Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Lá Fhéile Bríde and our Radharc Film collection

Posted on February 1, 2021 in Media, Old Books

Mindful that this week’s Rare Books and Special Collections blogpost would go out on St. Brigid’s Day, we published a picture from an early twentieth-century children’s book, An Alphabet of Irish Saints.

This morning’s flurry of social media activity, including pictures and accounts of blankets and clothes put out overnight, and photographs of crosses like the cross above, reminds me of an inquiry we received a few years ago about our Radharc video collection.

Does anybody remember the Radharc films on RTÉ television? The Radharc Trust website provides a history, and some digital film and images may be found on websites of RTÉ and of the IFI.

Among our DVDs of Radharc films is a very short documentary describing St. Brigid’s eve in a Co. Donegal household. Our correspondent who emailed from England turned out to be a member of the family featured in the film, and she was interested in obtaining a transcript. She added that her family had moved to Scotland, where the Edinburgh neighbors thought their annual observances of St. Brigid’s Day were quite unusual.

Now, as it happened, my colleague Gráinne Ní Mhuirí, who was a visiting Fulbright Irish language teacher, had used the film in her Irish class, and between us, we had transcribed the text and provided a rough translation, so we had the transcript on file.

The film begins with the Duffy men and boys outside, making preparations, while the women work indoors, and takes us through all the events of the eve of St. Brigid’s Day in the Duffy home.

I nGaeltacht Thír Chonaill tá mórán sean-nósanna in onóir Naoimh Bríd beo go fóill i measc na ndaoine.

Seo Anagaire, áit álainn os cionn na gCaslach, an áit a bhfuil teaghlach mhuintir Dhubhthaigh ina gcónaí.

Oíche Fhéile Bríde téid an seanduine agus Conal agus Liam amach fá choinne cochán a dheineas na crosa.  Caithfear an cochán a thabhairt isteach roimh luí gréine.   Scoitear agus glantar é mar mhínóis an seanduine do na stócaigh.  In áiteanna I dTír Chonaill feaga is mó a bhíonn acu leis na crosa a dhéanamh ach measann siad in Anagaire gur fearr na crosa cocháin.

Istigh sa teach tá Bríd agus Bean Uí Dhubhthaigh ag cur síos tine leis na bruitíní a bhruith.  Brúitíní, sin prátaí brúite agus bainne is im agus oinniúin is salann iontu.  Beirtear na prátaí isteach ón pholl, caithfear a nglanadh go maith anocht, agus an pota a ghlanadh chomh maith.

Ní bhíonn bruitíní ag an teaghlach seo gach uile oíche – dhá oíche chionn féile sa bhliain a bhíos bruitíní acu, mar atá, Oíche Shamhna agus Oíche Fhéile Bhríde.

Bheir na fir lámh cuidithe leis an bhéile; baineann siad na súlógaí as na prátaí, ‘piocadh bruit]in’ an t-ainm a bheirtear ar an obair seo; nitear athuair as uisce glan iad agus tá siad réidh le cur ar an tine.

Agus oíche mar seo, fad is a bhíos na prátaí dá mbruth bheadh duine ag súil le scéal agus gheibhimid é.  Insíonn an seanfhear ceann de na scéalta fá Naomh Bríd, scéalta a tháining aniar ón aimsir chianaosta ó ghlúin go glúin.

Níl sé chomh furasta pota prátaí a shileadh agus a shílfeadh duileadh aineolach, ach tá lámh maith ag mná Thír Chonaill air.  Cuirtear crág shalainn agus oinniúin gearrtha ar na práta]I agus anois caithfear a brú.  Tuirnín an t-ainm atá ar an maide a bhrúnns iad.  Ní an tuirnís seo brúitín de na prátaí is righne dá ….  bhealach.

Tuairim ar chearthrú I ndiaidh a haondéag, téann an teaghlach ar a nglúinibh le paidrín cúig ndeichniúr déag a rá.  Le cois cionn a chur ar an Phaidrín, tá paidir ar leith acu an oíche seo, “Paidir agus Ave Máire le muid féin agus an méid is …. orainn a shábháil ar muir agus ar tír, ar tonn agus ar tráigh, gach bealach agus bearnas dá rachaimid. Agus go speisialta ar chaill agus ar urc..  na farraige móire.”

Paidir í seo atá ar fóirstin do dhaoine a chaithfeas a ngabháil I ngleic leis an fharraige mhóir ag saothrú a mbeatha nach bhfuil le fáil ar an talamh acu.

I dtráthaibh an mheán oíche, nuair atá an Paidrín ráite, tosaíonn Turas Bhríde, príomhócáid na féile.  Bheir gach duine den teaghlach ball éadaigh do Bhríd, idir gheansaí nó stocaí, bheir Bríd léí na neadaí agus an p… chocháin agus téid sí amach ar an doras cúil.  Téid sí thart far an teach thí huaire de thaobh na láimhe deise.  Téid sí ar a glúine ag an doras tosaigh agus scairteann sí leis an teaghlach: “Gabhaigí ar bhur nglúine agus fosclaigí bhur súile agus ligigí isteach Bríd Bheannaithe.”  Bheir siadsan freagra uirthi, “’Sé beatha, ‘sé beatha, ‘sé beatha na mná uaisle.”  Coisrictear na héadaí le huisce coisricthe agus deirtear an urnaí, “Caithfidh mé seo in onóir Bhríde, le mo shábháin ar gach olc agus gach urchóid go bliain ó anocht.”  Rud measartha deacair geansaí ag stócach le cur air.

Sa deireadh suíonn an teaghlach thart ag déanamh crosa Bhríde.  Féachann gach duine le cros a dhéanamh, ach ar ndóigh tá daoine níos fearr ná daoine eile á ndéanamh.

Ní hionann a nitear crosa Bhríde i ngach … den tír.  Anseo in Anagaire, ceanglaíonn siad dhá shlat dá chéile I bhfoirm croise agus fill siad na sipíní thart á cheangail.  Is féidir gach rud go dtí fiche cros a dhéanamh ar an chros mhór amháin.  Ansin cuirtear na crosa in airde sna creataí istigh sa teach agus sna bothaigh ag iarraidh coimirce Bhríde ar dhaoine agus ar ainmhithe sa bhliain atá romhainn.  Fágtar na crosa sna háiteacha seo go bliain ó anocht.  Coinnítear fuíollach an chocháin agus cuirtear I dtaisce é.  Cuirtear deireadh leis an Fhéile le paidir, “Cuidiú Bríde go raibh fár mbun, agus fár mbarr in éadan gach olc agus gan urchóid go ceann bliana ón lá inniu.

In the Donegal Gaeltacht many traditions in honor of Saint Bridgid are still alive among the people.

This is Anagary, a beautiful place above Caslach, where the Duffy family live.

On the Eve of Brigid’s Day, the old people and conal and Liam go out to find straw to make the crosses. the straw must be brought in before sunset. The straw is separated and cleaned as the old people explain to the lads. In some places in Donegal, reeds are what they have for making the crosses, but the people in Anagary think the straw crosses are better.

In the house, Bríd and Mrs. Duffy are setting the fire to boil the brúitín. Brúitíní, that is, potatoes mashed with milk and butter and onion and salt.

The potatoes are brought in from the hole; they must be well-washed tonight, and the pot must also be washed.

This family does not have brúitín every night. Two nights of the eve of a festival annually is when they have brúitín, that is, Halloween and St. Brigid’s Night.

The men give a helping had with the meal; they remove the eyes from the potatoes. “Piocadh brúitín” is what this work is called. They are washed once more in clean water, and then they are ready to be placed on the fire.

And a night like this, as the potatoes are being boiled, one would expect a story, and we have it. The old man tells one of the stories about Saint Bridgit, stories that came from the old days, passed from generation to generation.

It’s not as easy to prepare a pot of potatoes as one might think , but the women of Donegal are practised at it. Salt and chopped onion are added to the potatoes and now it must be mashed. The utensil with which they are mashed is called a Tuirnín. ….

At about a quarter past eleven, the family go on their knees to say five decades of the Rosary. At the head of the Rosary, they have a special prayer for this night, “A Prayer and Ave Maria to keep ourselves and … safe on land and sea, on wave and beach, every way and place where we go. And especially …. on the great sea.

This is a prayer that helps people who must to to sea to make their living as there is not sufficient for them on land.

About midnight, when the Rosary has been said, the Turas Bhríde (Bridgid’s Tour) begins, the main event of the festival. Every member of the family holds a piece of Bridgid’s clothing, either geansaí (sweater) or socks, and Bridgid lods the … and the straw bundle, and she goes out the back door. She goes three times around the house on her right (clockwise). She goes on her knees at the front door and she calls to the family: “Go on your knees and open your eyes and let Holy Bridgid in.” They reply, “’Sé beatha (Hail), ‘sé beatha, ‘sé beatha gentlewoman.” The clothes are blessed with holy water and the prayer is recited, “I will wear this in honor of Bridgid, to protect me from every harm and every iniquity for a year from tonight.”

It is quite difficult to put a geansaí on a young boy.

At last the family sit around making the St. Bridgid’s Crosses. Each person likes to make a cross, but of course some people are better than others at making them.

St. Bridgid’s Crosses are not the same all over the country. Here in Anagary, they tie two sticks together in the form of a cross, and they fold the together in the form of a cross and fold the twigs around to tie them. Up to twenty crosses can be made on one big cross.

Then the crosses are put up in the rafters in the house and in the sheds to ask for Bridgid’s protection for the people and animals in the year ahead. The crosses are left in this place for a year from tonight.

The remaining straw is kept and put away. The festival ends with the prayer, “May the help of Bridgid be below and above, against every ill and every iniquity for a year from today.

The film is found in our catalog as Bridgid’s Night, with the information that it was filmed in Co. Donegal in 1961.

To learn more about our video collections, see our library guide to Ireland on Film.

If Blogs were Catalog(u)ed*

Posted on October 30, 2017 in Digital, Journals and Magazines, Media

When Dr. Melinda Grimsley-Smith was a PhD student at Notre Dame, she convinced me that it would be a good librarianly service to open a Twitter account and to routinely re-tweet posts that might interest graduate students. She was excited about archives, and she was enthusiastic about sharing information about collections and about exciting new projects.

 

I followed Melinda’s lead, initially following various archives and libraries and retweeting news of collections and exhibitions, tweeting inconsistently, with short bursts of enthusiasm. With the flurry of activity around the 1916 centenary, I learned that retweeting was a way to catalogue information, and I began to apprecate the role of the hashtag for organizing the twitterworld. (Such a pity that in order to type in Irish, I lost my keyboard’s hashtag.)

And now I wonder if Twitter-cataloguing could be the answer to my question about blogs.

Librarians organize information of all kinds,helping people sort through thousands of materials to identify information, books, journals or websites.  We archive websites and catalog online publications. We find ways to make our information available online.  But blogs seem to belong to a category that people discover either by serendipity or by word of mouth. The library cataloguedoesn’t seem appropriate for the informal format of the blog, so why not see how the social media can be used?

On Twitter, I found an Irish Blogs hashtag, but this does not address my needs, which are to tag blogs interesting to those with an academic interest in Irish studies, e.g. scholarly or newsy articles on Irish history, literature, politics, music, art, theatre etc.  I aim to curate, so that blogs included in my lists are up to date and to select in the same way as I would a journal or magazine subscription for the library. So my hashtag will be #IrishStudiesBlogs.

Scéalta Ealaíne. Irish Art Blog by Eoin Mac Lochlainn

 

So I think I’ll start a new hashtag and call it Irish Studies Blogs. Blogs I want to catalogue include Mise Ciara, a great blog for Irish language students, Scéalta Ealaíne, shown above, the blog of artist Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Mairekennedybooks, on Irish historical bibliography, and writers’ blogs such as that of Lia Mills.

‘S Mise Ciara, Seo mo Bhlag! Scríobh / Eat / Sleep 

 

Though I plan to include only blogs that are current, Deirdre Ní Chonghaile’s wonderful Amhráin Árann – Aran Songs begs to be listed.  This three-year blog (2012-14) is a collection of essays on the people, music and songs of the Aran Islands. From biographies of writers and singers to an essay on the provenance of the piano in the house where Somerville and Ross stayed, the blog, written in Irish and in English, is an online publication that should be available to anyone studying Irish music, and so needs to be archived and catalogued.

The blogs I am considering for my “Twitter Catalog” are listed below, and you can also see a preview of the Twitter-Catalogue for #IrishStudiesBlogs.

Literature and Writers

Rogha Gabriel

Crime Scene. A Blog by Louise Phillips

Irish Writing Blog

Women Rule Writer. Lit Blog of Nuala O’Connor/ Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Anti-Laureate of the People’s Republic of Cork 

Mary Morrissey. A Blog about Fiction and History

James Joyce Quarterly Blog

 

 

An Ghaeilge – The Irish Language

Included here are blogs on various topics, but written in Irish and therefore good for Irish language students to have available.

Hilary NY. Meascra i nGaeilge ó Nua Eabhrach — Nó pé áit ina bhfuilim! 

Mise Áine ag Rámhaille

Uathachas in Éirinn 

S Mise Ciara, Seo mo Bhlag!

Cúrsaí Staire. Aistí Ócáídeacha ar Stair, ar Staraithe, agus ar Scríobh na Staire

Smaointe Fánach Aonghusa

Rogha Gabriel

History

Cúrsaí Staire. Aistí Ócáídeacha ar Stair, ar Staraithe, agus ar Scríobh na Staire

Ciara Meehan. Historian, Author, Lecturer

MaireKennedyBooks

Books, Libraries and Archives

Books Ireland Blog

NLI Blog (blog of the National Library of Ireland)

John J. Burns Library’s Blog 

Manuscripts at Trinity

UCD Library Cultural Heritage Collections Blog

MaireKennedyBooks

ITMA Blog

Kennys Booktalk Blog

Music

ITMA Blog

Amhráin Árann – Aran Songs

Art

The Irish Art Blog

IMMA Blog

Scéalta Ealaíne. Irish Art Blog by Eoin Mac Lochlainn

Politics

The Cedar Lounge Revolution. For Lefties Too Stubborn to Quit

Slugger O’Toole

Irish Politics Forum

Jason O’Mahony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know if this Twitter-catalogue idea will take, but if you come across a blog that would interest others in Irish studies, please add a tweet, or contact me at clements.22@nd.edu. Thanks!

 

*Though bilingual now in the English languages of both sides of the Atlantic, I’ve never become comfortable with the u-less ‘catalog’.

Radharc Documentaries in the Hesburgh Library

Posted on February 1, 2016 in Media

Anois teacht an earraigh beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,
Is tar éis na féil Bríde ardóidh mé mo sheol.

Most Irish schoolchildren were introduced to those lines at some time, and so the first of February, in addition to being the feastday of Saint Brigid, is associated with Raifteirí the poet’s celebration of Cill Aodáin in County Mayo. The lines are translated as follows:

Now with the coming of spring the day will begin to stretch,
And after St. Brigid’s Day I will hoist my sail.

Bridgits NightAmong the Hesburgh Library’s DVDs is a short documentary in Irish, made in 1961, describing Donegal traditions on the night of St. Brigid. The eight-minute film shows the family making crosses, preparing food and following the traditional prayers for the protection of Saint Brigid.

This is only one of the films in the Radharc collection, a very rich and interesting collection of documentaries in the library’s DVD collection.  Radharc documentaries were made by a Catholic group headed by Fr. Joe Dunn, from the early 1960s until the 1990s. The documentaries cover topics that were of interest to Irish Catholics, including history and social concerns, and also the affairs of other countries, particularly where Irish emigrants or Irish missionaries were involved. Thus there are documentaries on the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, El Salvador, the United States and England, with coverage of food aid to Biafra, religious orders, and Irish immigrant workers in England.

For a guide to the Radharc Collection at the Hesburgh Library, please consult the Libguide Ireland On Film: Radharc Documentaries.

These and other DVDs are in the Library’s Lower Level.