Irish Folklore & Witchcraft: Discover the strange, dark and mysterious

About this event

Discover the unique history of magic and witchcraft in Ireland with Dr Gillian Kenny. Followed by Q&A. Ireland never had the mass witch-hunts that swept across Europe. Just a handful of trials over three centuries. So where did magic really live in Irish life, and why were its practitioners spared the mass persecution seen almost everywhere else? You'll find their magic in the butter that wouldn't churn, the neighbour with the sharp eye, the wise woman consulted after dark, the child thought stolen and swapped by the fairies. This online workshop with historian Dr Gillian Kenny goes into the folklore of the magical world of ordinary Irish people, where belief in the evil eye, cunning folk, and changelings shaped daily life for centuries. Ireland holds a vast seam of folklore about its magic-workers, one so deep you can still catch it at work today, in a saved charm, a protective word, a wariness about the fairy fort in the field. We'll meet the people at the heart of it: the charmers and healers turned to in a crisis, the butter-witches blamed when the dairy failed, and the fairy faith that could turn a family's grief into something stranger and darker. The famous trials are here too, Florence Newton and the Islandmagee women among them, but seen as part of a much richer landscape of magic. You'll come away understanding why Irish ideas about witchcraft differed from those almost everywhere else, and what place magic held in the lives of ordinary people. Workshop highlights: Uncover the history of witchcraft and everyday magic in Ireland Understand how the history of magic in Ireland is unique and distinctive from much of Europe Learn about figures such as charmers, healers, butter witches and fairies Discover ancient Irish folklore and how magic finds its way into everyday life from grief and crisis to protection and love Stream opens at 5pm, talk starts 5:05pm EST! Dr Gillian Kenny is an Adjunct Associate Professor of History at University College Dublin and a Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin's Centre for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her research focuses on women's lives in medieval and early modern Ireland and on people considered outsiders in the medieval world. She is the author of Anglo-Irish and Gaelic Women in Ireland, c.1170-1540 and has contributed to podcasts, television and print media on Irish history. This workshop is 16+