Summer
in Ireland this year was from June 1st to June 9th – nine
days of clear skies, bright sunshine, and (for them) high temperatures of up
around 75 degrees. Everyone, including me, took advantage of it to be outside.
On Saturday the 8th, Barry and I drove to Ballinderry Castle, a Gaelic Norman tower house just south of Tuam in County Galway to see the sheela-na-gig there. According to the County Galway Guide, “The Norman de Burgos built Ballinderry between 1450 and 1500. They were said to be 'more Irish than the Irish' and adopted Irish laws, dress, language and architecture. Ballinderry was a moated castle on the shores of a lough that has since disappeared.”
The tendency of the de Burgos and other Gaelic
Norman lords to adopt all things Irish may be why this sheela-na-gig is
surrounded by Celtic symbols, which makes her unique among her sisters. The
other unusual thing about this sheela is that she has something flowing between
her legs. Barbara Frietag, author of Sheela-Na-Gigs: Unravelling an Enigma,
believes that sheela-na-gigs are related to childbirth and interprets it as an
afterbirth. The first time I saw it I
thought of Queen Maeve, who gets her period at the end of the Cattle Raid of
Cooley. That is probably because I had just told that story!
On Sunday the 8th I spent the day
with Jackie Gorman. We first went to a wild forest park in Portlick right on Lough
Ree for a walk, and then back to Athlone for dinner followed by an evening of
Taize singing.
Entire years can go by in Ireland without a week of sun like we had during these days. All day Sunday, Jackie was wondering if it would be the last day of summer. And in fact, we haven’t had any completely sunny days since then.
Pictures from the top: Ballinderry Castle, the Ballinderry Sheela-na-Gig, Barry in correct relation to the goddess above the door, Jackie Gorman and a magnificent oak, Lough Ree through the branches of the forest, the Lough Ree rescue boat on the Shannon in Athlone, a filly we met at Ballinderry, and me on the Shannon in the sun with a Guinness!