Military leader of Clann Morna (not the chieftain), Goll mac Morna takes on a much larger role in Fionn mac Cumhaill’s life as the core Fenian narrative progresses. Interestingly, you rarely see much about Goll from the English web content publishers (generally, because they don’t really understand how Gaelic culture works in the Fenian narratives)… Read more »
Ireland’s ‘Poc Fada’ (Long Puck) competition was originally inspired by the old Ulster tale of Cú Chulainn travelling across the Cooley Mountains to the territory land of his uncle, Conchubar mac Neasa. Bored by the journey, the young Cú Chulainn (then, Setanta) decided to shorten the road by ‘pucking’ a ball ahead of himself and… Read more »
Irish (and other) cultural stories frequently get used in advertising campaigns – particularly where the base story can be linked to an ‘Irish’-related product. A lot of the time however, those advertisements can be misrepresentative or simply get things wrong. Take this Guinness campaign for the Guinness-sponsored All-Ireland Hurling Championship, for example. If you look… Read more »
I came across an interesting book – Deirdre Unforgiven – by Eamon Carr during my recent visit home. Sitting in a friend’s bookshelf, I found myself drawn to it by the bleak cover image from Irish artist John Devlin. A brief flip through it revealed the book was a clever conflation of the ancient Irish… Read more »
We’re back in the office. A bit jetlagged, overwhelmed, and still processing what we’ve seen, but normal service should resume later this week.
The site of Cú Chulainn’s supposed settlement at Dún Dealgan (which actually means ‘the Dún of Dalga’) was, in far more recent times, anglicized to Dundalk. When the town opened its first museum in 1901, therefore, it’s no surprise that they harkened back to the town’s imagined history rather than its real history – which… Read more »
This is a tagline I was using recently for ‘The Great Wild’ – an unintended spin on the iconic ‘Alien’ feature film tagline (“In space, no-one one can hear you scream”). I only realised that a day or two after coming up with it. That said, at the time, I felt my tagline worked in… Read more »
There was one morning when the world dissolved, obliterated in a downpour that melted the distant islands, then the immediate surroundings as well. Preceded by a cluster of unusually threatening, blue-bruised clouds, the incoming deluge had given plenty of warning. As a result, the girl was comfortably settled under a solitary oak at the tip… Read more »
I was quietly amused this week when I came across an article on Clare TD Cathal Crowe who apparently submitted a parliamentary question demanding that the Tánaiste work with the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See to ensure the (ahem) legendary crown of Brian Ború was returned. Crowe, it seems, is a supporter of one… Read more »
Cú Chulainn and Ferdia in combat at Áth Fhirdia (the Ford of Ferdia). With the intial series of FIONN mac Cumhaill coming to a close next year, I’ve been giving some thought to doing a series based on the Ulster narratives. To be honest, I’ve still not decided. Developing a workable narrative for Cú Chulainn… Read more »
On the work front, I’m fully occupied with an intense freelance project which means it’ll be a few more weeks before I can launch back into writing. That’s a delay that’s always a bit frustrating but I’ve spent the few free hours I have, relaxing with a fun project I hope to bring to frution… Read more »
I came across an interesting story last year about a British anthropologist (Professor Alfred C Haddon) and a researcher colleague (Andrew F Dixon). Both men were academics in anthropology and ethnology at Trinity College Dublin. ‘Craniometry’, the unscientific study of human skull size and shape to determine a person’s intelligence (a disproven belief) was very… Read more »
