Irish Folklore : Seanachai

 In the days before books and printing, there were  people called seanachai or storytellers. These folklorists made their living by traveling from village to village and telling stories. Sometimes their  tales would be  from the great volume of folklore that makes up the mythology of Ireland and other times they’d just use local gossip and stories from neighbouring townslands.  They were always entertaining and well received by the locals
 The wonderful part is that centuries later, when Gaelic was being systematically suppressed, people calling themselves seanachai would travel from town to town seemingly for the sole purpose of carrying on the ancient tradition of telling stories. At night they would loiter in the pubs and tell their stories but during the day  they would gather the children, lead them off into the countryside to teach them the Irish language and culture in secret. These were called "hedge schools" because the class was held under the cover of the hedges




http://theirishinstories.com/826how-to-tell-a-story-the-seanachai-eamon-Kelly

Take the time to watch this clip of Eamonn Kelly renowned seanachai and his colourful Kerry accent

Eamon Kelly (1914–2001) was an actor and seanchaí* from the south-west of Ireland

Irish Artist Kevin Sharkey

Reality is Overrated




Sant Carles



Born in Dublin, in 1962 and adopted and reared in Killybegs, a remote fishing town on the northwest coast of Ireland. Sharkey has lived in London, New York and Ibiza and is now based in both Ireland and Spain. The self-taught and highly-acclaimed artist is one of Ireland’s most successful and thought-provoking artists. A full-time artist for the last 14 years, Sharkey was formerly a fisherman and a television presenter in Ireland and the UK, the artist’s vividly colourful and boldly expressive paintings and sculptures are sought-after by collectors worldwide. Sharkey has had a string of sellout exhibitions over the last few years, including ‘Alchemy’, his premier show at his Dublin gallery which sold out within 48 hours in Spring 2006 and his ‘Dreamscapes’ showing in Summer 2005 with Irish art ‘giants’, the late Tony O’ Malley, Louie Le Brocquy and William Crozier.

Hermann Hesse Happiness

Something I need to remind myself of more often.  ‘Siddhartha’ and Steppenwolfe are due a reread ,I have never read The Glass Bead Game its on my to do list

Happiness
 As long as you chase happiness,
you are not ready to be happy,
even if you owned everything.

As long as you lament a loss,
run after prizes in restless races,
you have not yet known peace.

But when you have moved beyond desire,
become a stranger to your goals and longings
and call no longer on happiness by name,

then your heart rises calmly
above the ebb and flow of action
and peace has reached your soul.

Folklore Fairy Trees

The Fairy Tree is usually a whitethorn (cartages monogzna) also referred to as a hawthorn or sceach in Irish. Until the twentieth century it was considered irreverent to use the term fairy tree and is still sometimes referred to as a lone bush or a thorn.

While it forms an important part of the hedgerow it is the solitary hawthorn which instils fear and even if its position is inconvenient it will generally be left alone. The warnings have been passed down through the generations. Otherworld creatures are said to either live in or nearby the tree and it has often been recorded how passers-by would hear music or see a bright light coming from the vicinity of the hawthorn.

Tales of misfortune befalling those who damage the hawthorn in any way are legion. There are accounts whereby the tree started to bleed when branches were cut away, which was a warning of things to come. This may be a legacy from a time when certain, among them the hawthorn, were considered sacred

 

 

 

Perhaps the most famous hawthorn is the one located at Latoon in County Clare. In 1999 the motorway from Limerick to Galway was delayed and eventually rerouted to avoid damaging the fairy tree there


Take the time to listen to Eddie Lenihan  folklorist, writer and lecturer He is one of the few practising seanchaithe remaining in Ireland.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpXnIs57678

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no "brief candle" for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

Clonmel Junction Festival, The Animals and the Children took to the Streets

Another spectacular piece of theatre tonight in Clonmel A dark animated film projected onto the backdrop of the stage while the three performers poke their heads and bodies through the screens interacting with the shapes and shadows of the film. They become live performers in a movie.




You know that overused saying: “You’ve never seen anything quite like it!”? I went to “The Animals and Children Took to the Streets,” a 70-minute performance piece that raises to a mesmerizing level the interplay on a stage of music, animation, live action and elements of a graphic novel.
And, well, I’ve never seen anything quite like it.

Watch this clip on youtube to get a feel for the show.....enjoy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHDYDnhn4Fo
 

Terryglass Tipperary

The  shore of Lough Derg where the River Shannon enters the Lough.

There's no place more beautiful than Ireland in the sun

Whitebay Cork. Great day on the beach




Yesterday and today were the hottest days of the year so far. Summer we love you

Clonmel Junction Festival

Just seen "Fred and Alice" tonight at Moran's pub, it's  a must see

A celebration of individuality.

It’s not easy to get by in this crazy old world. But Fred and Alice have discovered that all you really need are 2 tennis rackets, a freezer full of ready meals and an immature coping strategy.


Fred and Alice first met in the home. It wasn’t really a home but Fred always called it a home because that was where he lived, and if you are not living at home then where are you? It was love at first sight for Alice. She was crying because she had spilt her milk she was lying on the floor something she now realises was an incorrect response to the situation .Alice  will always remember Fred's first words to her "GET UP" and he didn't speak to her again for years. Eventually Fred got used to her and it was love at first sight for him too.

From their days in care, to independent living, Fred and Alice negotiate the perils and pitfalls of home cooking, responsible pet care and boiler maintenance.

With the support of one another, we see the characters rise above the stigmas of mental disability and emerge from the pitfalls of despair, hand in hand and head lining Wembley.

 A blistering head wreck played at a hilarious pace!

Gurteen Castle Kilsheelan Tipperary

Gurteen Castle, the former home of the Count De la Poer; a Knight of Malta is a magnificent granite neo Gothic castle, situated on the south bank of the River Suir about 5 miles north of Clonmel.

The estate belonged to the de la Poer’s who had  a staunch devotion to the Catholic church. Count Edmund da la Poer who was Private Chamberlain to Pope Pius X commenced the building of the present castle in 1866.

Vienna-born artist, Gottfried Helnwein, who bought Gurteen Castle in Tipperary back in the early 1990s,  hosted celebrations for the marriage between Marilyn Manson and Dita Von Teese.



Wedding in 2005

Ireland's Alcatraz Spike Island

Known as Ireland’s Alcatraz, Spike Island has a long and varied history. The island is quite large at around 103 acres, lying off the lovely harbour town of Cobh in Cork. The first recorded habitation of Spike Island comes from the Early Medieval period. Saint Mochuda (also known as Saint Carthage), is said to have founded a monastic site on Spike in 635 AD.
It is thought that after his campaign in Ireland in the middle of the seventeenth century, Oliver Cromwell used Spike Island as a holding area for Irish Catholics who were being transported to work as indentured labourers on British plantations in the West Indies. This would not be the only time Spike Island served as a prison in its history.


In 1847 Spike Island again was used as a holding area for convicts before transportation to Australia and Tasmania. The convicts had a harsh life, and were used as forced labour to carry out numerous building programmes on the island, as well as constructing the docks and forts on the neighbouring Haulbowline Island. Conditions on the island were said to have been very poor.



A number of political prisoners were held on Spike Island following the 1848 Rebellion. John Mitchell was probably the best known of these prisoners: Mitchell was an Irish nationalist and journalist was held on Spike Island before his transportation to Tasmania. Mitchell managed to escape the hellish life on Tasmania and settled in America, where he became a prominent pro-slavery voice of the Confederate side during the American Civil War. By 1883 all prisoners had been removed from the island and it reverted to being used as a military base.

During the First World War, Spike Island became an important base of operations against the German submarine fleet. During the War of Independence, hundreds of political prisoners and Republicans were interned at Spike Island. Under the Anglo-Irish Agreement, Spike remained a British military base until 1938 when it was handed over to the Irish government. The Irish army and navy occupied the island, many living their with their families until 1985. The island served as a prison again, this time for young offenders, who remained on the island until 2004.