You may admire that you see no men amongst us, the reason whereon I shall tell you according to our tradition . . . they resolved to make a new form of government . . . our people agreed not to let any men remain above a month on the Isle, nor male child above four months, without absolute necessity of special Licence . . . their Religeon consists in worshiping the Moon according to the custom of the Ancient Brittains.

Anon (John Shirley), A Discovery of Fonseca in a Voyage to Surranam. The Island so long sought for in the Western Ocean. Inhabited by Women with the Account of their Habits, Customs and Religion, Dublin, 1682

The island of Handa is tenanted by twelve families ... It is curious enough, that they have established nothing less than Royalty amongst them, in the person of the eldest widow on the island, who is designed Queen; and her prerogative is recognized not only by the islanders, but by visitors from the mainland.

Reverend George Tulloch, ‘Edderachillis’, New Statistical Account, Edinburgh, 1845

I will raise the hearth-fire As Mary would. The encirclement of Bride and Mary On the fire, and on the floor, And on the household all.

‘Togail an Teine’ / ‘Kindling the Fire’ (Gaelic), collected from the Hebrides, 1900

11
Tara

TARA: Almost all women benefit from initiation. Some say we were a bit too rough in the beginning but I feel like our guidance has to be strong and unambiguous. However, I really did appreciate the surprise input from Mariam Maher.

The three men arrived at Harcourt House. The three women continued dancing.

Nina could see that one of the men was Sebastian, but she didn’t want to interrupt her dance. Unlike Lucija, who stopped and went over and introduced herself, Nina was trying to contain her feelings about the universe, which had only just occurred to her in their overwhelmingness. She knew that she ought to drive back to work. Instead, she danced with Mariam around the garden. There was such great joy to be had in dancing across the grass – that was what the grass was there for, exactly, to be danced on – how strange that no one had ever thought to put it to that use before. They moved their bodies around each other like fish writhing through underwater caverns; it was beautiful and amazing. They ignored the polite laughs from the minister.