TY  - BOOK
AU  - Ó Crualaoich,Gearóid
TI  - The book of the Cailleach: stories of the wise-woman healer 
SN  - 1859183727
U1  - 398.2 OCR   
PY  - 2004///, reprint]
CY  - Cork
PB  - Cork University
KW  - Tales
KW  - Ireland
KW  - Women healers
KW  - Folklore
KW  - Oral tradition
KW  - Folk literature, Irish
N1  - Includes bibliographical references (p. [288]-292) and index; Copyright: 2003
N2  - This volume presents an analysis of the "wise woman healer" from the oral traditions of Ireland's rural communities.  Stories, told and retold, embedded in the texture of culture and community, collected and studied for many decades, are here translated and made available to the general reader.  The figure of the "wise woman", the "hag", the Cailleach, or the "Red Woman" are part of an oral tradition which has its roots in pre-Christian Ireland.  In the hands of Gearoid O'Crualaich these figures are subtly explored to reveal how they offered a complex understanding of the world, of human psychology and its predicaments.  The thematic structure of the book brings to the fore universal themes such as death, marriage, childbirth and healing, and invites the reader to see the contemporary relevance of the stories for themselves
ER  -