CELESTINE.

CELESTINE. The genetic evidence seems to indicate that many of our ancestors stayed put. Over many generations one might think that individual migrations (even from different parts of the British Isles) would introduce more genetic variations. Instead, the world of DANCING AT LUGHNASA seems to be confirmed. A woman growing up in an isolated village like Lughnasa did not have the choices that young women today have. There may have been only a handful of men in the same age bracket as herself in the villages nearby. One of my favorite books, CELESTINE by Gillian Tyndal, illustrates this with the exception. Tyndal came into possession of letters of proposal saved by Celestine, a young woman in rural France in the nineteenth century and tried to trace the history behind the letters. Tyndal points out that Celestine was noteworthy because she was the daughter of an innkeeper, and therefore encountered many more men than the typical village girl. Some men proposed after meeting her only a few times. They may not have had the chance to get to know many girls as well as they knew Celestine on the basis of even a few meetings.