Irish Cursing and the Art of Magic, 1750-2018

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4926328
AutoresThomas Waters (0000-0001-6643-7449, Imperial College London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen247
Número1
Páginas113-149
Fecha de publicación2020-05-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPast & Present (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0031-2746 • E-ISSN: 1477-464X
EditorialOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pastj/gtz051
OpenAlexW3004794414
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas18

Fairies, leprechauns, banshees, witches, holy wells and rural remedies. Historic Ireland is famous for its superstitions, magic and 'alternative beliefs'. Yet we should not ignore what was once the most widespread Irish magic of all: cursing. A righteous occult attack, a dark prayer for terrible pains to blight evildoers, cursing was unnervingly common from ancient times until the mid-twentieth century. This article explores its neglected modern history, since the late 1700s, by carefully scrutinizing the Irish style of cursing, relating it to wider social and economic conditions, and making comparisons with maledictions elsewhere. Irish imprecations can be analysed using familiar academic categories such as belief, ritual, symbolism, tradition and discourse. However, by repurposing an older way of thinking about magic, I argue that historic Irish cursing is best understood as an art, because it required knowledge, practice, wit, skill and composure. Intimidating, cathartic and virtuoso: cursing mingled gruesome yet poetic phrases with ostentatious rites, in the name of supernatural justice. It had many applications but was particularly valuable to Ireland's marginalized people, fighting over food, religion, politics, land and family loyalties. Cursing rapidly faded from the mid-twentieth century and, unlike other forms of occultism, was not revived by the post 1970s 'New Age' movement. Its unusual history underlines three wider points: (i) magic can usefully thrive in modern societies, figuring in the most vital areas of life; (ii) different types of magic have distinct chronologies; (iii) the most psychologically powerful forms of magic are subtle arts that deserve our (begrudging) respect

Aesthetics · Art · Irish · Literature · MAGIC (telescope) · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices