Day 6

Day 6 Wednesday:  First the first time this trip, droplets fell from the grey skies, but that didn't dampen people's spirits.  Nearly everyone is better from the little colds contracted on the plane.  Paige, who couldn’t find her wallet, had it returned; it was sitting the Pharmacy the whole time, and Ben received his missing luggage.  Niahm arrived and we began a wonderful lecture about the rise of Angel-Irish Culture: first the subversive Anglo-Irish literature of Shaw, Wilde, Swift, and then the Cultural Revival spearheaded by Yeats on the literary front (1865-1939).  Of course, since he did not speak Irish, the lens of looking back to the fairy world and myths of the past is that of male, Protestant Ascendancy, but without his efforts, much of the interest in and the salvage of the old stories would not occurred.  Niahm had a wonderful way of making his unrequited love affair (he proposed to Maude Gonne three times) come to life and reminded everyone of how much we love Yeats for his revolutionary ideas and nationalism but also for his failure to win over the love of his life.

 

In Ireland, everyone is believed to have a guardian angel.  In the 1700 and 1800's this was especially important given the infant mortality rate with the Irish famine.  The fairies would take a baby from this world and bring the departed little one to the safety and happiness of the fairy world.  In Celtic culture, women always had more agency than in Judeo-Roman cultures, so the fairies played a helpful role in healing--and in other aspects of interpreting and experiencing life. (A Banshee, by the way, is a female fairy.)

 

We stopped at Creevykeel Court Cairn--another sacred portal grave from the Ancient times.  The rest of the day completely Yeats infused.  We went to the tiny town of Drumcliff where Yeats is buried.  The church doors have swan handles to represent Yeats’s imagery that he often used to represent eternal and committed love, as swans mate for life.   Sligo City, where we stopped next for a quick lunch, is a fascinating mix of old and new, and then we traveled to Glencare Waterfall where fairy lore is especially strong.  At Glencar Waterfall, Niahm, Heather, Eva, and I each read a stanza from Yeats’s "Stolen Child," where the fairies come to take away the lost babies. This is Yeats’s country, where he and his brother and two sisters played as children, wandering the hillsides after being shipped here to visit granny while dad and mum did their own thing. I had no idea Jack Butler Yeats was Ireland's most prominent painter and that W.B.'s two sisters (Lilly and Lolly) started a printing press, invested in local crafts, and managed the business affairs of their two brothers, who gained world attention.  

 

The most striking part of the day, for me though, was the Drumcliff churchyard and surrounding land, which was so full of history and symbolism.  Looking in the horizon, we could see the mountain with the nipple of rocks sticking up; that is Queen Mauve's grave (Pagan Irish warrior queen) who wanted to overlook the whole area upon her death.  In this churchyard, the High Celtic Cross stands, a perfect fusion of the Celtic circle (from pagan times) shaped into a cross telling the story of Adam and Eve and other Christian stories.  And of course, here is Yeats’s grave, where he, too, wanted to be a part of this land; thus, fusing pagan, Christian, Anglo-Irish, and modern times.

 

On our way home we saw Mullaghmore Castle in the distance.  The British royals used to own it, though it's privately owned now. Eventually, we left the elegance of the castles and wild coastline and returned to Bundoran.  That night we traipsed over to the local movie theater in our PJs. J