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Sláinte!: The World Is My (Irish) Oyster

By Edythe Preet

September/October 1995

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Though Jonathan Swift is believed by many to have said, "He was a brave man who first dared to eat oysters," the quote predates Dublin's good doctor by about one hundred years, and was most likely first uttered by James I of England (1566-1625) at a royally excessive sixteenth century banquet. But the Irish had discovered the pleasure of eating oysters long before his majesty … [Read more...] about Sláinte!: The World Is My (Irish) Oyster

Sláinte! The Scottish Connection

By Edythe Preet

May/June 1995

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Scattered along Northern Ireland's rugged coast, forty thousand hexagonal columns trail from a stretch of cliffs to the sea. The unique rock formation is known worldwide as The Giant's Causeway. It resulted millions of years ago when a volcanic eruption spewed molten basalt into the air. As seawater slowly cooled the red hot lava, it formed into vertical clusters of mostly … [Read more...] about Sláinte! The Scottish Connection

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! 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