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Ireland: Celtic Sages, Saints & Sacred Sites
led by Tessa Bielecki & Noirin Ni Riain | May 15 – 25, 2009
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 From the tales of ancient saints to the music and folklore that are the heart and soul of the land, Tessa Bielecki and Noirin Ni Riain will lead us on this journey of sacred sites and sounds of Ireland.
The trip will begin in Dublin, home to Trinity College and Ireland’s greatest treasure, the Book of Kells. After a visit to the Hill of Tara and the Hill of Knowth, which boasts the greatest collection of passage grave-art ever uncovered in Western Europe, we wll journey on to the ancient monastic settlement of Glendalough—a truly spellbinding place. The Sacred Flame of Brigid will iight the way as we travel to Kildare and Cashel, before catching a ferry to the Aran Islands, renowned for their dark beauty, rugged seascape and early Christian ruins. The final stops on our journey will be the monastic ruins of Clonmacnoise and the town of Sligo, where we will board a small boat for an excursion to the remote yet famous island of Inishmurray. A final night in Dublin will conclude our trip.
"I saw in the night the vision of a man whose name was Victorious, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were the voices of the Irish, and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice . . . and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more . . ." — St. Patrick
Tessa Bielecki recently created the Desert Foundation, a Circle of Friends who focus on peace and understanding between the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Tessa lived a monastic life in Ireland for many years. Teaching at Naropa Unviersity's first Buddhist-Christian dialogue in the 1980s was a pivotal experience in her life.
Noirin Ni Riain studied music at University College, Cork, where she graduated with a BMus degree in 1972. She was awarded an MA for her study of "Traditional Religious Song in Irish" in 1980. She has represented Ireland at many international festivals, including four United Nations' Summits. A guest singer in the Winter and Summer Solstice concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, Noirin has also been a featured soloist on a commercial recording of these events. In 1989, she was invited to perform at an international peace gathering in Costa Rica to introduce His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama, in song to an interfaith conference.
$4,890 per person
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The trip price includes international airfare from New York, double-occupancy accommodations, meals and sightseeing as listed in the detailed itinerary, and lectures by our trip scholars.
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