Irish Folk Ways

This work relates the history of folk belief and customs in Ireland, explaining their origins, diversity and expression through cultural behaviour and locally made tools, and is bedded in research, personal observation and insight into the continuing convergence of past and present.

This modern classic on its subject first appeared in 1957 and was last printed in 1989. It relates the history of folk belief and customs in Ireland, explaining their origins, diversity and expression through cultural behaviour and locally made tools, and is bedded in research, personal observation and rare insight into the continuing convergence of past and present visible in the Irish countryside. Forest to Farmland, Bally and Booley, The Thatched House, Hearth and Home, Furniture and Fittings, Kilns and Clochauns, Plough and Spade, Harvest, Turn and Slane, Boats and Fishing, Fairs and Gatherings, Weddings and Wakes, Old Pisogues, are just some of the subjects encompassed in this richly detailed, compellingly written work, illustrated by over a hundred of the author's own photographs and line-drawings. This new edition carries a foreword by the poet Michael Longley.