REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE COMMUNITY FOLKLORE RECORDING CONFERENCE MUCKROSS, KILLARNEY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE COMMUNITY FOLKLORE RECORDING CONFERENCE MUCKROSS, KILLARNEY THURSDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER, 2009
Dia dhíbh go léir inniu.
I am delighted to be here with you today at this important cultural heritage conference in the wonderful setting of Muckross. I would particularly like to thank the members of Bealoideas Ciarraí and Úna Cosgrave-Hanley, Heritage Officer of Kerry County Council for the kind invitation to join you here today.
The work you are doing here today in exploring and sharing best practice in recording community folklore is of huge importance. It has been said that there were great societies that did not use the wheel but there has never been a society that did not tell stories.
Ba mhaith mar a thuig ár sinsear tábhacht an bhéaloidis; in Éirinn anallód bhí áit ar leith ag an fhile sa ghréasán sóisialta. Trí mheán na scéalaíochta agus na filíochta, agus tríd an rud sin a dtugann muid anois béaloideas air, bhí an file in ann daoine a mhúineadh, a spreagadh agus a ghríosú; bhí sé in ann dúshlán daoine a thabhairt agus aoibhneas a chur orthu chomh maith. Fiú sa lá atá inniu ann, agus daoine faoi chuing na meán ó dhubh go dubh, tá a ndraíocht féin fós ag na scéalta. Fiú i ngan fhios dúinn bíonn tionchar acu ar an dóigh a n-amharcann muid ar dhaoine eile agus ar an saol i gcoitinne. Má bhíonn cur amach againn ar bhéaloideas náisiúin ar bith, bíonn léargas againn ar an phobal sin, ar a stair agus ar a ndearcadh saoil. Bíonn ceangail nach beag idir náisiúin an domhain i saol an lae inniu. Mar sin tá cosaint agus caomhnú an bhéaloidis mar áis tuisceana agus teagmhála idir na náisiúin sin thar a bheith tábhachtach. Tá sé curtha go maith i seanfhocal Seirbiach a deir: “Mura bhfuil a fhios agat na crainn rachaidh tú amú sa choill; ach mura bhfuil a fhios agat na scéalta rachaidh tú amú sa saol.”
It gives me great pleasure to see the work done here in Killarney today exploring this interface between people and their culture. The term ‘folklore’ was first coined by William Thoms in 1846and, ever since, there has been debate about its definition and its place in our heritage. It has been said that folklore has no justification other than enabling us better to understand ourselves and others, but when we look at conflict and heartbreak caused by a failure to understand, isn’t that justification enough?
Like much of our heritage and culture, folklore is all around us, part of the framework of our lives, and is often sub-consciously absorbed and stored in our minds. Folklore relates to traditions, customs, songs, stories, even placenames that are passed down in our families and our local areas and that define the colour and characteristics of both people and place. Precisely because it is ever-present, it risks being taken for granted and we in Ireland are incredibly lucky to have a lengthy history of folklore appreciation and, of course, a great interest in collecting and publishing folklore by antiquarians, writers, members of the Anglo-Irish literary movement and the Irish language revival movement in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Thomas Crofton Croker was one of the first collectors, publishing Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland in 1825. Many other notable collectors such as Lady Jane Francesca Wilde, William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, Lady Augusta Gregory and my own predecessor Douglas Hyde will be familiar names to you. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to the painstaking work of those with no Irish connection other than the love of our folklore – these include the great Norwegian scholar Carl J.S. Marstrander, Professor of Celtic Languages at Oslo University, who early in the last century was the first foreign scholar to recognise the value of the language spoken by native Irish speakers of the Blasket Islands. These luminaries have left us with an extremely rich repository of Irish folklore resources, as well as an understanding of the place of folklore in a vibrant cultural heritage and part not just of national but international patrimony.
Their work helped infuse our State since its foundation with an appreciation of the importance of our folklore to ourselves and the wider world. An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann (The Folklore of Ireland Society) founded in 1927 and its successor Coimisiún Béaloideasa Éireann (The Irish Folklore Commission) founded in 1935 have collected, preserved, indexed and published Irish folklore to the best international standards on our behalf. As we are in Kerry, I must make a special mention of a local man, Seán Ó Súillebháin, who was instrumental in the Commission’s Schools’ Collection scheme in the 1930s and who produced ‘A Handbook of Irish Folklore’ which is still considered the bible on the collection of folklore. And talking of Kerry and story-telling, I could not pass by without recalling the legend of story-telling himself, the great seanachie, Eamon Kelly. For many of us growing up in the fifties and sixties, those famous opening lines “In my father’s time…” were a prelude to such joy and fun as he brought the past to vibrant life with that extraordinary gift of his. May you be resting in peace, Eamon.
Of course, folklore is by its nature ever-changing, ever-evolving and nowadays, serious study of this area is not only an interest pursued by committed individuals but also a worthy subject of our universities, with rich teaching and research programmes in UCD, UCC and NUI Galway. I have firsthand experience of some of their work – each year on my visits to the Gaeltacht, I look forward hugely to the lectures on folklore by Seamus O’Cathain, former Professor of Folklore at UCD.
Academic underpinning has a critical role in presentation, quality assurance and interpretation of folklore, while at the local level, collecting and preserving our folklore remains an important, and indeed an enjoyable, task. Everybody has a story to tell and the stories of events and people within our communities can capture a richness, diversity and understanding of people and place that could otherwise be lost in our busy and distracted world. The Béaloideas Chiarraí project is a shining example of what can be achieved though a multi-agency approach to folklore recording. Much credit is due to Kerry County Council, Coillte, South Kerry Development Partnership, the Trustees of Muckross House and all others who have played a part.
Tá béaloideas na hÉireann chomh beo beathach le béaloideas ar bith ar domhan, a bhuíochas sin don obair atá déanta ag bailitheoirí agus lucht léinn na linne seo agus san am atá thart. Tá sé fosta ina nasc ceangail le teaghlach domhanda na nGael. Óltar sláintí traidisiúnta na hÉireann ag bainiseacha ó Boston go Brisbane. Cantar caointe na hÉireann ag sochraidí ó Manchester go Montana. Is féidir beannachtaí agus mallachtaí na hÉireann a chloisteáil áit ar bith faoin spéir. Bua ar leith atá againn in Éirinn is ea dílseacht agus aontacht na nGael thar lear. Ní cóir dúinn dearmad a dhéanamh riamh
den mhéid a dhéanann siad ar son na tíre seo, agus ní cóir dúinn dearmad a dhéanamh de ról an bhéaloidis i gcothú an ghrá atá ag lucht imirce dá dtír dhúchais. Tá ár mbéaloideas go smior ionainn mar phobal. Bíodh sé le haithris nó le canadh, i nGaeilge ná i mBéarla ná in Ultais, is cuid dár bhféiniúlacht é, agus cuid den cheangal beo sin idir muintir na hÉireann sa bhaile agus teaghlach domhanda na nGael.
They say of course that the trouble with telling a good story is that it invariably reminds your listener of a dull one that you must then endure! In an audience like this however, I am utterly confident that the stories that you tell and the stories that you hear throughout this workshop will be full of wisdom and fun, the very best of our oral tradition. You have a packed programme and much important work ahead of you as you continue in the fine tradition of folklore recording. I am particularly pleased to see the International and European dimension to today’s proceedings, including your collaboration with folklore projects in Holland. To all of you embarking on the collection and preservation of our folklore, you are clearly not alone. I wish you well in your endeavour and I have no doubt that it will be a fruitful, enjoyable and enriching experience.
Is iontach an obair atá ar siúl agaibh. Gurb fada buan sibh 's go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.