Seanchas na Caorach
Image courtesy of the National Folklore Collection.
Join us for this lecture on folk custom and belief as it applies to sheep health and husbandry.
An original study by Professor Michael Doherty relating to diseases of cattle provided evidence of belief in the efficacy of folk cures, as well the continuing existence of a variety of herbal and magico-religious practices associated with them.
The purpose of Professor Doherty’s current research was to establish the experience of folk custom and belief as it applies to sheep health and husbandry, with an emphasis on hill farming. Michael’s field work was carried out in the early spring of 2024 and primary sources in UCD’s National Folklore Collection were examined with a particular emphasis on Seán Ó hEochaidh’s paper on Donegal sheep folklore “Seanchas na Caorach” (1969), published in Béaloideas: the Journal of the Folklore of Ireland Society. Michael will present his folklore research through an ethno-veterinary medicine lens.
This lecture is organised by An Cumann le Béaloideas Eireann/The Folklore of Ireland Society.
Image courtesy of the National Folklore Collection.
Image courtesy of the National Folklore Collection.
Professor Michael Doherty served as Dean and Head of the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine between 2016 and 2023. For his sabbatical research year, he returned to his interest in folklore and is undertaking an MLitt research study on the folklore of sheep health and husbandry with colleagues in the UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore. Professor Michael Doherty is past president of the European College of Bovine Health Management and he has also been recognised as a European Specialist in sheep health.
If our team can be of any assistance, please contact us at learning@nli.ie
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