Start Date
28-5-2024 3:00 PM
End Date
28-5-2024 3:15 PM
Description
Ireland’s rich folklore archives provide a wealth of insight into the memories of her people. The importance of recording oral history across Ireland in the late 1930’s spurred the Folklore Commission to establish the Schools’ Collection (SC). Essentially, the commission enlisted national school children, within the Irish Free State, to collect the memories of the their relatives and older people within their communities. The culmination of these efforts resulted in over 700,000 documents illuminating Ireland’s traditions, customs and practices. Analysis of the children’s findings reveals exciting local and regional traditions through the words of curious pupils discovering the food memories of their grandparents. From potted herring, ling and ray eaten in North County Dublin, wild sorrel, nettles and dandelions in County Meath to mackerel, salt meat, turnips and cabbage in County Kerry, these essays document regional nuance in Irish food history. Data for the paper is collected through a key word search for essays categorised under ‘food in olden times’ within the Schools’ Collection that results in approximately 2,000 documents; these documents are analysed using thematic analysis organising the data into themes which is then discussed in relation to the literature on Irish food and folklore.
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DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/5zed-k858
Traces of Tradition: Exploring the “Food in Olden Times” Theme within the Irish Folklore Commission Schools’ Collection 1937–39
Ireland’s rich folklore archives provide a wealth of insight into the memories of her people. The importance of recording oral history across Ireland in the late 1930’s spurred the Folklore Commission to establish the Schools’ Collection (SC). Essentially, the commission enlisted national school children, within the Irish Free State, to collect the memories of the their relatives and older people within their communities. The culmination of these efforts resulted in over 700,000 documents illuminating Ireland’s traditions, customs and practices. Analysis of the children’s findings reveals exciting local and regional traditions through the words of curious pupils discovering the food memories of their grandparents. From potted herring, ling and ray eaten in North County Dublin, wild sorrel, nettles and dandelions in County Meath to mackerel, salt meat, turnips and cabbage in County Kerry, these essays document regional nuance in Irish food history. Data for the paper is collected through a key word search for essays categorised under ‘food in olden times’ within the Schools’ Collection that results in approximately 2,000 documents; these documents are analysed using thematic analysis organising the data into themes which is then discussed in relation to the literature on Irish food and folklore.