Irish America

Irish America

Edythe Preet

Sláinte!: The Night of the Big Portion

By Edythe Preet

January/February 1995

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In Ireland the last night of the year was called Oiche na Cada Moire, The Night of the Big Portion. It was common practice to have a big supper that night to ensure a full cupboard and plenty to eat in the twelve months to come. Of course, the custom dated back to a time when crop success meant the difference between feast and famine. Spells and incantations were invoked to … [Read more...] about Sláinte!: The Night of the Big Portion

Sláinte! The Feast of Bealtaine

By Edythe Preet

May/June 1994

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The Celtic feast of Bealtaine (Bright Fire) began on the first day of May with the lighting of the May Fires. The clan gathered to celebrate the end of the dark months and the return of the light. The fires symbolized the earth's life-giving forces-fertility and rebirth after the dormant winter months. Dancers enacted the sun's movement through the skies and the Maypole and … [Read more...] about Sláinte! The Feast of Bealtaine

Sláinte!: Saint Patrick

By Edythe Preet, Contributor
April / May 2014

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It is perhaps a love of words that endears the Irish to Saint Patrick.  Son of a West Britain Roman family, at age sixteen Patrick was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. Six years later he escaped, fled to the coast, and was hired on as kennel master to a German boat that was transporting Irish wolfhounds to the continent. After many hardships, he at last … [Read more...] about Sláinte!: Saint Patrick

Sláinte! Brigid: Goddess and Saint

By Edythe Preet

January / February 1994

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For over a thousand years, February 1 has been celebrated as St. Brigid's Day. Legend holds it was then that the saint placed her foot in a spring outside the village of Liscannor by the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. Waters warmed; weather improved. Cows filled with milk; butter production expanded. To this day, pilgrims gather at Liscannor's well on Brigid's feast to … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Brigid: Goddess and Saint