The Giants Causeway.

The Giants Causeway.

In County Antrim there is a place that is steeped in the mythology and folklore of Ireland. That place is known as The Giants Causeway.

Its ‘discovery’ was announced in 1693 by Sir Richard Bulkeley, a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, when presenting a paper to the Royal Society. However, the ‘discoverer’ who should have received credit for it was the Bishop of Derry who had visited the site a year earlier.

There was a great deal of argument concerning the creation of the Causeway.  Some said it had been created by men with picks and chisels, some said it was the result of nature, and some said it was the work of a giant.

The issue was finally settled in 1771 when a Frenchman by the name of Demarest, announced the true origin of the Causeway was the result of volcanic action.

In 1740, a Dublin spinster’s realistic sketches brought the Causeway to the attention of the public and ever since it has attracted visitors from all over the world.

What of its folklore?

One of the legends that surround The Giants Causeway concerns two giants, Finn McCool and Benandonner

Finn MacCool, the handsome giant of Ireland, lived on the wild northern coast, and occasionally he sat at the edge of the sea, sucking on his thumb. Whenever he had a question, any puzzle at all, he sucked that thumb and the answer came.

Finn fell in love with a giantess named Oonagh who lived on a rocky isle across the Irish Sea. Trouble was Finn could not swim, so how would he reach his beloved? He thought a while, and then he tore up some trees, and he built himself a boat, but when he stepped inside, that boat sank under his weight. After all, Finn was a giant.

So Finn sucked on his thumb, and next thing he was gathering columns of rock, six-sided each, flat-topped and weighing 10 tons. He stood on the shore and tossed those columns, one after another, into the sea. In this way he formed a path all the way to Oonagh’s Island.

Oonagh was very impressed (what woman wouldn’t be?), and it was not long before they were married and shortly after she had a son (fast workers, these giants?). They called their son Ossian and he grew up and left home to live with the faeries (I’m saying nothing?) but let’s just say they were sad when he left.

However, they were not sad for long and they commenced singing. Everyone could hear them and as their singing was better than Jedward’s it didn’t upset them. Everyone that is except Benandonner, he was another giant that lived a lonely miserable life on the Isle of Straffa and he was very happy being miserable and did not wish to hear happy singing coming from his neighbours.

Benandonner decided he had to silence yer man Finn and while he was at it he might as well take his wife home with him so with this in mind he challenged Finn for Oonagh’s hand.  Now Benandonner was a big ugly smelly yoke and as he dressed in old rat skins and had three eyes, one in the middle of his forehead, he had no chance of Oonagh but Finn Invited him to come over shouting,

“Come on over if yer think yer hard enough”.

The following day Benandonner arrived at the house and knocked on the door.  Oonagh answered the knock and said to Benandonner,

“Finn’s out at the minute come back tomorrow”

 “O.K” said Benandonner and as this made him very miserable altogether... he was quite happy.

When Finn arrived back he saw Benandonner’s footprints outside his door. “Holy mother of god would ye look at the size of them” he began having second thoughts. 

“Oonagh, that fellagh must be massive”, said Finn. 

Oonagh said “Don’t you be worrying; I have an idea that’ll put manners on him”

The next morning there was a knock on the door.  This time Finn was home but he was hiding in the baby cradle that had once been Ossian’s.  He was covered with blankets so only his eyes could be seen.

“Is this yer baby” Benandonner asked,

“Yes he is, and his father will be home soon”, replied Oonagh.

She had baked some cakes and invited Benandonner to sit down and have some while he waited. What he didn’t know was that she had baked a cake with pieces of metal in it and it was this that she gave him.  When he took a bite he let out a scream,

 “I’ve bust me tooth” he wailed, “What have you put in them”.

 “Only a bit of butter and cream, a few eggs and some flour, sure the baby loves them” said Oonagh, and she gave one to Finn (without any metal in it).

“That child must have teeth of iron” said Benandonner and he bent over and for some unknown reason he stuck his finger in the baby’s mouth (he wasn’t a bright giant).

Surprise, surprise, Crunch! Finn bit down so hard he bit the finger clean off.

Benandonner let out another scream, “What kind of child is this, he’s strong enough to bite off a giant’s finger?”

“Aragh, he’s only a wee thing” said Oonagh, “He’s not that strong but his daddy is trying to teach him how to get better”

Benandonner laughed nervously. "What kind of things is he teaching him?" he asked.

Oonagh smiled “Oh just things” she said.

Benandonner began to tremble, and then he said,

"I'll be going now," and he backed out of the house and ran across the causeway. Halfway across a thought struck him, and he stopped. Working feverishly with all his great strength, he carried away the middle section of those rocks, one by one, for he had no wish for a visit from the monstrous Finn.

So that is the reason why only the beginning and the end remain of the Giant's Causeway, one on Straffa Island, home of Benandonner, and another on the Antrim coast, just near the place where Finn lived.

Volcanic action or a giant’s fear, you decide.

Ellen Hanley. The Colleen Bawn, (1803-1819).

 

Ellen Hanley. The Colleen Bawn, (1803-1819).

 

The remains of Ellen Hanley, a young girl of fifteen were found at Kilrush, County Clare.  It was the autumn of 1819 and her body had been washed ashore, she had only been married six weeks and her husband John Scanlan was the prime suspect.  Ellen was known to have been an outstanding beauty, she was intelligent and friendly. Her mother had died when Ellen was only six years old and she was reared by her uncle, John Connery.

John Scanlan was only in his twenties when he met Ellen and he quickly proposed marriage to her.  He was well connected and belonged to a higher social class than Ellen. This difference worried Ellen and she first refused his offer of marriage.  However, Scanlan convinced her that everything would be alright and after calming her fears the marriage was arranged.  Ellen eloped in July, 1819 and it has been suggested that they were married either in Limerick or in the Old Church at Kilrush.

The novelty of marriage to a low born girl was soon to wear off for Scanlan. He became tired of his young bride and with the aid of his servant, Stephen Sullivan; he began to plan her murder.  Sullivan took Ellen for a trip on the river using Scanlan’s boat, he was armed with a gun and he was meant to shoot her and throw her body overboard, however, he lost his nerve and returned to shore.  Scanlan was furious, he plied Sullivan with whiskey and then somehow he convinced Ellen to resume their boat trip.  This time Sullivan murdered her with a musket, removed her garments and ring, hiding them in the boat.  He tied a rock to her body and dumped her remains into the cold dark waters of the Shannon.  Six weeks later her body was washed ashore at Moneypoint, Kilrush on the 6^th September 1819. The crime was to raise outrage and horror across all classes.

Scanlan and Sullivan went on the run but even in the early 19^th  century the powers of the law had a long reach and Scanlan was the first to be caught. He was charged with the murder of Ellen Hanley and brought to trial in March 1820.  Due to his high social position Scanlan expected to be acquitted for the murder, after all Ellen Hanley was nothing more than a low born commoner. His trial took place and created a sensation in 19^th century Ireland, Scanlan’s family hired Daniel O’Connell (the Liberator) to act for him as defence barrister and Scanlan sat back and waited for the verdict of innocent to be declared. He was mistaken, found guilty he was sentenced to death. On the 16^th March 1820 he was transported to Gallows Green, County Clare, and the place of execution where he was duly hanged.

Stephen Sullivan was captured soon afterwards and he was tried four months after Scanlan.  His trial took place in Limerick and caused just as much of a sensation as Scanlan’s.  He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging, just before the rope went around his neck he confessed his guilt and admitted that it was his employer (Scanlan) who instigated the murder.

Ellen Hanley is buried in Burrane cemetery near Kilrush. A Celtic cross was erected bearing the following inscription:

"Here lies the Colleen Bawn,
Murdered on the Shannon,
July 14th 1819. R.I.P."

Unfortunately souvenir hunters have chipped off so much over the years there is now no longer any trace of the cross. So ends the tragic story of the Colleen Bawn (the Fair Girl. If ever you get off the ferry in Killimer pay a visit to her memorial.

                 Escape of The Gingerbread Man.  A tale about a storyteller in the west of Ireland.

I don't normally post video clips but I found this very moving and thought I'd share it with you.  Hope you like it. 

The History of the Bodhrán.

The word Bodhrán is said to mean Deafening or Thunderous Drum.  The history of the Bodhrán is shrouded in mystery and subject to speculation. Is it an ancient Irish instrument or did it originally arrive on our shores from some far off place?  Some historians believe that its roots in Africa and arrived here from Spain, others believe that it had its origins in Asia and arrived here with the Celts.  There is evidence of the use of an instrument very similar to a Bodhrán that was used in agriculture and this was called a Wight or Wecht in Ulster and a Dallán in the south west of Ireland. This was used by agricultural workers to separate grain seed from the chaff or shells. Grain was poured into the hollow section of the Bodhrán on a breezy day, the light shells were blown away by the wind and the heavy grain was left behind. Sometimes workers would raise the Bodhrán above their heads and jump up and down to agitate the grain. It was said that the Bodhrán hung above the fireplace and in winter after the harvest was finished for the year the farm labourers being short of money and unable to buy musical instruments used whatever they had to hand or could make from bits and pieces. The grain winnower was used as a drum during musical seisúns.

Another use for the Bodhrán was during harvest festivals and by the Wren boys and Mummers to make noise in order to announce their arrival on the scene.

The Bodhrán is a frame drum made from a circle of wood (ash) upon this we have the stretched skin of an animal. Usually that of a goat but you may also find Bodhrán that use the skin of a horse, pony, sheep, or dog. At first glance it reminds you of a sieve similar to that used to sift sand and it is easy to understand the confusion when someone asks the question “did it evolve from a working instrument into a musical instrument or was it the other way round?”  In fact you will still see it used for both purposes in third world countries today.

The majority of these drums are used purely in religious or cultural festivals, and it is only in countries such as Ireland, the Basque country and Spain, where they are an integral part of musical entertainment. And it is only in Ireland that the frame drum has reached a high degree of sophistication. It was first introduced into modern Irish Traditional Music by Seán Ó Riada. He inserted arrangements for the Bodhrán into the music of his group Ceoltóiri Chualann. They later became known as the Chieftains.

The Bodhrán is very similar to another frame drum from Cornwall which was also used for harvesting grain. It is called a Crowdy Crawn (Croder crawn) and is mentioned as early as 1880.  It is a wooden hoop covered with sheepskin and is used in Cornish Traditional Music.  The Crowdy Crawn originated as a tool for gathering and measuring grain in the same way that the Bodhrán evolved from the Dallán.

A frame drum is played by either striking it with your bare hand or with a piece of wood called a tipper, beater, or cipín. Originally tippers may have been fashioned from pieces of bone; however, today they are made from ash, holly, or hickory.  The drum is usually played in a seated position, held vertically on the player's thigh and supported by his or her upper body and arm (usually on the left side, for a right-handed player), with the hand placed on the inside of the skin where it is able to control the tension (and therefore the pitch) by applying varying amounts of pressure and also the amount of surface area being played, with the back of the hand against the crossbar, if present. The drum is struck with the other arm (usually the right) and is played either with the bare hand or with a tipper.  Never play the drum when it is too soft or limp. Keep the drum when not in use in a case in a cool place so that the skin can relax. You can then bring it to playing tension by gentle and expert use of a heat of your choice (I have used gentle heat applied by a small travelling hair dryer).  If the skin is too tight, use a little water on the inside of the skin (not the outside) and give it a few minutes to work. Never use Beer or Guinness - save that for drinking. I also do not recommend tightening the skin with hand pressure - only if there is no other means of heating available. My Bodhrán is tuneable so I no longer have this problem.

Bodhrán players are generally regarded with derision by other musicians and there may be real reasons for this. The Bodhrán is considered by many as an easy instrument to play, especially those who have aspirations of becoming a ‘musician’ without any of the hard work or practice and they will use it as a passport in order to enter a seisúns. Unfortunately they are usually dreadful and should be removed as quickly as possible. However, when played properly the Bodhrán becomes the heartbeat of the music and when played alongside a flute there can be no more beautiful and haunting sound. The Bodhrán is usually used to follow the sound of other musicians and not to lead but there are a couple of songs that can be accompanied solely by the Bodhrán. One of which I have printed below.

The Bodhrán Song
(Brian O'Rourke - MÓC Music)

Oh I am a year old kid
I'm worth scarcely fifteen quid.
I'm the kind of beast you might well look down on
But my value will increase
At the time of my decease
For when I grow up I want to be a bodhrán.

If you kill me for my meat
You won't find me very sweet.
Your palate I'm afraid I'll soon turn sour on.
Ah but if you do me in
For the sake of my thick skin
You'll find I make a tasty little bodhrán.

Now my parents Bill and Nan,
They do not approve my plan
To become a yoke for every yob to pound on
Ah but I would sooner scamper
With a bang than with a whimper
And achieve reincarnation as a bodhrán.

I look forward to the day
When I leave off eating hay
And become a drum to entertain a crowd on
And I'll make my presence felt
With each well-delivered belt
As a fully qualified and licensed bodhrán.

And 'tis when I'm killed and cured
My career will be assured
I'll be a skin you'll see no scum nor scour on
But with studs around my rim
I'll be sound in wind and limb
And I'll make a dandy, handy little bodhrán.

Oh my heart with joy expands
When I dream of far-off lands
And consider all the streets that I will sound on
And I pity my poor ma
Who has never seen a Fleadh
Or indulged in foreign travel as a bodhrán.

For a hornpipe or a reel
A dead donkey has no feel
Or a horse or cow or sheep that has its shroud on
And you can't join in a jig
If you're a former grade A pig
But you can wallop out the lot if you're a bodhrán.

So if e'er you're feeling low
To a session you should go
And bring me there to exercise an hour on.
You can strike a mighty thump
On my belly, back or rump
But I thank you if you'd wait till I'm a bodhrán.

When I dedicate my hide,
I'll enhance the family pride
And tradition is a thing I won't fall down on
For I'll bear a few young bucks
Who'll inherit my good looks
And be proud to know their old one is a bodhrán.

And I don't think I'll much mind
When I've left himself behind
For the critter can no longer turn the power on
For with a celtic ink design
Tattooed on my behind
I can be a very sexy little bodhrán

Now I think you've had enough
Of this rubbishy old guff
So I'll put a sudden end to my wee amhrán
And quite soon my bloody bleat
Will become a steady beat
When I start my new existence as a bodhrán.

So as we say “Sin é” (that’s it). That is my understanding of the history of the Bodhrán. You may agree or disagree but I hope you find it of interest.

 Top image = Bodhrán by Bernie Prendergast.

Bottom image =  A Shebeen near Listowel attributed to Bridget Maria Fitzgerald and dates  c. 1842.

 

 

The Rabbit and the Hare.

The belief of animism is integral to tribal belief, animism is the understanding that all things in nature possess a spirit and presence of their own, so that rocks trees and the land were things to be learned from - as well as the ancestral spirits, who acted as guides for the future well-being of the tribe (although some beliefs about time were radically different to our own understanding).

Around this time of year many people celebrate the Christian festival of Easter. The symbol of fertility associated with this is one based upon the Rabbit/Hare. Below is a short summary of some of the superstitions and folklore surrounding these animals.

Considering a rabbit's foot lucky is actually an ancient tradition in much of the world. At least as far back as the 7th century BCE, the rabbit was a talismanic symbol in Africa, and in Celtic Europe, rabbits were considered lucky as well. Thus keeping a part of the rabbit was considered good fortune, and a rabbit's foot was a handy means by which to benefit from the luck of the rabbit.  One might argue that it's not so lucky for the rabbit.

These traditions were not marred much by the onset of other more prominent religions like Christianity. Even in the strongly Catholic Ireland of the Middle Ages, there were still superstitious beliefs regarding fairies or the Tuatha De Danaan who resided underground. Gradually, as Christianity spread in Ireland, the old Gods of Celtic belief became associated with hell. Rabbits were thought to have special protective powers needed for residing underground. Thus the rabbit's foot could be protection from evil spirits, and is even considered so today.

Other ancient groups imbued the rabbit's foot with specific forms of luck. To the Chinese, a rabbit's foot may be a symbol of prosperity. Also the known proclivity for rabbits to reproduce quickly and breed often has been noted in numerous cultures past and present. The rabbit’s foot can be carried by women who wish to get pregnant, or who wish to enhance their sexual lives. Sexuality in general is also related to the wish for abundance, fertile crops, and good weather.

Some traditions of how to collect a rabbit's foot state that they're only lucky when taken from cross-eyed rabbits living in graveyards. On the night of a full moon, you must shoot the rabbit with a silver bullet. Further, only the left hind foot is lucky in many traditions. If you can manage all that you don’t need a rabbit’s foot. You must be the luckiest person around.
Fertility rituals: place a rabbit skin under your bed to bring fertility and abundance to your sexual activities. If you're opposed to the use of real fur, use some other symbol of the rabbit that you're more comfortable with.

To bring yourself boundless energy, carry a talisman engraved or painted with a rabbit's image.

If you have wild rabbits or hares that live in your yard, leave them an offering of lettuce, shredded carrots, cabbage, or other fresh greens. In some magical traditions, the wild rabbit is associated with the deities of spring.

Rabbits and hares are able to go to ground quickly if in danger. Add a few rabbit hairs to a witch bottle for protection magic.

In some legends, rabbits and hares are the messengers of the underworld -- after all, they come and go out of the earth as they please. If you're doing a meditation that involves an underworld journey, call upon the rabbit to be your guide.

A hare was a dreaded animal to see on a May morning. An old Irish legend tells of a hare being spotted sucking milk from a cow. The hare was chased by hounds and received a bad wound and it made its way into an old house to hide. When the house was searched all that was found was an old woman hiding a wound. The woman of the house had a central role in dairy production. From this fact springs the idea that women were those essentially involved in the theft of the farmers "profit". Old, widowed, unmarried or independent women were usually pinpointed as the main culprits.

Hares feature in Irish folklore, and the hare is older than our island’s culture itself. The Irish hare has been immortalised as the animal gracing the Irish pre-decimal three pence piece. Hare mythology exists throughout almost every ancient culture and when the first settlers colonised Ireland, the Irish hare was already an iconic figure. There are many examples in Celtic mythology, and storytellers still relate tales of women who can shape-change into hares. The cry of the Banshee foretelling death might be legend but it may have parallels with the Irish hare of today as it struggles to avoid extinction in modern times.

For ancient communities that had struggled to survive the winter with limited food reserves, eggs were often the first of nature’s bounty to save them from starvation. No wonder then that the hare was revered as a symbol of life and endowed with magical powers.

In some parts of Ireland hares continue to be celebrated. The legendary ‘White Hare of Creggan’ can be seen at the An Creagan Visitor Centre in County Tyrone and its white silhouette still adorns local houses.

The Celts believed that the goddess Eostre's favourite animal and attendant spirit was the hare. It represented love, fertility and growth and was associated with the Moon, dawn and Easter, death, redemption and resurrection. Eostre changed into a hare at the full Moon. The hare was sacred to the White Goddess, the Earth Mother, and as such was considered to be a royal animal. Boudicca was said to have released a hare as a good omen before each battle and to divine the outcome of battle by the hare's movements. She took a hare into battle with her to ensure victory and it was said to have screamed like a woman from beneath her cloak.

Eostre, the Celtic version of Ostara, was a goddess also associated with the moon, and with mythic stories of death, redemption, and resurrection during the turning of winter to spring. Eostre, too, was a shape–shifter, taking the shape of a hare at each full moon; all hares were sacred to her, and acted as her messengers. Caesar recorded that rabbits and hares were taboo foods to the Celtic tribes.

In Ireland, it was said that eating a hare was like eating one’s own grandmother — perhaps due to the sacred connection between hares and various goddesses, warrior queens, and female faeries, or else due to the belief that old "wise women" could shape–shift into hares by moonlight. From 1893 edition of Folklore: “Country people in Kerry don’t eat hares; the souls of their grandmothers are supposed to have entered into them.

The Celts used rabbits and hares for divination and other shamanic practices by studying the patterns of their tracks, the rituals of their mating dances, and mystic signs within their entrails. It was believed that rabbits burrowed underground in order to better commune with the spirit world, and that they could carry messages from the living to the dead and from humankind to the faeries.

The Celtic warrior Oisin hunted a hare and wounded it in the leg, forcing it to seek refuge in a clump of bushes. When Oisin followed it he found a door leading into the ground and he eventually emerged into a huge hall where he found a beautiful young woman sitting on a throne bleeding from a wound in her leg. The transmigration of the soul is clearly seen in Celtic lore such as this, the life of the body is not the end of the spirit, this is understood to take other forms successively.

In Europe there are wide-spread remnants of a cult of a hare goddess and man has for centuries feared the hare because of the supernatural powers with which he has endowed her solitude, her remoteness and her subtle, natural skills. Active at night, symbolic of the intuitive, and the fickleness of the moon, the hare is an emblem of inconstancy. Like the moon which is always changing places in the sky, hares have illogical habits and are full of mystery and contradictions. Certainly it has never been regarded as an ordinary creature in any part of the world, and in ancient Egypt the hare was used as a Hieroglyph for the word denoting existence

Many divergent cultures link the hare with the moon and Buddhists have a saying about the "shadow of the hare in the moon" instead of the man in the moon. They see the hare as a resurrection symbol. The moon is perhaps the most manifest symbol of this universal becoming, birth, growth, reproduction, death and rebirth. The moon disappears, dies and is born again, and this underlies most primitive initiation rites, that a being must die before he can be born again on a higher spiritual level.

The symbol of the hare was used deliberately to transfer old pagan religion into a Christian context, and the Albrecht Durer woodcut of the Holy Family (1471-1 528) clearly depicts three hares at the family’s feet. Later superstition changed the Easter hare into the Easter rabbit or bunny, far less threatening than the ancient pagan symbol and very few people will be aware that the hare ever held such standing.

As the ancient beliefs died, superstitions about the hare were rife and many witches were reported to have hares as their familiars.

Today we talk of a lucky rabbit's foot but for many generations a hare's paw or foot was used as a charm against evil, a throw-back to the long forgotten belief in Eostre the Celtic dawn goddess.

As Christianity took hold in Western Europe, hares and rabbits, so firmly associated with the Goddess, came to be seen in a less favourable light — viewed suspiciously as the familiars of witches, or as witches themselves in animal form. Numerous folk tales tell of men led astray by hares who are really witches in disguise, or of old women revealed as witches when they are wounded in their animal shape.

Although rabbits, in the Christian era, were still sometimes known as good luck symbols (hence the tradition of carrying a "lucky rabbit’s foot"), they also came to be seen as witch–associated portents of disaster.

Despite this suspicious view of rabbits and their association with fertility and sexuality, Renaissance painters used the symbol of a white rabbit to convey a different meaning altogether: one of chastity and purity. It was generally believed that female rabbits could conceive and give birth without contact with the male of the species, and thus virginal white rabbits appear in biblical pictures of the Madonna and Child. The gentle timidity of rabbits also represented unquestioning faith in Christ’s Holy Church in paintings such as Titian’s Madonna with Rabbit (1530).

Hares were strongly associated with witches. The hare is quiet and goes about its business in secret. They are usually solitary, but occasionally they gather in large groups and act very strangely, much like a group of people having a conference. A hare can stand on its hind legs like a person; in distress, it utters a strange, almost human cry which is very disconcerting to the listener. Watching such behaviour, people claimed that a witch could change her form at night and become a Hare. In this shape she stole milk or food, or destroyed crops. Others insisted that hares were only witches' familiars. These associations caused many people to believe hares were bad luck, and best avoided.

A hare crossing one's path, particularly when the person was riding a horse, caused much distress. Still, the exact opposite superstition claimed that carrying a rabbit's or hare's foot brought good luck. There is no logic to be found in superstitions.

The Hare.

Hares are considered unlucky, as the witches constantly assume their form in order to gain entrance to a field where they can bewitch the cattle. A man once fired at a hare he met in the early morning, and having wounded it, followed the track of the blood till it disappeared within a cabin. On entering he found Nancy Molony, the greatest witch in all the county, sitting by the fire, groaning and holding her side. And then the man knew that she had been out in the form of a hare, and he rejoiced over her discomfiture.

Or:

A tailor one time returning home very late at night from a wake, or better, very early in the morning, saw a hare sitting on the path before him, and not inclined to run away. He approached, with his stick raised to strike her, as he did so he distinctly heard a voice saying, "Don't kill it." However, he struck the hare three times, and each time heard the voice say, "Don't kill it." The last blow knocked the poor hare quite dead and immediately a great big weasel sat up, and began to spit at him. This greatly frightened the tailor who, grabbed the hare, and ran off as fast as he could. Seeing him look so pale and frightened, his wife asked the cause, on which he told her the whole story; and they both knew he had done wrong, and offended some powerful witch, who would be avenged. However, they dug a grave for the hare and buried it; for they were afraid to eat it, and thought that now perhaps the danger was over. However, the next day the man became suddenly speechless, and died before the seventh day was over, without a word evermore passing his lips; and then all the neighbours knew that the witch-woman had taken her revenge.

When you next see hares boxing in the fields, remember that they are not simply soft cute animals. They carry millennia of mythology, folklore and tradition with them. Mankind's reverence has helped them to shape the rituals and traditions that we still celebrate across the world.

Keep smiling.



 

The History of Irish Soda Bread.

If you thought that soda bread was Irish then you would be wrong. It appears that honour belongs to the First Nation Indians on the American continent who used soda ash in baking their bread. Now we have made it our own and it has become known as Irish Soda Bread. This turn of events was brought about by poverty for the use of soft wheat flour and bicarbonate of soda was ideal for making what was then known as ‘Quick bread’ getting it to the table a lot faster than yeast based bread. In1908 2/3rds of the flour used in Ireland was soft wheat from the U.S. 90% of the flour used in Belfast and 80% of the flour used in Dublin was soft wheat

In 1850 it was reported that during the failure of the potato a large amount of bicarbonate of soda was used by the poor in the preparation of bread. This resulted in a shortage of bicarbonate of soda and unscrupulous dealers rose their prices accordingly. Crooked dealers also sold substitutes for bicarbonate of soda that caused many deaths.

In 1835 pre-packed ‘Royal Baking Powder’ was introduced. This combined bicarbonate of soda with cream of tartar to create the acid/alkali combination resulting in the release of carbon dioxide gas this in turn causes the bread to rise. It was introduced in baking around 1840, how it was first introduced is still unsure.

Sour milk was used in the making of soda bread in Ireland in the early years, a great way of using up something that would be normally thrown out.  However, buttermilk is used today. If you wish you can now buy a buttermilk powder that you just add to water.

Before baking your loaf, cut a cross on the top with a sharp knife. This is said to ward off the devil and protect the household , in reality it allows the bread to heat right through.  The shape of the loaf can differ depending on where you live. In the Southern part of Ireland it is shaped and baked as a round loaf with the cross marked on the top. In the Northern part of the Island it is flattened into a round disc and then divided into four equal triangular shapes. Each is then cooked on a flat griddle.

Bread making formed an important part of daily life within an Irish household. Most families lived in isolated farmhouses and with kitchens that had an open fireplace and no oven. Bread was baked on griddles or three legged black iron pots (Dutch ovens), hung on a crane over a turf fire. Due to the fact that the pot had three legs you could place it directly onto the hot embers, place a few hot embers onto its lid and here it would bake. You ended up with a lovely loaf that was tender and dense with a hard crust and a sour, tangy taste.

In our house n south Mayo soda bread was called farl, (pronounced farel).  The word derives from the Gaelic Fardel which literally means ‘four parts’ and this refers to the way you cut the cross into the top and when the bread is cut into four quarters when baked.

When the bread has been cooked it is wrapped in a clean tea towel until it has cooled down and this keeps the crust soft. Unless of course you eat it straight away. All that’s left to add is fresh butter, jam, and a nice mug of tea. On a cold spring equinox day like today, freezing wind and biting cold rain. A nice slice of farl with a hot mug of tea is just right. Keep smiling and don't forget the jam.

Source:www.sodabread.info/sodabreadhistory