Reviewed by Mary Bilbrey
Irish Literature, Mythology, Folklore, and Drama located at http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/
is an excellent site for storytellers to locate authentic Irish tales. This
makes the site like this a gold mine for those who wish to tell authentic
stories from Ireland and its people. The first section of the web page is
divided by history, language, and periodicals, and the section is divided into
the various authors within Celtic history including: Jonathan Swift, Oscar
Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, James
Joyce, Flann O'Brien, Seamus Heaney, and other Irish writers. The site also
contains information on various aspects of Mythology included Cuchulainn, Fionn
and the Fianna. Festivals, Fine Arts, Festivals and Folklore are other
sub-divisions within this site. Other extras included on the site are freebies
you can get, marketplaces you can shop at, and food you can buy or make. The
site has been around for seven years, and its domain designation is org which
means that it is sponsored by a non-profit organization. The sites that are
linked to this website are typically sponsored by non-profit organization sites
and surprisingly enough, even with no recent updates to the original page, 100 %
of the sites sampled were in working order.
The Irish Literature, Mythology, Folklore, and Drama website was created on
March 14, 1996 and was last updated on September 9, 2002. The site has many
mentioned awards including the Reese’s Award of the Leprechaun, Celtic
Excellence Award, St. Bridy BlackShade, Celtic Thistle, NewHoo! Cool Site, PC
Live! Top Ten Irish Websites, Mythology Award of Excellence, Editors Choice by
the Open Directory Project, Telecom Internet 4 Doras, Doras ABU Telecom
Internet, and Top 5% of all Websites Lycos.
The author to the Irish Literature, Mythology, Folklore, and Drama website can
be contacted through email at anniina@luminarium.org. No other information,
including phone numbers or addresses, could be found on the site.
The information that appears on the site appears to be factual. The site has
been around for seven years and the links within the site are current. Many of
the web links, that the site allows you access to, are provided by University
professors who specialize in Celtic history.
Even considering the fact that the site has not been updated in a year and the
fact that the site’s author does not lend herself to easy contact, I think that
this site would be a good place to do Irish legend research. The fact that the
site has been available for seven years and the fact that it is operated through
a non-profit organization is a selling point for it. It also contains many great
links and it is well organized for easy access to the specific information
needed on Celtic history. For these reasons I feel this is a great place for a
storyteller to search for information on Celtic tales and history.