I often find myself answering questions on traditions in Ireland. The following is an exerpt from a book on Irish Folk Custom and Belief by Seán Ó Súilleabháin HUMAN LIFE The idea of the existence of some kind of soul in human beings is found among even the most primitive peoples. The soul (as distinct from the life-force) was regarded as some kind of concrete entity, capable of moving about independently of the body to which it belonged, and of assuming different shapes at will. In Ireland, for example, there are traces of the belief that the souls of emigrants who had died abroad returned to their native land in the form of seagulls or in a sea-mist. Such ideas were, of their nature, pre-Christian. Dreams and hallucinations among early peoples seem to have given rise to the belief that the soul (or whatever it was) could move about of its own accord. In dreams, we appear to see people and to speak to them, and they converse with us-it does not matter that some of them are already dead. Nowadays, we awake, knowing that it was only a dream. But early man, relying on the evidence of his senses, believed that it all had really happened. Thus there arose the idea that part of oneself could leave the body in sleep, meet its counterparts and associate with them, returning later to the body. A common story in Ireland and elsewhere tells how an old man, accompanied by a young boy, went out into a field one fine day; the old man lay down and was soon fast asleep; the boy then saw a butterfly emerge from the old man's mouth and fly off towards a ruin in the bottom of the field; after a while, the butterfly returned and re-entered the old man's mouth; he immediately woke up and told the boy that he had dreamt that he had gone into that same ruin and there found hidden treasure; they both went immediately to the ruin and found the treasure at the place indicated in the dream. >From the type of belief which underlies the foregoing story- that the soul (butterfly, in this case) can leave the body when it sleeps-it is but a natural step to the belief that the souls of the dead can also move about. This came to he tied up with the idea of ghosts and the human fear of them, as they could sometimes be malignant. Other ideas concerned the human blood, the breath, and the body's shadow, which were also associated with the life or soul. Also, in folktales, we meet with the motif of the giant's soul (life) being outside of his body, hidden in an egg. So too, the human life-index might he bound up with such a thing as a tree, which was planted when the person was born; when the tree began to fail and die, so too would the person. Folk belief was never very clear naturally, about what appearance the soul had, in itself. It was, however, believed that it entered the body at birth through loigín an bhaithis (the skull-cleft) and left by the same exit at death. It was believed that souls were so small that two of them could converse while doing their purgatory at either side of a leaf; so also they could congregate in great numbers on the rafters of houses. It was also said that a dead person should not he keened over for two hours after death lest the sleeping dogs of the Devil be roused along the path which the departed soul had to follow. All over the world there is a traditional objection to unauthorised intrusions on certain occasions. For examples men should not intrude where women are working, and vice versa. There are many stories told to explain how certain castles came to be left unfinished: the builders had refused to complete the building after they had seen a woman stop to observe them at work. Then there is the story left unfinished by Cúchulainn when he discovered that a woman had been smuggled in to a forge to listen to him, against his orders. Refrence has already been made to the aversion men had to meeting a red haired woman, or one who wore a red garment, while on their way to fish or to the fair. A whistling woman or a crowing hen usually brought bad luck. An echo of the biblical story of Samson is to be found in the rule that a woman should not cut a boys hair nor should she draw water from certain holy wells. It was said that if the gift of poetry descended upon a woman it would end with her - she could not hand it on to her sons. In the field of folk medicine, some remedies had to be applied by a man to a woman, others by a woman to a man. Finally, when they came to die, men were said to meet Death quietly, while women resisted it (deire fir a shuan,deire mná á faire féin suas). Conception and childbirth have always been regardede as crucial points in human life, and so were hedged about with a great many beliefs and customs. It was said that sterility could be overcome by sleeping in the old remains popularly known as "beds of Diarmaid and Gráinne". Conception could be prevented if an enemy tied a knot in a handkerchief at the time of marriage; no child would be born to that couple until the knot was loosed. A pregnant woman had to avoid meeting a hare, if possible otherwise her child would be born with a hare-lip (séanas); this could be prevented, however, if the woman on meting the hare tore the hem of her garment, thereby transferring the blemish to it. A tear in the ear of the hare, ifit could be caught, also acted as a preventative. Neither should a pregnant woman enter a graveyard lest she turn her foot on a grave; this would cause her child to be horn with a clubfoot (cam reilge). She should not remain in a house while a corpse was being placed in the coffin, nor act as sponsor to a bride. If she visited a forge, however, she was always asked to blow the bellows to bring luck to the smith.