Discussing the good people, the otherworld and exploring fairy folklore in Ireland.

Donncha Ó Dúlaing introduces this episode of the series ‘Of Night and Light and the Half Light’.

You’ll be meeting men and women who are unique in themselves and in their stories because they are the living embodiment of a great and vivid oral tradition. They bring us in their hearts and their lips, what they heard from the people that went before them.

The programme takes us back to the gentle whisper of conversation by the firesides, the universities of the hidden Ireland, to bring us the tales and traditions that are so important to Irish history. The series begins with a focus on the people.

Dr Paddy Logan provides an insight into the history of the fairies in Ireland. Up until the year 1800, philosophers, theologians and great literary figures believed in and wrote books about the fairies. He refutes any claims that belief in the fairies was the domain of ignorant peasants. He describes ‘The Cailleach Bhearra’, one of the fairy queens, as one of the great poems in the Irish language. In Dr Paddy Logan’s view, the fairies were the pre-Christian gods of the Celtic Irish. When Christianity arrived in Ireland, some good and some bad fairies, were banished to the fairy mounds throughout the country.

‘Of Night and the Light and the Half Light’ broadcast on 25 July 1982. The presenter is Donncha Ó Dúlaing.

First broadcast on 21 July 1982 ‘Of Night and Light and the Half Light’ was a series consisting of six programmes recorded in the RTÉ Television studios. It was produced by Niall Matthews.

Presenter Donncha Ó Dúlaing interviewed storytellers, local historians, keepers of folklore and people with knowledge of cures and folk healing with the aim of exploring

The world of folklore, of fairies, and of the other life through the conversations of people who know about these things.

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