#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: The first woman in Ireland to be officially denounced as a witch was Dame Alice Kyteler in the thirteenth century. All her four husbands died one after the other relatively shortly after the wedding. Alice was by then an extremely wealthy woman in her own right and ran a very popular inn. By all accounts, she was quite a character, and did not at all fit into the social norms for women at that time. With hindsight, it’s perhaps not surprising that she was singled out for retribution. Alice’s inn is still going strong to this very day… it’s now known by the name of Kyteler’s Inn, and is reputed to be frequented by Alice’s ghost. To get the full Alice Kyteler story, you can download a FREE copy of A contemporary narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler : prosecuted for sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, bishop of Ossory.
Source: Ali Isaac | Substack
#Celtic#FairyTaleTuesday: In European folklore, a need-fire (Scottish Gaelic: tein'-éigin) is a fire kindled by friction, which is lit in a ritual and used as protective magic against murrain (infectious diseases affecting cattle), plague and witchcraft. It was a tradition in parts of northern, western and eastern Europe until the 19th century, among Germanic, Gaelic and Slavic peoples. A need-fire would usually be lit when there was an epidemic such as an outbreak of plague or cattle disease. In some regions, a need-fire was lit yearly to prevent such disasters. In the Scottish Highlands they were lit each year at #Beltane.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-fire
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