Ballyragget in Kilkenny recently who told me a story her father passed down to her. He was playing cards one night and he dropped a card on the floor. When he bent down to pick the card up, he saw cloven hooves underneath the table.

These stories can be found across Ireland. Accounts from The Hellfire Club in Dublin and Loftus Hall in Wexford being the most famous.

Ailbe van der Heide of the National Folklore Collection wrote a brilliant article on the subject: https://ucdculturalheritagecollections.com/.../cards-and.../

There's something fascinating about how an ordinary part of Irish social life became intertwined with stories of the supernatural.

I have every intention of passing down the tradition of card playing to my future child, just as my family taught me.

Although hopefully I'll leave out the part about playing cards with the Devil.

Tales from Cathal Brugha Barracks and Ballyragget is out now wherever you get your podcasts.

Nelly is almost 90. She hails from the small rural community in Kilkenny.

We talk about the hardships she has faced, traditions, the local folklore and everything in between.

Thank you to Nelly for sharing her memories.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/31Arodg4BY2xPrbCeGCsAY?si=LhmtjCjMTZeyL4lZzR0c9g&utm\_source=copy-link

Scattered quietly across the Irish landscape are places known as cillíní. The Irish referring to unconsecrated burial grounds used to bury stillborn babies or children who died before they were baptised.

For centuries, Catholic teaching meant that those who had not been baptised could not be buried in consecrated ground. Instead, families often buried their babies in separate, unconsecrated places.

These included beside old churches, near ancient monuments, at townland boundaries, or in other quiet corners of the landscape.

The photographs here are of the cillín at Loughanes in Lisselton, North Kerry.

Beside the site is a poem by poet and folklorist Bríd Ní Mhóráin, reflecting on the children who were laid to rest here. It adds another voice to a place that can otherwise seem almost silent.

The cillíní of Ireland tell us an enormous amount about loss, faith, grief and how people tried to make a place for their children in death.

Even when they could not find one within the official traditions of the time.

#irishfolklore #irishhistory #northkerry #lisselton #kerry #irisharchaeology #theotherireland #folklore

Donadea Forest Park, Co Kildare

Opened to the public in 1981, the Aylmer family owned this enormous estate while Ireland was experiencing the Great Famine. The lake you can still see today was created as a Famine relief scheme.

The last Aylmer to live here died in 1935. Coillte, Ireland's state-owned forestry company, now manages the park.

The castle may be a ruin, but the Aylmers are still very much part of Donadea, with generations of the family buried at St Peter's Church.

The park is also home to a memorial to Sean Tallon, honouring his connection to the events of 9/11 and the lives lost that day.

And then there's the local lore of Catherine, a woman said to have died of a broken heart, whose ghost is said to still wander the old estate and Lovers' Lane.

#TheOtherIreland #Donadea #Kildare #IrishHistory #IrishFolklore