Menhir, or standing stones, were placed to mark burials, travel routes & tribal boundaries. They may have also served a ritual purpose.

The Irish tradition of handfasting is associated with holed standing stones. Couples would make their engagement vows over the stone

In Celtic story-telling tradition, men who righted the standing stone were admitted into the warrior ascendancy on completion of the feat.

In the Celtic cycles ancient stones can be inhabited by mysterious sentinels. Mastering this entity affirms the hero's truth of purpose.

The Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone in Co Armagh - Ireland's oldest Christian stone monument, dated to c. 700 AD.

Tully Mountain in the distance at beautiful Connemara, County Galway.

The earliest record of football in Ireland is from the Statute of Galway in 1527, which outlawed hurling but allowed the playing of football ('caid') to continue. Modern Gaelic football originates from this medieval game, with standard rules adopted by the GAA in 1886.

The traditional game of Caid is similar to Gaelic football & was esp. popular in County Kerry. 'Caid' refers to the ball, made of animal skin / bladder. Played in the winter months, with tripping, pushing & wrestling employed to bring the ball 'home' to the winner's parish.

The idea of an 'honourable draw' in sport/combat is well attested in ancient Europe. In Greece a referee would share the prize between wrestlers of equal skill; in Irish myth the Tuatha Dé returned Connacht to the heavily defeated Firbolg. Ties turn foes into friends.

In the Irish tale 'The Priest's Soul', a man thinks himself so clever he teaches there’s no Heaven, Purgatory, Hell and even that men have no souls.

Upon his death a soul leaves his body and that was the first butterfly ever seen in Ireland. 🌷🦋

"The significance of the butterfly in Irish folklore attributes it as the soul and thus it has the ability to cross to the Otherworld. It is also a symbol of transformation and creation." - Butterflies in Irish Folklore (1994) by A. Bonach

In Scottish Gaelic a butterfly is 'dealan dé', meaning thunderbolt of God 🌩️🦋

(Gormán Coiteann - Common Blue)

In Irish myth the butterfly is related to love, rebirth, & the ancestors. In the Wooing of Étaín an enchantress turns love-rival Étaín into a pink butterfly. After 14 years of storms, she flies into the cup of a noblewoman; she is drunk, gestated & reborn to unite with her lover.

In Irish folklore the spider was helped in its nocturnal weaving by fairy spirits. During the day these fairies would travel to the nearest woman's spinning-wheel, bringing her work ill or luck that day.