Welcome to my weekly blog,  SATURDAY SESSIONS!

In this blog, for the perusal of all our students, past, present and future, I include an extract from our interactive presentation Course, Ireland and its Culture.

If you wish to ask me any question about the text, by the way, just send me an e-mail at greg@bluefeather.ie

THE FAIRIES  (Part 1)

Ireland's most famous poet, W.B. Yeats, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, was "absolutely certain"  that the Fairy Kingdom existed.

Fairies are visible only to those who can see them. The word fairy comes from the Latin 'fata', of fate. The Fates were the three women who spun and controlled the webs of life in ancient classical mythology.

There are different theories to explain who or what the fairies are, but basically, they live under the ground or in fairy raths or mounds, where there is no time. They can change shape and size and sometimes they even appear as crows - when they're up to mischief!

Fairy Paths link sites of power (ley lines) around the world. The hawthorn tree is also known as the fairy tree. Fairy rings are circles of inedible fungi, magic circles where fairies meet and dance and sing. Stand on a fairy ring on the night of a full moon and make a wish. Your wish will come true.

A belief in fairies formerly dominated Irish life. Tara was not only the political but also the magical centre of Ireland. Processions of silent spirits march around its grass-grown raths and forts. The good people (fairies) play music throughout the night.

Many people believe that fairies are the spirits of the departed. They are also believed to have inherited the burial mound at Newgrange.