Rainmaking in Ireland

The woods around us are dry. Very few mushrooms yet. We sleep with the windows open, and the sheets dry in half a day on the line. The drought of the world will eventually come to Ireland, although so far we’ve been spared.

This week a flagstone in the River Suir in Tipperary was exposed for the first time in ages. Locals immediately set it on fire.  

You can read the entire RTE story about it, and see a video here.

Michael Coady, known for his poetry and antics on the river Suir, was interviewed for the story. 

"It's a river tradition and my interpretation is that it's associated with drought," local historian and poet Michael Coady said this evening.

"In a drought, this stone has sometimes been exposed at low tide. God knows how old that tradition is.

"There used to be fishermen vying with one another to light a fire and lighting a fire in the middle of the river is a kind of a rain-making ritual."

…

This evening, a crowd gathered along Carrick's quays to see local fisherman Ralph O'Callaghan, who lives a stone's throw from the Suir, carry on the tradition.

"It came to be known as Leac na Tine, the flagstone of fire. In the past, and this is one of them now, there were times when it was exposed."

"We're long connected with the river, as is everyone in Carrick, we cross it every day," Mr O'Callaghan said.

"We're fishermen, boatmen, we had the last working barge on the river. So there's a deep connection to it."