Tracing the roots of Irish folklore

DURING the summer, the discovery of what some people believed was a sacred tree, in a church grounds in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, led to sensational headlines that set off a religious frenzy.

But, we should not have been too surprised, for trees have been thought to have magical and spiritual qualities since time immemorial.

The shorn stump of a pine tree in Rathkeale was like a shape of a cloaked woman, compared by some to the Virgin Mary. Devotees flocked to the site and successfully petitioned the church authorities not to fell the tree.