Ailbe van der Heide is Collections Curator at the National Folklore Collection, having joined the staff in 2020, shortly after graduating from the MA in Irish Folklore in 2020. For several years now, Ailbe has managed the National Folklore Collection’s reading room service, along with fielding an array of queries from members of the public keen to explore our collections. Throughout her work, and in response to enquiries made regarding our collections, Ailbe noticed an at times stark difference between the material found as part of our fieldwork collections, and that which can be found online regarding supernatural figures in Irish tradition. Researchers looking for information on supernatural lore would often cite specific terminology which was indicative of literary forms, rather than expressions of folk culture. On the interplay between literature and folk tradition, Anne O’Connor has noted that:

“Folklore and writing exist in specific social and historical circumstances: it is not mere chance that certain stories arise and gain currency at certain times, and the tracing of such complex and interwoven interactions has long been the challenges of professional folklorists, in Ireland and elsewhere. Written texts are also produced within particular cultural contexts but their interpretation is not necessarily dependent on a detailed knowledge of the circumstances of their production. Any analysis of oral narratives and belief complexes in Ireland reveals and raises inevitable questions of adaptation, attribution, contextualisation and interpretation, and these questions become even more apparent when analysing literary recourse to Irish folklore.”

In this episode, Ailbe and Jonny explore the interplay between oral literature, folk tradition, gothic literature, examining the discrepancies and distortions between those two forms, and considering their impact on popular culture. It would appear that many contemporary conceptions of the supernatural in Irish tradition stem less from our oral literature and folk tradition, but from a 19th century literary tradition. This episode (we hope!) will appeal to artist’s, writers, filmmakers, and anyone who is interested in aspects of folk horror, literature and the supernatural. My thanks to Ailbe, and to Andrew and Veronica in University Relations, for filming and producing the podcast! Some links:

19th century sources mentioned:

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/39752/pg39752-images.html

Fairy and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry by W.B. Yeats

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33887/pg33887-images.html

Fair Gurtha; or, the Hungry Grass by William Carleton

https://www.google.ie/books/edition/The_Dublin_University_Magazine/WwdFAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22man+of+hunger%22&pg=PA435&printsec=frontcover

Irish Folk Lore: Traditions and Superstitions by John O’Hanlon

https://archive.org/details/IrishFolkLoreTraditions/page/n25/mode/2up

‘The Child that Went with the Fairies’ by Sheridan le Fanu

https://www.online-literature.com/lefanu/1772/

Ordnance Survey Letters, Londonderry

https://www.askaboutireland.ie/aai-files/assets/ebooks/OSI-Letters/LONDONDERRY_14%20D%2021.pdf

20th and 21st century sources:

Blood Relations by Brian Earls

A Handbook of Irish Folklore by Seán Ó Súilleabháin

Folktales of Ireland (with forward by Richard Dorson) by Seán Ó Suilleabháin

The Lore of Ireland by Daithí Ó hÓgáin

Locating Irish Folklore: Tradition, Identity, Modernity by Diarmuid Ó Giolláin

Miraculous Plenty: Irish religious folktales and legends by Seán Ó Súilleabháin (translated by William Caulfield)

Neighborliness and Decency, Witchcraft and Famine: Reflections on Community from Irish Folklore by Ray Cashman

Steve Roud is a Librarian, folklore scholar and creator of the Roud Folk Song Index, which contains upwards of 750,000 entries to around 45,000 English language folk songs, as found in books, recordings, manuscripts and other sources the world over. His index, and ‘Roud Numbers’ (a numbering system employed to identify the same song across many different titles) are widely acclaimed for the scope, breadth, depth and impact. Steve worked as a local studies Librarian in the London Borough of Croydon, and also served as Honorary Librarian for the Folklore Society for eighteen years. He has published books on calendar custom, popular tradition, folk belief, London lore, children’s games, and folk drama. In 2004, he was the winner of the Folklore Society’s Katharine Briggs Folklore Award for The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland. In 2009, he was one of five people to be awarded the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. This award recognises "those who have made unique or outstanding contributions to the art or science of folk dance, music or song, and/or those who have given exceptional support in furthering the aims of the Society”. For four years now, Steve has been visiting the NFC, parsing through our manuscript and book, broadside and pamphlet collections for entries to add to his index. He is an incredibly gifted, meticulous and generous scholar, who is always glad to share his expertise with us, particularly in discussion around the inherent problems in the description, cataloguing and indexing of folklore materials. It was an honour, and a great pleasure to host Steve at the NFC recently, and during his visit (for our collective benefit) I subjected him to a 75 minute interview, in which we discussed his index, the problems inherent in describing folk song, approaches to the cataloguing of folklore, conducting research in folklore archives, and the problems inherent in the digitisation of folklore records and some scholarly critique of the NFC’s online platform Dúchas.ie.

As a health warning for this episode - listeners (or viewers!) hoping to listen to scores of lovely ballads will be sorely disappointed, as our discussion essentially consists of nerding out about folklore indexes for over an hour.

Steve’s Folk Song Index can be found here, at the website of the Vaughan William’s Memorial Library: https://www.efdss.org/vwml-catalogues-and-indexes/vwml-help/roud-indexes-help

For a wonderful talk of Steve’s at the Library of Congress, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTMoN4Arvo

My thanks especially to Veronica, Andrew and Dominic in UCD Communications, for their support of the podcast, and for filming this episode!

Video recording of this episode is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OcxwmDuUeU&ab_channel=UCD-UniversityCollegeDublin

Henry Glassie is College Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA, and has published widely in the fields of material culture and vernacular architecture. His contribution to the discipline of Irish Folklore and Ethnology has been exceptional. Having lived in Ballymenone, Co. Fermanagh, for almost a decade in the 1970s, Professor Glassie published a number of studies inspired by the community there, including All Silver and No Brass (1975), Passing the Time in Ballymenone (1982) and The Stars of Ballymenone (2006). These books are landmark works which have become classic texts for students of Folklore in Ireland and abroad, along with many other items on Professor Glassie’s long list of publications. Henry has rendered invaluable service to our understanding of Irish popular tradition and vernacular culture, and he can truly be described as a towering figure in the study of Irish Folklore for more than half a century. Even in his retirement, he remains a staunch and committed friend to Ireland and to the people he worked with while carrying out fieldwork here.

Henry has had a long and extremely positive relationship with UCD since the establishment of the Department of Irish Folklore in the university in the early 1970s. With the approach of the fiftieth anniversary of his first major publication on Irish Folklore, All Silver and No Brass, it was deemed especially appropriate for the University to take the opportunity to honour Professor Glassie, and on Wednesday 21 May 2025, Henry was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from UCD, in recognition of his remarkable contribution to the growing area of Irish Studies in general, and to the field of Irish Folklore and Ethnology in particular.

It was a great honour and personal privilege for me to sit and 'Pass the Time' with Henry, and over the course of ninety minutes we explored his background, interests, intellectual life, and experiences of field work, as well as delving into the topics of place, creativity, art, meaning, identity, belonging and despair; invoking old friends such as Fred B. Kniffen, E. Estyn Evans, Michael J. Murphy, Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Ellen Cutler, Tommy Love, Michael Boyle, Peter Flanagan, and Hugh Nolan as we trooped our way homewards.

My thanks to all my colleagues at the NFC, as well as Susan Lysaght, Sandra Collins, Evelyn Flanagan, Andrew Fogarty, Veronica Aguilar Olmos, Dominic Martella for making this episode possible, and - most especially - to Henry and Pravina for their generosity, openness and kindness.

Regarding food in Irish tradition, Kevin Danaher, writing in 1964, noted that "Sometimes we get the impression that Ireland, in ancient times, was a land of plenty, and again we get quite the opposite impression - that our forebears lived out their lives on the very edge of starvation. In reality both these impressions are wrong." As an expression of culture that permeates every aspect of life, food holds a central place in Irish folk tradition, and for episode 41 of Blúiríní Béaloidis, I am delighted to be joined by Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, Senior Lecturer in the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology at Technological University Dublin to discuss food in Irish folk tradition. Máirtín, along with Dorothy Cashman, was co-editor of the recent "Irish Food History: A Companion", published by the Royal Irish Academy in hardcopy in 2024, and available freely online via EUT+ at the following link: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/irishfoodhist/1/

For this episode of the podcast we discuss Máirtín's background, exploring the way in which he came to take such an interest in Ireland's food history, as well as examining the themes of continuity and change in the context of the Irish diet. Join us as we explore Irish food traditions in the context of calendar observances, the life cycle and ritual observances, as well as considering regional foodways, the importance of hospitality and the impact of the Irish language on our understanding of both food and place in Irish tradition. From milk, butter and the Brehon Laws, to spice bags and purple Snack bars, join us as we explore changing attitudes to food in Ireland.

This is also the first episode of the podcast which we have been able to record on video, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Andrew Fogarty, Veronica Aguilar Olmos and Dominic Martella for their support for the series to date, and for organising the shoot. I hope listeners and viewers will please forgive my excessive humming-and-hawing in this episode - I felt quite nervous in front of the new setup! Video for this episode is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4PdbSXrSk&ab_channel=UCD-UniversityCollegeDublin

Hello a chairde, and welcome to episode 40 of Blúiríní Béaloidis, the podcast from the National Folklore Collection.

It would be remiss of me not to commence this episode of the podcast with long, grovelling apologies concerning the absence of signs of life regarding the series over the last year and a half. The good news is that the podcast still exists, the work of the NFC continues apace, and the bad news, well… there is no bad news really; just the reality of one individuals less-than-perfect attempts at keeping a variety of plates spinning while kicking cans down the road. Forgive me please!

Forty episodes ago, we commenced our wanderings through the folklore furrow by asking 'what is folklore?' Now, having traversed some of the way together, we will stop to consider well, what is a folklore archive?

Folklore archives, in actively setting out to document the traditional customs, practices and memories of ‘ordinary people’, have tended to develop on the margins of the professional archival world. They offer unique cases for archival research, as the systems of classification and description they employ, along with the impulses that motivate them, pose questions regarding the relevance of formal archival ideas (which often developed in response to the needs or large and powerful government bureaucracies).

In this episode we will explore the role and nature of archives generally, and will consider the form and nature of the folklore archive specifically. We'll hear from the visionary individuals who established the folklore archive in Ireland, will explore Ireland's troubled relationship with archives, look at the systems of classification and description which are employed in folklore archives, and consider what use this material offers us in these troubled times.

I have many people to thank for helping me to create this episode; Cathal Goan, for his kind permission to use excerpts from his wonderful 1985 radio documentary 'Lest They Perish', Cormac O'Malley for permission to use recording of him reading account of the destruction of the Public Records Office of Ireland in his father Ernie O'Malley's memoir 'The Singing Flame', my colleague Kate Manning, Principal Archivist at UCD Archives for her alerting me to a fascinating 1935 government memorandum concerning the establishment of the Irish Folklore Commission, my colleagues at the National Folklore Collection for their assistance, support and good humour, and finally to yourselves, dear listeners, for your continued interest and support in our work.

So, sin a bhfuil! We're already working away on a new series of interviews and episodes, and please God, will return with more next year.

Beirigí bua agus beannacht!

Jonny

Bees have been cultivated in Ireland since early times. Of value for their wax and honey, there were also believed to be blessed creatures, as Dáithí Ó hÓgáin writes: "probably because of the use of their wax to make church candles, and one medieval legend describes a swarm of bees building a little container around a lost communion wafer to protect it. They were also thought to be possessed of special wisdom, and to take an acute interest in the affairs of their owners. If a bee entered the house it was regarded as a good omen, and the bees in their hive would be told in advance of projects that the family intended to undertake in the belief that they might effect a beneficial influence. When a member of the family died, it was customary to place a black piece of cloth on the hiveso that the bees could join in the mourning". For this episode of Blúiríní I was honoured to have been joined by my friend and colleague from the National Museum of Country Life in county Mayo, and alumnus of the taught MA in Irish Folklore at UCD, Tiernan Gaffney. Tiernan is an Assistant Keeper of the Irish Folklife Collection at the National Museum of Ireland, his folklore research often explores the creation and connection of communities within shared spaces. Join us for episode 39 of Blúiriní Béaloidis as we honour those blessed, wise and industrious little ones, and talk about an upcoming National Museum of Ireland exhibition, “Murmur of Bees”which will launch in the summer of 2023.

To learn more about the National Museum of Ireland: Country Life, visit: https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Museums/Country-Life

Lying in fields and ditches, at the edge of old and overgrown graveyards and in lonesome places all over Ireland rest forgotten echoes of our past. Large and unwieldy stones; blocks of granite and sandstone flags which, used in former times as tests of strength, still reverberate with the memory of heroic feats.

The tradition of stone lifting, while well-attested in Scotland, Iceland and other parts of Europe, is a topic about which very little is known in Ireland. For the past year, David Keohan, multiple national European and world champion in kettlebell sport, world record holder, avid strength historian and self-described stone-lifting fanatic, has been (literally) unearthing this little-known aspect of traditional Irish physical culture. Guided by material relating to the practice of stone lifting as found in the archives of the National Folklore Collection, David has been travelling the country identifying lifting stones mentioned in manuscript sources gathered by folklore collectors, and has been talking to locals who remember the lifting of these stones in former times. It has been an honour to assist in shining further light on this topic, and I was delighted to be joined by David for this episode of Blúiríní as he discusses his adventures to date.

Join us as we attempt to set out the scope of the tradition as it existed in Ireland, drawing on NFC collection to examine the occasions on which these stones were lifted, their connection to funeral games and the dead, the role of lifting stones as rites of passage or method of settling dispute as well as their associations with hags, giants and mythical champions.

The richness of our archival collections now serve to assist in the regeneration and reanimation of this once widespread custom, and should serve as a source of inspiration and pride; linking us with the past, with our birthplaces and with those who have gone before us.

David's Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/irish_move_athlete/?hl=en

David's YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@davidindianakeohans3566

Two highly recommended and very beautiful Rogue Fitness documentaries were mentioned at the outset of the episode. They are available here:

Stoneland (Scottish stone lifting tradition): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhQlNwxn5oo&ab_channel=RogueFitness

Fullsterkur (Icelandic stone lifting tradition): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Tcsg2Yac8&ab_channel=RogueFitness

Website here dedicated to the memory of Scotsman Peter Martin (mentioned in this episode). Peter held a special affection for the Gaels, and his research into Gaelic strength culture and traditional stone lifting was without equal: https://www.oldmanofthestones.com/

"Long as the day is, night comes, and alas, the night is coming for me too... Someone else will have pastime out of my work when I'm gone on the way of truth. A person here and a person there will say, maybe, 'Who was that Peig Sayers?' but poor Peig will be the length of their shout from them. This green bench where she used to do the studying will be a domicile for the birds of the wilderness, and the little house where she used to eat and drink, it's unlikely there'll be a trace of it there."

For this episode of Blúiríní, instead of focusing on one aspect of tradition, we for the first time dedicate our explorations to one individual; Mairéad ‘Peig’ Sayers who, by her artistry and mastery as a storyteller in the oral tradition, skilfully managed to express the wisdom of the many in the wit of the few, and yet whose printed autobiographies (as Irene Lucchitti notes in an article in Folklore and Modern Irish writing) ‘experienced a decline in reputation, suffering critical disdain and schoolyard ridicule in equal measure’. Now, nearly sixty-five years after her death, we hope to provide a platform through which her tales might find a new audience, one which, it is hoped, may find in her a source of inspiration and insight.

For episode 37 of Blúiríní, I was honoured to have been joined by Dr. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and Dr. Pádraig Ó Héalaí, in the beautiful surrounds of the Museum of Literature Ireland and for the first time in front of a live studio audience - something which was a great pleasure for me personally! Thanks to my guests Éilís and Pádraig, to our friends at MoLI for taking such good care of us on the night and especially to all who came along in person and made the evening so pleasant!

This podcast also marks the launch of Thar Bealach Isteach / Into the Island, a nine month collaborative exhibition between MoLI and the NFC, which looks at Peig Sayers and the Blasket Island storytelling tradition. See moli.ie for details.

Blúiríní Béaloidis 37 is online now, I hope you'll join Pádraig, Éilís and I as we ask 'who was that Peig Sayers'?

Irish Travellers, known in their own language as Mincéirs or Pavees and in Irish called ‘An Lucht Siúil or, ‘The Walking People’, are a nomadic ethnic minority in Ireland with a distinct history, culture and identity. Historically, Travellers were called Tinkers, a reference to their trade as tinsmiths, and they also made a living through engaging with the settled community; by buying and selling animals, or through seasonal farm labour. They’ve also long been renowned as singers, musicians and storytellers who brought news, tales, songs and music from townland to townland, parish to parish and county to county as they travelled around Ireland. As a minority group however, Ireland’s Travellers they have long-faced discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity, and are often reported as the subject of explicit prejudice in Irish society. For this episode of the podcast, I hope to enter into an exploration of Traveller culture and identity, and I’m honoured to be joined by David Joyce; an advocate for the Traveller community who has worked as both a barrister and a solicitor, and Áine Furey, a singer, musician, tour guide and alumna of the Department of Irish Folklore here at UCD. I hope you’ll keep us company for the next hour or so as we come to know and honour the culture, traditions, perspectives and experiences of Ireland’s Travelling people, to whom this episode is dedicated. For details concerning audio timecodes, see below:

08:20: Tom 'Bun' Connors in conversation with Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Cherry Orchard, Dublin (1967) listing some Travellers families and which parts of Ireland they're from.

14:20: Andy Cassidy, 'My Rifle, My Pony and Me' recorded by Alen McWeeney in Labre Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin (1967) My thanks to Alen, and to Pavee Point for permission to reproduce this wonderful recording! See more here: http://www.paveepoint.ie/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WhishtBooklet.pdf

27:35: Bridget Connors in conversation with Seán Ó Súilleabháin, Cherry Orchard, Dublin (1967) recounting the kindness of Kerry people, and the hostility with which she was met in other places in Ireland.

39: 54: 'Bun' Connors recounting the tinsmithing trade as it was practiced in his family, and how it was undone by the arrival of cheap plastic goods.

42:07: John Reilly singing 'The Jolly Tinker'. Recorded by Tom Munnelly while John and his family were camped at Cloongrehan, Cootehall, County Roscommon (October 1971)

47:02: John Reilly singing 'False Lankum'. Recorded by Tom Munnelly while John and his family were camped at Cloongrehan, Cootehall, County Roscommon (October 1971) See here for more: https://digital.ucd.ie/view/ivrla:31077

50: 22: 'Bun' Connors relates his experience of travelling around Ireland, and demonstrating how well he knows the homeplace of Seán Ó Súilleabháin(from Kenmare, county Kerry) in particular.

53:55: Uileann Piper Johnny Doran playing 'Colonel Fraser, My Love Is in America, Rakish Paddy' recorded by the Irish Folklore Commission (1947)

56: 28: 'Bun' Connors relates his long standing friendship with Margaret Barry

1:00:55: 'Bun' and his mother Bridget Connors describe how Travellers used make a living from dealing animals, and gives account of the fairs they used visit.

1:04:10: 'Bun' Connors relates details of winter lodgings and the times of the year that Travellers used travel.

1:08:30: 'Bun' Connors recounts the ways in which the settled people would come and join them by the fire a few days after they had arrived into an area and set up camp. Describes the bonds and neighbourly feelings fostered over time.

1:23:39: Pádraig Mac Gréine recounts how he first met Traveller and storyteller Oney Power in county Longford in the 1930s.

1:29:40: 'Bun' and Bridget Connors give account of the context in which the Traveller language is used, providing examples of phrases and terminology.

1:39:38: Johnny Doran, playing Sliabh na mBan, a slow air, dedicated to the late Seán Garvey.

The Civil War was a schismatic moment in Irish history, and the fault lines it left split families, tore apart communities and turned former comrades in arms against one another in a bitterly divisive period of violence and conflict. According to historian Anne Dolan, ‘The memory of the Irish Civil War has been assumed, distorted, [and] misunderstood. It has been manipulated, underestimated, but most of all, ignored’.

Now, 100 years on, in marking the centenary of this period, The Civil War Memory project is currently underway (a collaboration between The National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin and award winning documentary filmmakers Scratch Films) to document and preserve oral testimonies, reminiscences and accounts concerning the Civil War. The collecting project will result in a body of archival material which will be deposited at the NFC for posterity, with two documentaries covering the collecting process being aired on RTÉ this autumn. If you would like to contribute to the project, please reach out to us at [email protected]

To take me through the project, and to discuss this phase of our history in more detail I’m honoured to be joined by my friend and colleague Dr. Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh, Director of the National Folklore Collection. Join us as we discuss silence, memory and the trauma of war.

Audio timecodes:

10:58: Commandant Horgan in conversation with Séamas Mac Philib, 20 May 1980. Horgan explains how he and his brother were on opposite sides of the conflict, and how his mother would keep them separate when they would visit the family home.

14:36: Kathleen Farell in conversation with Séamas Mac Philib, 6 March 1980. Kathleen describes how IRA men were hidden in her house.

16:10: Patrick Galvin in conversation with Séamas Mac Philib, 10 January 1980. Patrick describes how he was unable to return to his job after the Civil War, and was fired when it was learnt that he had fought on the anti-Treaty side.

32:22: Patrick Galvin in conversation with Séamas Mac Philib, 10 January 1980. Patrick relates how it was difficult to shoot against former friends and comrades. Describes the 'great boys' he fought alongside in 1916 and in the 'Tan War' (the War of Independence) but states that everyone has a certain principle by which they must stand.

39:03: John O'Brien in conversation with Séamas Mac Philib, 04 November 1979. John relates local information concerning the assassination of Michael Collins. Is reluctant to share what he has heard out of respect for local families, and remarks that it could be dangerous.

Thanks to Tiernan Gaffney for editing these pieces from our sound archive!