The Irish Keen: Grief Rituals and the Otherworld

The return of the traditional Irish lament• Provides context and history for the traditional Irish lament known as the keen, examining the origins of the ritual and its history from paganism through Christianity• Explores keening’s shamanic dimensions and mythological connections to the Otherworld, including the world of Faerie while drawing on archaeology and traditional Irish folklore• Looks at the practicalities of keening, considering the wake as a rite of passage, the role and burden of keeners, the structure and music of the keen, and the contemporary rebirth of the practiceCombining scholarship, storytelling, and embodied wisdom, Mary Mc Laughlin offers an authoritative yet accessible guide to the Irish keen as both an ancient funeral rite and a modern tool to help you navigate bereavement. A singer and instructor of Irish singing and Gaelic song, Mc Laughlin reveals the keening lament as a ritualized practice that bears aspects of ancient shamanism as well as the pre-Christian