In the Dark

Today, Monday 5th August 2024, being the first Monday in August, is a Bank Holiday in Ireland. This holiday was created by the Bank Holiday Act of 1871 when Ireland was under British rule. While the August Bank holiday was subsequently moved to the end of August in England and Wales, it has remained at the start of August in Ireland. Today is also a Bank Holiday in Scotland, though the Scots have the best of both worlds and have a holiday at the end of August too.

The first day of August marks the old pagan festival of Lughnasadh, named after the God Lugh, on which is celebrated the beginning of the harvest season. This coincides with the English Lammas Day one of many Christian festivals with pagan origins. Traditionally this marks the start of the harvest season and is celebrated accordingly, with rites involving the first fruit and bread baked from flour obtained from the first corn. It is also one of the cross-quarter days, lying roughly half-way between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox (in the Northern Hemisphere).

It seems to be a tradition in Maynooth that the Bank Holidays in May and August are are adjacent to examinations. This year they start on Wednesday (7th August). I am, however, still on sabbatical so I don’t have any correcting duties. That doesn’t mean I can’t wish all the students taking repeat examinations all the best in their endeavours.

This month is the last of my sabbatical. I officially return to normal duties on 1st September, but that is a Sunday so I won’t return to the office until Monday 2nd September. That is if I have an office. There’s a lot of reorganization going on and currently I don’t know where I’ll be based. At least I know what I’ll be teaching in Semester 1 though: a fourth-year Mathematical physics course on Differential Equations and Complex Analysis and a second-year Engineering Mathematics course. These are not what I would have chosen if I had a free hand (I’d rather teach physics than mathematical methods) but I’ve had it excessively easy for the last year so can’t complain. With a bit of luck I might get a project student or two as well, if the students haven’t forgotten who I am!

This entry was posted on August 5, 2024 at 11:54 am and is filed under Biographical, Education, mathematics, Maynooth with tags Lá Saoire i mí Lúnasa, Lugh, Lughnasadh, Maynooth University. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.