Starting something new
Amidst the noise of what feels like global chaos environmentally and geo-politically I’ve found it calming to spend time reading ‘good things that matter’. I can no longer ‘blame’ being educated in Belfast, bereft of any links to Irish language or true history. I have the time, now, to look into the indigenous teachings and the truth held in myths and folklore.
“You don’t have to be great to start…but you have to start to be great” - honestly why do we put things off?
My intention for 2026 was to be more aligned and do some digging and rooting into my lineage, my heritage and my lost connections to Irish language.
Irish is a seemingly impossible language - but you have to start somewhere. I could say about 3 phrases as a child - via my grandmother, but Irish was never spoken at their house in Dublin.
Books, television and interviews by (and of) Manchán Magan, (writer and documentary maker) have been widely distributed on Irish channels for many years, but recent resurgence of the Irish language and a new generation of speakers and seekers has created space for more sharing and learning on a wider scale.
It seems less daunting when it’s presented in a simple way - and his books tie words to the phyical land, to folklore, history, ancient mythology and pagan teachings. They are dense to read so watching and listening to things helps to bind it together.
Manchán died earlier this year, before his time at the age of 55, but the richness of his legacy will live on and sustain many of us for years to come.
A few of my paintings have been named with words I’ve loved - and for me, it’s a way to inegrate myself and root into a space that feels good.
More on the how we almost lost the Irish language below.
Tús/ Beginning - this painting was left aside for about 18 months until I finally started it again this spring
For completness - here is an embarrasing brief summary of 750 years history about native Irish,,,
The language was almost eradicated successfully over through an active legal and systemic suppression over a span of more than 500 years. It’s a given that Ireland has been though many invasions since the Normans in the 11C and many settlers integrated to become Irish themselves - but in the 16 & 17 C under Cromwell Gaelic was systematically dismanteld as land was confiscated and in the 18C the Penal laws banned Catholics (mostly Irish speakers) from formal education and employment in public office and the legal system. In 1831 Irish was offically banned from the school system and after the Great Hunger (1854-52) the Irish speaking rural communities were decimated.
One of my favourite reads this summer…sure to end up in the Cinema like Hamnet. Maggie O’Farrell, born in Derry, has given us a epic tale of a family in 1865 after the Great Hunger as the British worked to re-map the whole country.
