The cures of Ireland

Almost everyone in Ireland, particularly in rural communities, will know of someone with a ‘cure’. It might be for the mumps or for a stye in the eye, indeed the author of Cures of Ireland, Cecily Gilligan was herself cured of jaundice and ringworm by a ‘seventh son’ in her local Sligo during her childhood.

Cecily Gilligan has been researching the rich world of Irish folk medicine for almost forty years, interviewing people around the country who possess these mystical cures, their families and those who have benefited from their gifts.

The tradition of cures has always been largely an oral one, with details passed through the generations or in communities by word of mouth, but in this beautiful book, Gilligan has profiled ninety-three women and men, of all ages, with a wide variety of cures, most in her native north-west who continue to dispense their cures to this day.

While the Ireland of the twenty-first century continues to develop at lightning speed, economically, socially, and culturally, there is something deeply comforting in the fact these ancient healing traditions, while fewer in number, do survive. But the balance between their extinction and survival is delicate, and so Cures of Ireland is a book that will be treasured by many generations to come.