Summer Solstice 2026 "Fire is the holiest of all things. Walk three times round a fire on St. John's Eve, and you will be safe from disease for all that year." - Lady Wilde, Irish Cures, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions (1887) The 21st of June is the longest day of the year, the point where the l...

June 2026 "Thanks and praises and Glory be to You, God, and to your Holy Good Mother for your gifts and graces to me all this day and night." - from a folk prayer in the Schools' Collection, National Folklore Collection, UCD. June is the month when the year's growth becomes something you can actu...

24 May 2026 'Certain hags in Wales, as well as in Ireland and Scotland, changed themselves into the shape of hares, that, sucking teats under this counterfeit form, they might stealthily rob other people’s milk.' Giraldus Cambrensis, 12th century, cited in 'The Cailleach and the Cosmic Hare' by S...

April 2026 "Anything sown during a full moon was supposed to grow wild." — from the Schools' Collection, National Folklore Collection, UCD   April is when the ground actually receives what you put into it. Not the gesture of intention in February or the stirring of March, but the actual moment wh...

March 2026  Well, we’re tipping into that time of year where seed catalogues start flirting with you and garden centres pile the plant babies near the door so you’ll feel guilty walking past. Maybe you’ve grand plans for raised beds. Maybe you’re just trying not to kill the next basil plant you b...