Customer Reviews

Visions and Beliefs in the West of Ireland

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A rustic, wonderfully no-frills collection of anecdotes and 'stories-heard' concerning fairy beliefs and fairy doings gathered at the turn of the 20th Century by Lady Augusta Gregory (with the assistance of William Butler Yeats), Visions & Beliefs In The West Of Ireland (1920) will appeal directly to students of folklore, fairylore, anthropology, psychology, and religion. It will also be of interest to the casual reader, who may be surprised to learn how prevalent the belief in fairies was in rural areas of the British Isles, and how seriously this belief was taken; and not two or three hundred years ago, but a hundred years ago. Though far less common today, the fairy faith still thrives throughout the world, as several articles in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal recently made clear.

Charming and colorful without being in the least sentimental, Visions & Beliefs In The West of Ireland is required reading for anyone seriously interested in the supernatural or Irish cultural history. The fairies described here vary in appearance, but in most cases are more akin to the image of the Christian angel than to the 'flower fairy' or garden gnome of modern popular imagination. Never winged, only sometimes small or short, and often the size of an average man or larger, the beings observed in these recountings (or perceived but unseen "all around us, as thick as the grass," as one man says) steal milk, kidnap babies, haunt roads, wells, and shorelines, prefer human women to act as midwives for their newborns, and require human participation to play their games and fight their wars.

Who or what is the Fool of the Fort? Why May and June are the most dangerous months of the year? How does one free one's self from enchantment if pixie-led? What happens on May Day's Eve? How does one recognize a fairy doctor? Are babies perceived as changelings in fact sick or deformed children? This volume addresses these questions and a hundred more.

As a vision-based collection of folklore, and of fact as the rural people perceived it, this book deserves the highest praise for its purity of style, method, and intention. The more imagination the reader has, the more the book, with its incredible descriptions, will expand in mind and memory.