TUESDAY, February 9th at 7pm: THE CAILLEACH RETURNS

The Cailleach, wise woman of winter, is about to relinquish her hold and give way to the Maiden of Spring. But she won't go without a fight!

First, the Cailleach comes to the Seanchai Library with tales and poems about who she is and how she protects the land with her fierce energy.

Aoife Lorefield presents ... the Cailleach, live in voice.

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TUESDAY, February 24th at 7PM: THE CAILLEACH IS BACK!

In Gaelic mythology  the Cailleach  is a divine hag, a creator deity and weather deity, and possibly an ancestor deity. She is also commonly known as the Cailleach Bhéara(ch) or Bheur(ach). The word cailleach means "hag" in modern Scottish Gaelic, and has been applied to numerous mythological figures in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Join the Cailleach for a late winter's telling of one of the great myths of Celtic lands, of the hag, the maiden, and how healing comes to the land through the choice of a young knight. The young Arthur confronts the Black Knight, and the question to be answered is: What do women most desire? 

Presented live, in voice, by Aoife.

TUESDAY, November 4th at 7PM: More CAILLEACH TALES!

"Winter howls and wind does moan 
With Cailleach’s staff frost is sown. 
The Blue Hag beats the ground in grief. 
Her youth has fallen like the leaf. 
Line of face and frozen breast, 
No warmth, no milk to suckle the rest. 
With this loss the tempests rage. 
Creatures crawl from shallow …"

~ from the poem by Richard de Graeme 

We are now in the time of the Cailleach. Winter approaches, Spring seems very far off. This is the time when bleak weather arrives, when rocks crash down from the heights, when wild unexpectedness happens. Join us tonight for Cailleach tales and poems told by the Cailleach herself, a taste of stone and bone and darker days ... if you dare.

Aoife presents, live in voice.

WEDNESDAY, July 16th at 7PM: "OLD WOMAN" - Meet the Cailleach!

The Cailleach ... mean-tempered and "past her use-by date"? Wise and worth talking to? Magically powerful? Aoife's been fascinated by this character weaving her way through Celtic tales, and now brings her into SL with tales and poems. Come meet the Cailleach! Who knows what might happen?

Aoife live in voice.


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Cailleach on Location!

In Ireland she is also associated with craggy, prominent mountains and outcroppings, such as Hag's Head (Irish: Ceann Caillí, meaning "hag's head") the southernmost tip of the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare.  The megalithic tombs at Loughcrew in County Meath are situated atop Slieve na Calliagh (Irish:Sliabh na Caillí, meaning "the hag's mountain") and include a kerbstone known as "the hag's chair".  Cairn T on Slieve na Calliagh is a classic passage tomb, in which the rays of the equinox sunrise shine down the passageway and illuminate an inner chamber filled with megalithic stonecarvings.

In Scotland legend has it that the Cailleach was tired from a long day herding deer. Atop Ben Cruachan she fell asleep on her watch and a well she was tending overflowed, running down from the highlands and flooding the valleys below, forming first ariver and then the loch.The overflowing well is a common motif in local Gaelic creation tales - as seen in the goddess Boann's similar creation of the River Boyne in Ireland. Other connections to the region include her above-mentioned strong ties with the fierce whirlpool in the Gulf of Corryvreckan.