Background
She was born at Portmarnock, County Dublin, the second daughter of historian and political figure Eoin MacNeill and Agnes Moore.
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Maire MacNeill
Edit Profileeditor folklorist journalist poet
Education
After the family moved into the city she attended Muckross Park school.
Career
She is best known for her magisterial study of the Irish harvest festival, The Festival of Lughnasa (1962, 1983). She received her Bachelor in Celtic Studies from University College Dublin in 1925. From 1927 to 1932 she worked as a journalist and then as sub-editor on the Cumann na nGaedheal newspaper, The Star.
She also assisted her father with his memoirs.
In 1935 Séamus Ó Duilearga invited her to work for the newly founded Irish Folklore Commission 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 pilgrimage. 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 Corofin, County Clare.
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Born
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Died
March 15, 1987 (aged 82) -
Nationality
Ireland