Irish Family History

The Cliffs of Moher are one of Ireland’s major tourist attractions and you can see why.  While there are plenty of signs warning tourists not to go near the edge of the cliffs, it was not always the way - in 1835 Mary John Knott described the practice of bird-catching on the cliffs:

“The dangerous enjoyment of bird-catching is practised in the season by the hardy natives along these cliffs, for which purpose twelve or fourteen come near the edge, and sit down in a row behind each other, holding a rope sufficiently long to reach to the bottom.

One of the party ties the end of it round his body, and being provided with a basket, goes over the edge, placing his feet against the face of the rock, and holding the rope firmly, is gradually lowered by the men seated on the top. 

On the man arriving at a part of the rock where he has a good footing and within reach of the birds…being furnished with a long stick, something like a fishing rod with a noose at the end, he proceeds to put it gently over the neck of one of the birds and, if he succeeds by a dexterous twitch in snaring the unsuspecting creature, he draws it into him, twists its neck, and quietly putting it in to the basket, makes an easy prey of the remainder.’

Find out more about the Cliffs of Moher and the visitor centre.

Hurling is an ancient field sport. It is made up of two teams of fifteen players who compete to score as many goals as possible. The essential accessories for hurling are a long stick made from ash, with a curved end known as a hurley (caman in Irish), and a ball or ‘sliothar.’

The field measures 150m x 75m and at each end there is a goal post with a cross bar. Points can be earned by getting the ball both under and over this bar; if the ball goes under a goal is scored (which equates to three points), and if it goes over the bar then a single point is scored. The ball can played both in the air and on the ground.

A game of hurling lasts for 70 minutes – a fifteen minute break separates the two halves. It is a fast-paced game, played by men – women play a very similar game called Camogie.

Hurling was very popular in the 18th century with landlords often sponsoring teams who would play against each other. However in the 19th century its popularity declined for a number of reasons including the fact that the church did not approve of sports being played on a Sunday. The game grew in popularity again following the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) by Michael Cusack in 1884.

Hurling is now one of the most popular sports in Ireland and there is great rivalry between the counties. In the run-up to the All Ireland Hurling Final, many people show support for their county by hanging flags in their county colours by the roadside.

Seanchaí  (pronounced  shan-a-key) is the Irish word for storyteller.  Storytellers have played an important role in Irish society from the days in which they told tales to kings and noblemen right up until the mid-twentieth century.

In the times before the television and the radio, people had to make their own entertainment and would meet together for singing, dancing, games of cards and storytelling.  This would generally be in the evening (indeed some people believed it was unlucky to tell stories in the daytime) and people would congregate in one house in the locality (known as the ‘ceili’ or ‘visit’ house). 

Although storytelling is recorded all over Ireland, it is generally associated with Irish-speaking rural areas particularly in winter, when the long, cold evenings meant that there was less work to do and everyone wanted to stay inside by the fire. The  tradition was that the man of the house would tell the first story, and then others would start joining in.  In general, storytellers were more likely to be male; certainly there are fewer female storytellers on record.

Stories were also told on other occasions.  Wakes were marked by singing, dancing and storytelling in the same way that weddings would have been.  In fact, many social gatherings would involve storytelling to some extent.  While most localities would have their own storytellers, travellers and others would often tell stories too, bringing new tales with them.   Sometimes storytellers would be paid when they ‘went visiting.’

During the twentieth century when new forms of entertainment such as television and radio started to become more widespread, there was less of an emphasis on storytelling.  Despite this, storytellers do still exist in Ireland today, particularly in the Gaeltacht. 

If you have an interest in hearing Irish storytellers in action, you can listen to a short story about two men and a butterfly recounted by Eddie Lenihan of Co. Clare by clicking on the link on the right of his homepage.  Pat Speight, a storyteller from Cork has some excerpts from his tales on his website.