Máire MacNeill (7 December 1904 – 15 May 1987) was an Irish journalist, folklorist and translator. She is best known for her magisterial study of the Irish
harvest festival
A harvest festival is an annual Festival, celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different ...
, ''The Festival of Lughnasa'' (1962, 1983).
Biography
She was born at
Portmarnock
Portmarnock () is a coastal town in County Dublin, Ireland, north of the city of Dublin, with significant beaches, a modest commercial core and inland residential estates, and two golf courses, including one of Ireland's best-known golf clubs. , ...
,
County Dublin
County Dublin ( or ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and holds its capital city, Dublin. It is located on the island's east coast, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Until 1994, County Dubli ...
, the second daughter of historian and political figure
Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill (; born John McNeill; 15 May 1867 – 15 October 1945) was an Irish scholar, Irish language enthusiast, Gaelic revivalist, nationalist, and politician who served as Minister for Education from 1922 to 1925, Ceann Comhairle of D ...
and Agnes Moore. After the family moved into the city she attended Muckross Park school. She received her BA in Celtic Studies from
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
in 1925. From 1927 to 1932, she worked as a journalist and then as sub-editor on the
Cumann na nGaedheal
Cumann na nGaedheal (; ) was a political party in the Irish Free State, which formed the government from 1923 to 1932. It was named after the original Cumann na nGaedheal organisation which merged with the Dungannon Clubs and the National Co ...
newspaper, ''The Star''. She also assisted her father with his memoirs.Maureen Murphy: Máire MacNeill. Béaloideas 72, 2004 (Irish Folklore Commission)
In 1935,
Séamus Ó Duilearga
Séamus Ó Duilearga (born James Hamilton Delargy; 26 May 1899 – 25 June 1980) was an Irish folklorist, professor of folklore at University College Dublin and Director of the Irish Folklore Commission.
Born in Cushendall, Co Antrim, he was one ...
invited her to work for the newly founded
Irish Folklore Commission
The Irish Folklore Commission () was set up in 1935 by the Irish Government to study and collect information on the folklore and traditions of Ireland.
History
Séamus Ó Duilearga (James Hamilton Delargy) founded ''An Cumann le Béaloideas Éir ...
as office manager. She trained in folklore methods at Uppsala University, Sweden, before starting research on the Lughnasadh festival. She examined the 195 sites associated with the festival, the best-known of which is the
Croagh Patrick
Croagh Patrick (), nicknamed 'the Reek', is a mountain with a height of and an important site of pilgrimage in County Mayo, Ireland. The mountain has a pyramid-shaped peak and overlooks Clew Bay, rising above the village of Murrisk, several ...
pilgrimage, and also includes other sites such as Máméan.
MacNeill left the Folklore Commission in 1949 to go to
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
where she married poet John L. Sweeney. Her Lughnasa study was published in 1962, for which she received her doctorate. She re-settled in Ireland in 1967 and engaged in a number of translations from the Irish. She died at her home in
cubist
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture.
Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
paintings by
Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
and
Juan Gris
José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic g ...
at the
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...
(
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...