Ireland: bagpipes and pagan sites

April 4, 2023 11:18 AM

My cousin is going to Ireland and is very interested in bagpipes and Pagan sites/culture. Does anyone have any pointers? Assume that I have already Googled this and am looking for more.
posted by rednikki to Travel & Transportation around Ireland (6 answers total)

Best answer: Pointer number one is that the pipes most commonly played in Ireland are Uilleann pipes. The phrase "trad music" or "tradceol" should get you some action, also the concept of a "session". By pagan sites I guess you mean neolithic sites or "pre-christian" site, pagan might get you some rolleyes. Send him up to Newgrange, it's quite something, he can look into the Hill of Tara, etc too.
posted by Iteki at 12:10 PM on April 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Fair warning: my Irish friend wants you to know that the Hill of Tara is covered in sheep shit.
posted by headspace at 1:40 PM on April 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Dowth This is a great website that describes site information in detail on the alignment of various pagan burial sites as a whole.
posted by effluvia at 5:31 PM on April 4, 2023

Best answer: Modern pagan/wiccan: The Fellowship of Isis. Wiccans are alive and stalking about the land.

Old rock art: Christiaan Corlett has written the definitive Inscribing the landscape - the rock art of south Leinster [2014]. Some of which illustrated here. His group are responsible for a zoomable map of the island whereby yr Coz can find GPSed archaeo-sites local to wherever they wash up.
posted by BobTheScientist at 12:40 AM on April 5, 2023

Best answer: There are standing stones all over the place, loads of them are not mapped and they are all mostly just in some random farmer's field.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:48 AM on April 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

There don't seem to be dates for a 2023 edition (yet?) but for an immersive introduction to the uilleann piping tradition and to listen to some of the best modern practitioners, I'd make a beeline for this festival in Armagh.

Wherever your friend is going in Ireland, they should ask around for/Google which pubs host the best trad sessions. Whether they'll get to hear a piper or not will depend on the specific mix of musicians that frequent that particular session - they're not as common as, say, fiddle players - but if they're interested in the music they'll have a great time regardless.
posted by FavourableChicken at 9:25 AM on April 5, 2023