I recently ran across this clip on youtube, where Paddy Doherty explains the tragic death of his son on the Late Late Show; where upon seeing him in hospital, was so overcome with grief, that he drank his blood as a comfort, so that his son would be forever with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRmiDakoNMg

Many traveler customs are inherited from earlier Irish culture, the drinking of a relative's blood is not unheard of as a means of dealing with grief and providing comfort. For instance, in Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire 'The Keen of Art Ó Laoghaire', a lament attributed to Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill, aunt of the emancipator Daniel O'Connell, a verse is mentioned where Eibhlín supposedly drank the blood of Airt, her dead husband, after he was killed at the hands of Abraham Morris, Sheriff of county Cork, and his men in 1773.

In the sixth verse Eibhlín discovers the body of her dead husband by a small furze bush and proceeds to drink his blood:

"Do bhuaileas go luath mo bhasa
is do bhaineas as na reathaibh
chomh maith is bhí sé agam,
go bhfuaras romham tu marbh
Cois toirín ísil aitinn,
gan Pápa gan easpag,
gan cléireach gan sagart
do léifeadh ort an tsailm,
ach seanbhean chríonna chaite
do leath ort binn dá fallaing –
do chuid fola leat 'na sraithibh;
is níor fhanas le hí ' ghlanadh
ach í ól suas lem bhasaibh."

Translation:

[Eibhlín upon getting up on the horse]

I (Eibhlín) clapped my palms quickly
and I took off with haste
as hard as I could,
'till I found you dead before me
by a low furze-bush
with no Pope or bishop
or clergy or priest
to read a psalm over you
but a spent old woman
who spread her cloak corner
where your blood streamed from you,
and I didn't stop to clean it
but drank it from my palms.

My question is has anybody else ever encountered something similar while they were reading folklore?

Cian

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This is a great question!

Yes, I have run across lots of stories where relatives and loved ones drank the blood of somebody who died – especially if they died in battle. The same tradition also existed in Scotland. I can't think of any particular story off the top of my head, but there are plenty of accounts in folklore – and in historical accounts, too.

Thanks WeefalorieMan, I thought you might have had something alright ! The action seem to be connected with 'tragic' death, rather than just dealing with death in general, would I be right in thinking that?

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Aye, it has to do with a tragic death, I think.

… Then Cenn Berraide arose and brought the head to Dún Delgan, and gave it into Eimher's hand; and she had it washed and put on its own body, and Eimher took it to her, and she clutched it to her breast and her bosom after that, and began to bewail and lament over him, and began to kiss his lips and drink his blood, and she put a silken shroud about him. 'Och, och,' said the girl, 'good was the beauty and the shape of this head, though it be as it is to-day …

No actually, I don't recall anything like that from any of the folklore books I've read, I must have a look again. I'll be back in ~2 days to read the relevant sections.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

Perhaps more Bowdlerisation of the icky bits? (See also Cinderall's step-sisters cutting off their own toes to fit the slipper.)

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A language belongs to its native speakers, and when you speak it, you are a guest in their homes.
If you are not a good guest, you have no right to complain about receiving poor hospitality.

Here's the very best version of that story that I've ever run across – translated from the Gaelic A Chaora Bhiorach, Ghlas:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/pt2/pt235.htm

p.s. By the by, the sharp grey sheep is her mother (in those days a sheep could be your mother).

I doubt it, the folklore collections are pretty gruesome and contain things that a hypothetical bowdlerizer would have found more disgusting.

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The dialect I use is Cork Irish.
Ar sgáth a chéile a mhairid na daoine, lag agus láidir, uasal is íseal

There's a reference to drinking the blood of a dead loved one in the famous Scottish song "Ailein Duinn":

Dh'òlainn deoch ge b' oil le càch e
De dh'fhuil do choim 's tu 'n déidh do bhathadh
(I would drink, though all would abhor
Of your heart's blood after you were drowned)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailein_duinn

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(SL)(GM)

No need to go through all that trouble a Loin Dhuibh, a question on a whim is all that it was!



Feckin sheep shaggers!



Thank WeeFalorieMan, what story is that out of?

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